Kenya Airways review: Cancelled flight, no compensation, no response to urgent emails, no answering phones.

I have absolutely had it with Kenya Airways' appalling service and unfortunately for them, I am a writer and YouTube influencer with a large international following. I will give them one more day to respond before things get real.

They cancelled my flight to Nairobi on the day I was due to fly, but I only found out at the check-in desk. The whole journey would be three flights; however, they did not cancel the first flight, which meant I still had to fly from Cape Town to Jo'burg (late at night) but was then stranded at JNB airport until the next day. (And as we know, unlike better airports, OR Tambo does not provide any sort of recliner chairs for people to relax on during long layovers; in fact, if you try to sleep on your bags in a quiet corner, they will send security to make you get up. But this isn't about OR Tambo.)

Around midnight, I was falling asleep on my feet and in tears. I called Flight Centre in desperation, and was told to book into the only available hotel at the airport and sleep. The price was R4000!

Kenya Airways did NOTHING to help me after they cancelled my flight — no hotel, no meal — and refused to give me a reason. I was suffering from extreme back pain, which they were aware of, but still did nothing to assist me for the long delay. I was just put on a new flight the next day. They could not even give me a flight number until check-in the next day, too — I was told to just show up at the right time! Once I arrived in Nairobi, my last flight to Mombasa was delayed THREE TIMES. I sat there most of the day, in extreme pain with my back, which was made worse by hours of lugging bags around. Mombasa airport is also tiny and has only very basic food available, so it was an uncomfortable wait.

I kept asking for a reason for the delays, as did other irate passengers, and I was eventually told by the lady at the boarding desk that the crew hadn't show up for work. That's it?

I ended up arriving at my final destination after dark that night, instead of at 11am. So I missed my first day of holiday, but why would they care?

So here's the BIG problem: My travel insurance gave me 30 days to claim. They have to have an official report from the airline explaining why the flight was canceled, or they don't pay out. I have been contacting both Kenya Airways and SAA (it was an SAA ticket but Kenya A plane) since I was on holiday, to no avail. It is now 3 days before the insurance claim cut-off time, and Kenya Airways has still not given me a report. I've sent multiple emails to customer care that go ignored, and have phoned multiple times - only to be put on hold forever, until I give up. (This is a call from Cape Town to Johannesburg).

I am so angry and frustrated. They deserve to get bad press now. If my insurance company doesn't pay me for the R4000 hotel, I will hold nothing back.