smithk

I have enjoyed this site for many years and thought I would post something. The wealth of knowledge on this site eclipse's any little "insider tips" I have, so I thought I would write a trip report. Here too though I have little to offer. There are many great trip reports on most of the routes I travel, and on the airlines I use except...Kuwait Airways.

I am starting to travel to Sri Lanka a bit. When pricing flights I realized that KU's business class is sometimes significantly cheaper than any other business class (at times 60% less). I decided to find out why. To get the discounted price you have to originate in CMB. The positioning flights out there were on Cathay, on miles. It was in first (and business from Bangkok), it was very nice, blah blah blah. ☺ There are tons of reports that cover Cathay in first, not much for me to add. (SFO777 for example creates excellent reports). Cathay is really great. The lie flat is great. The service is great. The food is excellent. The lounge in Hong Kong is great, etc, etc, etc.

The reports of KU are not great, (and are somewhat dated), but the price was too low to pass up.

This is my first trip report so I am sure I missed a lot, took pictures of the wrong things, or started eating the food before taking the picture (every time) but Perfect is the enemy of good, so bear with me.

I think the easiest way to describe KU is to think of it as time travel. A trip with them is like a trip back in time. The plane is nice...if it was still 1980. The service is good, if a little gruff. Another unusual fact, the flight attendants are from everywhere but Kuwait and they are 75% men. (Actually I mean to say, about 75% of the crew was male, not that they are all 75% male and 25% female, which would be for a different forum). There was a Lebanese body builder, who looked like a stand in for Lou Ferrigno. An Egyptian Don Juan who was trying to close the deal with a blond Bulgarian, one of only two women working that flight and a diminutive Malaysian man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on this plane. I asked half a dozen of the crew where they were from, basically all over.

It was also interesting that several of the crew did not speak English, not a big deal, just a little surprising. If you working a flight from Sri Lanka, they have to know most Sri Lankan passengers do not speak Arabic, Bulgarian, or Russian, just like the crew does not speak Sinhala or Tamil, anyway I digress.

Here are the pics.

loungeinCMB by kirksmith, on Flickr

Trip started in the lounge. This lounge is ok, not even close to Cathay or Etihad but much better than AA Admirals club.

loungecmb by kirksmith, on Flickr

Great coffee and tea selection (as expected).

loungecmb2 by kirksmith, on Flickr

Food was ok.


BusCMB by kirksmith, on Flickr
On the CMB -> Kuwait leg there is no first class however the first three rows are significantly bigger seats that recline much further that the rest of business class.


FoodfromCMB by kirksmith, on Flickr
Food was ok. This was the local choice. I have no idea what it was but it was good. I asked but should have written down the name. One flight attendant told me it was meat the other said it was vegetarian. It was very spicy but good.


This was a little unusual. The amenities kit for business class is a fannypack (sorry to my British readers but they are fannypacks). I took three KU flights so I now have three brand new fannypacks. If I ever become a middle age white guy, from the middle west, visiting Disneyland, in 1988, I am ready.


fannypack by kirksmith, on Flickr
Look...has a belt-loop.


swag by kirksmith, on Flickr
It has a toothbrush and everything, just like the Oscar Swag bag.


AlSalmiya by kirksmith, on Flickr
Approaching Kuwait city, I believe this is AlSalmiya?



bus by kirksmith, on Flickr
Landing in Kuwait city, business class had it's own bus...ohhhh fancy.


plane by kirksmith, on Flickr
The Dasman lounge in Kuwait was pretty good.


loungeinKuwait by kirksmith, on Flickr

Iran air, Syrian Air and Kuwait Air, What a lounge! (in Yakov Smirnoff's voice)


loungeinKuwait2 by kirksmith, on Flickr
Lounge was nice, food good. Not the Wing but way better the Admirals club.


loungeinKuwait3 by kirksmith, on Flickr


mealinkuwait by kirksmith, on Flickr


bathroominkuwait by kirksmith, on Flickr

Was going to take a shower but changed my mind after seeing it, dirty.

This was interesting, there was section of cubicles next to the food where there were 4 massage chairs. There were signs on three of the cubicle saying the chairs where under maintenance. Maintenance indeed, one of them had the screen broken off entirely. The fourth had no "broken" sign so I checked it out. It kind of worked but needed maintenance. It was a nice idea though, the chairs, and I'll check it out on the return trip..


chairinkuwait by kirksmith, on Flickr

The first leg of the journey CMB -> Kuwait the IFE was in the the kind storred in the armrest between the seats. This IFE consisted of 6 channels, of which I believe two where in English. My unit (along with the one from my neighbor's seat, which was empty) froze up a few times. Over the course of 5 hours, I did manage to see one movie. The Numbers Station, meh. Not sure why this movie was selected. Who was the genius who thought John Cusack plus action equals, blockbuster.

Oh, this was nice, on the Kuwait -> London leg in addition to a fanny pack, they also give you a alarm clock.


radio by kirksmith, on Flickr

Business class Swag. I now know the temperature and the humidity, yeah, things are looking up for me.

(Second half coming)

smithk

Ok, I guess the pictures didn't post. I posted them to flickr, and posted the link in the post, not sure why they are not loading. Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,
K

angeloedades

Did you use the BB code?

The link is valid when I use the source. It should look like the code below:

[ url = http://www.flickr.com/photos/49614895@N05/10498532523/ ][ img ]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3801/10498532523_1ffe86f10a_z.jpg [/img ][/url]
[ url = http://www.flickr.com/photos/49614895@N05/10498532523/]FoodfromCMB[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/49614895@N05/ ]kirksmith[ /url ], on Flickr

PS. I had to add space at random place to keep it from rendering the pictures.

/AE

flybranchen

Love these reports on less known airlines. Looping forward to the rest

smithk

Thanks for the help AE, holy cow that was a pain, but got it working.

Thank you.
K

flying_blue_white_red

Very nice TR
It brings back good memories
Which aircraft type did you fly with?
Only their Airbus A310 and A320 have a 2-class cabin layout, i think

NeatStuff

I am assuming Kuwait Air is a dry airline? If so never going to fly them!

yous93

When should we expect the NYC part

angeloedades

No problems! I have also subscribed! Now time to read it all again with the added visual stimuli!

^

/AE

smithk

Thank you for the compliment on the TR.

All three flights, I believe, were where 777 (the flights from Kuwait -> LRH and LHR -> where on the same plane. We just had to get off for about and hour and half for them to clean, refuel, etc). There were three distinct sections, the first offering much more room than J. I think the CMB -> LRH they just don't market the F as F, but there was definitely more room upfront. I am sure someone on this board can shed some light on this.

I looked to see if I had more pics. The first one is of the engine, it says GE 90 (build date?).


engine by kirksmith, on Flickr


plane2 by kirksmith, on Flickr


ambu by kirksmith, on Flickr

Thanks for the read and comment

smithk

Cool, thanks for the read and the subscribe.^

K

smithk

Thanks flybranchen, it was definitely off the beaten path.

k

smithk

Oh, yeah it was. "Would you like juice or juice?"

Actually they had an espresso machine which was a pleasant surprise. The arabic coffee was interesting and I would not pass it up but wouldn't seek it out either.

FYI, not just a dry airline but a dry lounge in Kuwait, although Gulf Air's lounge in London obviously was not.

Thanks for reading.

K

smithk

Thanks for reading, I am going to try to finish uploading pics today or tomorrow.

K

BOSton Traveller

I often wonder why Kuwait Airways and for that matter Saudia offer abysmal business and first class cabins compared to nearly all other Middle Eastern carriers, especially when the ruling families are all oil rich. The airport lounge looked pretty awful too. There are airlines from much poorer countries with much nicer premium products, does anyone know why Kuwait and Saudia have or maintain such poor premium products? Why maintain a 3 class offering including First when its so poor?