KQ Refunds Ksh 415,000 To A Passenger For A Missed Flight

Kenya Airways (KQ) has been forced to refund passenger 415,263 shillings after he was denied entry into the plane despite him arriving at the airport and checking in on time.

The national carrier was ordered to refund the money incurred on a ticket according to the Competition Authority of Kenya. The compensation follows the conclusion of investigations by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) following a complaint by a passenger-only referred to as Mr. Christopher.

On that day, the passenger had booked a flight from Kigali to Nairobi, which was scheduled to depart at 7.40 pm. However, on arrival at the Kigali International Airport, he found that the flight he had booked was already full and was denied boarding.

Kenya Airways is alleged to have oversold tickets from Kigali to Nairobi on February 23, 2018, resulting in the non-admission of Mr. Christopher who missed his connecting flight to London from Kenya’s Capital.

Upon arrival to Nairobi via an alternative flight by RwandAir, the complainant was forced to pay for a KQ flight to London but was later denied compensation in spite of an advisory from the carrier to apply for a refund

Kenya Airways then booked him on a RwandAir flight to Nairobi, which due to its arrival time caused him to miss his British Airways connection flight to London.

In its defense, Kenya Airways had maintained Mr. Christopher was denied boarding due to late arrival at the airport. During the investigations, CAK said the airline denied any responsibility in the matter when it appeared before it, claiming that the passenger was denied boarding due to late arrival at the airport

“The Authority as part of its investigations contacted the passengers who had accompanied the complainant, requesting them to give their witness account of what transpired. They corroborated the complainant’s version of events,” the authority said.

KQ has been found to be in violation of provisions of the Competition Act including using its higher bargaining position to unconscionably deny the complainant boarding along with the use of unfair tactics for the declined refund.

Additionally, the carrier has been fingered for knowingly providing wrong information to the Authority regarding the reasons as to why the complainant was denied boarding.

The Authority ordered the airline to refund the complainant his full amount and commit to being informed consumers of the reason for being involuntarily denied boarding and be duty-bound to remit appropriate compensation to affected consumers if bumping is inevitable.

The national carrier was also ordered to commit to refunding consumers who have been denied boarding an amount equal to the cost the consumer incurred in procuring the ticket within 60 days from the date a claim is lodged.