Review: Kenya Airways Business Class (787-8)

I booked Kenya Airways Business Class, also known as Kenya Airways Premier World Class, as a convenient direct flight from New York to Nairobi before an amazing safari at the JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge. 

While it’s undoubtedly the most convenient way to reach Kenya from North America, Kenya Airways business class won’t be the most luxurious or polished experience you’ll have in the skies.

Booking Kenya Airways Business Class

I booked two seats on Kenya Airways in Business Class for 84,000 SAS miles and $116 CAD per passenger. SAS Miles are hard to come by for North Americans, but I earned mine by completing their millionaire challenge in 2024.

Surprisingly, you can’t even transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to SAS. Using SAS miles for long-haul flights from North America to the Middle East or Africa is one of the best sweet spots for them.

If you didn’t complete the SAS Millionaire challenge, your best bet for booking Kenya Airways Business Class is with Virgin Atlantic miles. They have a fixed price of 138,000 miles and about $300 USD in taxes and fees. If you’re able to take advantage of the frequent transfer bonuses to Virgin, you’re looking at about 100K per ticket.

However, if you can snag Qatar Airways Qsuite saver availability, it would be the most comfortable way to travel to Nairobi.

Ground Experience

As this is a daily flight during the summer months, Kenya Airways has quite an elaborate setup at JFK. Flying in a premium cabin, we were able to use the Sky Priority lane for checking in.

As Kenya Airways is a SkyTeam partner, we were given access to the Delta SkyClub at JFK. Unfortunately, even on a premium class ticket, you are not given access to the ultra luxurious Delta One lounge at JFK. 

SkyClubs are some of my favorite domestic airline lounges, so after a quick scan of our boarding passes, it was still a good place to hang out for a bit before our flight.

As an aside, I experienced a service I hadn’t seen before: upon arrival in Nairobi, a staff member was offloading all the priority bags from the baggage carousel and placing them on this red carpet!

Cabin Arrangement

Kenya Airways only operates one type of long-haul aircraft, so you’ll always know what to expect!

We had originally chosen seats 2A & 2C, but there was a bit of kerfuffle with this booking when I tried to make changes, and we ended up being reassigned to 1D & 1F. While it wasn’t exactly what we wanted, for a 14-hour flight, it was nice for both of us to always have direct aisle access.

I thought our bulkhead seats might have a bit more space, but upon boarding, it was pretty clear that all seats have the same amount of space. Unlike other business-class seats, being in the bulkhead was actually a downside: the entertainment screens had to be folded out from the center armrests, and there was no extra space.

Seat

To give the flight attendants some credit, the amenities were expertly arranged as we boarded, and the presentation was lovely. The seats have a warm design as well; while not polished or extravagant, they’re inviting.

The seat’s footrest is large and provides plenty of space for relaxing or sleeping.

The rest of the seat is quite simple with a universal power port and the entertainment console remote.

Seat controls are located in the armrest.

The tray table was something I thought was intelligently designed: it slides away easily and has a neat mechanism that swivels out of the way or slides forward and back.

Simply push the arrow in the direction it’s pointing, and you can leave your tray table down but still easily access the aisle.

There’s quite a lot of detail on the seats with extra embroidery and embossed fabric on the headrests, and even on the napkins, as you’ll see in the dining section. One benefit of being in the bulkhead seats was easy access to the 3D Map show on the central bulkhead wall.

However, it’s worth noting that I wouldn’t be very happy as a solo traveler in this business class cabin; the armrests are too close to share, and there’s no privacy from your seatmate.

Bed

The bed was pretty spectacular, again with the caveat that I was flying with my wife. If I weren’t, it would’ve felt very open.

Unlike many reverse herringbone seats, where the footwells are tiny and cramped, these seats are super wide open. While there’s much less privacy compared to Lufthansa First Class, the space you have is similar. The mattress pad provided was pretty comfortable as well!

Amenity Kit

The amenity kit on Kenya Airways is fine; it includes the basics for what you would expect from an airline. However, the packaging is nothing special, and none of the contents are branded or provided by a beauty brand.

Within the amenity kit, you’ll find an eye mask, socks, a dental kit, a comb, a pen, and earplugs.

Dining

Our dining service began with a welcome drink while we were still on the ground at JFK.

The champagne was crisp and cool! Well, I can only assume it was champagne; there was no information about drinks on the menus that were passed around.

The food and beverage menu for this flight was as follows:

Once we were up in the air, we were promptly served packaged nuts and offered a top-up of champagne. The amount of Kenya Airways-branded napkins, coasters, and plates was really impressive.

After this, the first service began with the appetizer. I opted for pasta as my main, which, sadly, was not very good, but the lamb shank my wife ordered was tasty enough.

Dessert was a serving of black forest cake, which was perfectly acceptable, but nothing to write home about. After a while, I ventured into the galley and found a full bar and some extra snacks mid-flight. The bar was really well stocked!

About 5 hours after the main meal service, we were offered a choice of steak or a veggie wrap.

This was probably the best thing we ate on the plane, which says a lot about the catering!

However, JFK is known for subpar catering, so Kenya Airways may not be entirely to blame. But my SAS Business Class flight from JFK just a few months earlier had excellent catering, so take that for what you will. 

5 hours after the snack service (this is a really long flight!), we were offered breakfast. I ordered the pancakes, while my wife opted for the chicken sausage. Sadly, it was pretty mediocre food, but still perfectly edible, just subpar compared to other business class products.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

Being in the bulkhead seats, our entertainment screens popped out from the armrest rather than simply sitting on the back of the seat in front of us. While it wasn’t difficult to use, it took some figuring out how to pop the screen out using these buttons under the center armrest. Also in the center armrest is the rather vintage-looking remote.

The headphones provided were perfectly fine, but didn’t seem to have very much noise-cancelling technology.

The entertainment system’s movie and television options can only be described as bizarre. There were basically no new release movies, and the options that did exist were seemingly picked out of a hat. I settled on watching The Matrix Trilogy again, which was fun, but make sure to prepare your own entertainment in advance.

Not that we’re extremely picky about our entertainment options, but my wife settled on downloading episodes of Great British Baking Show and using the screen as a phone stand!

The in-flight map is very vintage and seems to be the same system that Air Canada just phased out on all its legacy planes.

WiFi

Shockingly, there was no WiFi available on this flight. I don’t know official stats, but this might be the longest flight in the world without connectivity!

Conclusion

Kenya Airways Business Class is ultra-convenient if you’re going on safari in the Masai Mara or Serengeti, and it has a great sleeping arrangement for traveling companions. However, that’s the best highlights I can find from the experience; it certainly won’t win any awards, but it’s also not something I would avoid. 

Given the high cost for anyone without SAS miles, I would not recommend it over taking a connection on Qatar. The convenience of reaching Kenya directly is the best reason to fly with Kenya Airways rather than a Gulf carrier.