Thunderroad

I'm looking at booking award tickets for myself and my wife for November, flying one-way from Nairobi to Mauritius, about a four-hour flight. Right now I'm seeing lots of award availability in economy but none in business (except at an exorbitantly high mileage cost) at the Air France site. For what it's worth, my AF/Flying Blue status is the lowest (Explorer). I have a few questions; sorry if some are kind of basic, as I've only been to Kenya once before, briefly, and am not very familiar with Kenya Airways or Flying Blue.

1. The flight is on an Embraer 190. Without any special Kenya Airways or partner airline status, is it possible to reserve seats, particularly exit row seats, in advance? And if so, how far in advance?
2. Any sense of whether and when the business class award seats might open up at a regular redemption rate?
3. Is Air France/Flying Blue in fact the best option to go to in order to try to use miles for award flights on Kenya?
4. On certain days this is a night flight starting at about 9:30 pm and on others it is at 11:45 am. Beyond the obvious differences involved in these times, any reason to pick one over the other in terms of how busy/crowded the airport is, etc?
5. I'm under the general impression that Kenya Airways is a good airline and that the Embraer 190 might even be preferable to larger planes in economy, given that it's 2x2 (albeit with 31" pitch). But if there's anything else I should know about either, I welcome the information.
6. I believe the Air Kenya flights for NBO-MRU are out of Terminal 1A. There is a Priority Pass lounge (Turkish) in Terminal 1D and two (Mara and Mt. Kenya) in Terminal 2. Am I correct in assuming that I can access T1A from the T1D lounge, but not from the T2 lounges?

Thanks for any help!

kq747

I can try answer a couple of these but I am not a regular Flying Blue user:

1. IIRC you can only select KQ seats 3 months prior to departure and there is an extra charge for exit row seats.
2. Not sure
3. From what I know FB tends to have good redemption value
4. If lounge crowding is your concern then go with the morning flight. Evening time the lounges will be far more crowded
5. I would prefer the E190 in Y, 737 in J
6. You can access the Turkish lounge from 1A but you will have to go through security on the way back to the gate in 1A and the walk to 1D is long-ish (budget 15min)

B747-437B

Avoid seats near the back on the Embraer as the last 5-6 rows have zero overhead space due to catering and service equipment being stored there. The galleys on the Embraers are tiny, so on flights where there is a meal service, they have no choice but to appropriate this storage.

Air Kenya and Kenya Airways are totally different airlines and you are referring to Kenya Airways (KQ) in this case. KQ operates from Terminal 1A and as noted above, you can get between 1A and 1D with a fair bit of walking and a security checkpoint. Terminal 2 is on the other side of the airport and is not connected to Terminal 1 at all - it is used primarily for domestic and Somalia flights. It is effectively a prefab shed and the lounges are very rudimentary.

Thunderroad

Thank you both for this helpful info!

(And yes, I meant to write Kenya Airways instead of Air Kenya, but thanks for making the difference clear.)

roadwarriorafrica

You can also pay $40 to access the KQ lounge to avoid the walk to T1D

flying_blue_white_red

You can not reserve exit row seats in advance even if you pay for them. If not taken you can obtain them - for free - during check in at the airport only (= not online)

Thunderroad

Thanks for this additional info, folks. It now looks like the business class award redemption rates have come down a bit. Is there any real difference between the business class seats and the economy exit row seats (assuming we can get them) on this plane?

roadwarriorafrica

The business class seats offer more legroom, and are wider. More comfortable then the Economy Exit Row Seats. You can only get the Exit Row Seats at Check in.

Thunderroad

Good to know. Thanks again for the help.

Thunderroad

Thanks again for all of the help, folks. With the mileage cost of the business class seats having dropped, we reserved and ticketed those.

The Kenya Airways site indicates that the seat assignments can be reserved 90 days in advance. Is this accurate?