swingaling

This flight originally didn't have a ground stop at JRO, but that was added to the schedule a couple months prior to departure. As a result, the flight departure from DAR was pushed forward an hour or so. Thankfully, our arrival at KGL wasn't altered.

The check-in process at DAR wasn't too bad, but immigration took the longest. Apparently, I chose the line where people couldn't figure out how to use the finger print scanner properly. I always pick the slowest line. No matter, I had time.

After I was finally airside, I headed to the rather dire lounge and sat around for 30 minutes until it was time to board.

Lounge


Weird Decor


We finally boarded by bus and I was one of two passengers in the J cabin. There were also two WB employees sitting in the J cabin: an engineer and an additional FA. The additional FA did basically zero work, so I'm not quite sure why he was there. He didn't appear to be deadheading.

The cabin itself was what I'd expect in a Q400. Decent legroom and comfortable enough seat. Fine for a relatively short hop.

J Cabin


J Cabin


Unfortunately, the pilots had a computer error during take off, so they had to abort and return to the gate stand. The engineer worked on clearing the fault and we were back on our way a few minutes later. It caused a 10-15 minute delay, but I was grateful that they could solve the issue quickly.

Once in the air, the FA did a short drinks service. I was pretty hungry by that time, as I hadn't eaten anything since lunch. The lounge food was not appealing in the least.

Drinks Service


We landed at JRO slightly late, so it was too dark to have good views of Kilimanjaro.

Mount Meru


Kilimanjaro


JRO Airport


We stopped briefly to take on some additional passengers (WB doesn't have 6th freedom rights on this route) before continuing onward to Kigali. Once we were airborne, the FA mercifully did a meal service. I don't recall the choices, but I chose the meatballs. I think the other option was fish.

Regardless, the food was quite good. Though I was very hungry, so just about anything would have tasted good.

Meatballs (Chicken perhaps?)


We landed at a remote stand and the buses were waiting. There was a dedicated bus for the J cabin, so the other passenger and I shared the bus for ourselves. It whisked quickly to immigration.

RwandAir



Unfortunately, we landed shortly after a pair of A330s, one from KL and the other SN. As a result, immigration was jammed. Thankfully, KGL has a priority lane for business class pax and a relatively streamlined immigration process. No visits to multiple counters, cashiers, etc. It was all handled by a single officer.

After immigration, I got some cash landside and caught a cab to the hotel.