Regular cancellation AMS-NBO
 

Hello,

I've just looked on flightradar and noticed a large number of cancellations on the AMS-NBO route of flights operated by KLM (KL565/566).

I am in the process of booking an entire team on this flight and I am somewhat concerned. Our flights are time sensitive as we have to connect onto UN flights to the refugee camps from Nairobi which only operate Mon-Wed-Fri, and to fit around meetings in Nairobi. On the return, I am self-connecting onto a Manchester flight. The self-connecting flight is also on KLM. There seems to be very little pattern to the cancellations. How can I predict? Should I leave an entire day before my connecting flight to Manchester? Will KLM reaccommodate my connection as it's also KLM (separate bookings, I know there is zero obligation).

Any thoughts?

MM

There is also kenyan airways on this route , so if your flight is cancelled they can probably book you on the KQ flights , or maybe other skyteam partners ( with a layover in roma , paris or jeddah) or even another airline

In such case you will probably arrive at NBO later , which mean higher risk to miss your last flight

same as staatsloterij , you can't

if your flight to nairobi is in the morning and is the only flight of the day which arrive before your UN flight , then you should probably arrive in nairobi a day earlier

No. If you have separate bookings , your flight from manchester is delayed and you miss your flight to nairobi , then its your entire responsibility

Were these cancellations in the beginning of March? Having a look at last week the flight seems fine.

We are flying on the Monday with the intention of catching the Wednesday morning flight to Dadaab. An entire day in between. We are not stupid. I am, however, concerned that somehow even two nights is not enough protection.We have to conduct meetings in Nairobi prior. As you will understand, time (and money) are of the essence, and we have none to waste. If the meetings are delayed by a day, the fieldwork is delayed by 3 days. This is not good news for anybody. I would like to know whether I can really rely on KLM here. The overnight flight is a possibility, but a huge inconvenience.

The bookings are actually the other way round, end of trip, flying home to the UK for R&R leave after working in the camps - not an easy experience.

Flightradar is showing that since 27th Feb only 11 flights have operated until today. This is out of a daily flight schedule. I really don't know what to think of this. Why is it this route that has been utterly trashed? I flew to Nairobi last week on Air France and there was no obvious disruption at Nairobi, and I flew from Amsterdam in the last week and apart from fog, nothing amiss. The flight is on a 747 which are usually very reliable.

In the first two weeks of March, KQ took over the KL565/566 service as KLM was short on aircraft and wanted to deploy the 747 elsewhere. So officially the KL flight was cancelled and PAX were rebooked on the KQ flights which had comparable times.

i never said or thought so , but based on what you said i made a suggestion

it depends , cause as far as i know , there are two direct flights per day , but you can always be rerouted through another airport/airline

Usually for long haul flights , it can be possible to be on standby , and airline will have to do their best to bring you and your luggage to final destination. KLM is usually quite efficient to manage such situations , but of course it depends on the case and the scale

If you are flying two nights before , the odds to not be able to reach nairobi before deadline are very low (besides natural/human disasters)

I would suggest you to monitor the flight/plane of your journey to nairobi so you can be proactive and reach KLM desk in case of problems

I would tend to think this has to be the reason, I flew the route on a weekly basis from Apr 18 to Dec. 18 and the flight was never cancelled (and rarely late). It all seems to be concentrated around March 5 to March 13th, and just one cancelled flight since (March 29th). I take it it resumed its regular schedule since.

Whilst they are wonderful aircraft they are probably the least reliable that KLM has. Quite a few operational issues documented. Nonetheless, this has nothing to do with the "cancellations". As KLFlyerRalph pointed out, these flights have been operating, but just carried out by KQ due to aircraft shortages at KLM. So double daily Kenya Airways just to be clear.

This is the golden information. OK. This makes sense. So if I book a KLM ticket on KL565, the 12.55, and they hand it over to KQ, am I automatically sorted out? I.e. I don't need to do anything in particular?

Dank je wel Ralph

Ah, I mispoke then with reliable. I think I was more in reference of the 787 issues etc. I've done the KLM route to Nairobi quite a few times now, and never had issues apart from delays (nothing exceptional) always on 747s.

Double daily KQ is the missing information. Though, I really find the KQ787 a huge downgrade on the KLM747.

Brave man. I went quite a bit last year, but this year my only trip in that direction got sent via Paris.

Now learned this is not a cancellation, rather a substitution. So I'm a bit happier (though not at the prospect of being wedged with a 747 load of passengers on a 787.

I know there are lots of ST options from AMS to NBO, and normally I would love to go on a creative routing for the XP. But I really need to be in Nairobi at a set time, and would love nothing more than to be on the first flight available for R&R.

Dank je wel allemaal.