Convener of VOALS, Dr. Yetty Folami, others experience flight delays out of Kenya!

Convener of VOALS, Dr. Yetty Folami, others experience flight delays out of Kenya! 

Olufemi Odeyemi, NAIROBI — Air travellers passing through Kenya are increasingly at the mercy of vague airline communication during flight disruptions, with passengers often left unable to determine whether a delay entitles them to compensation or leaves them to bear the cost themselves, industry observers and recent traveller accounts show.

The latest wave of disruptions has been traced to industrial action at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), where members of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) resumed a go-slow strike on August 30 over unresolved grievances, including a stalled collective bargaining agreement and disputes over pay and working conditions. The Kenya Airports Authority confirmed that flights were experiencing delays and cancellations as a result, advising travellers to check with their airlines before heading to the airport. Kenya Airways and its subsidiary Jambojet both reported extended delays, with some departures pushed back by up to six hours as the backlog grew.

The distinction between who pays for the disruption matters. Under international air passenger rights frameworks, including EU261 regulations that apply to flights departing European airports, airlines are required to cover meals, accommodation and rebooking costs when they are found responsible for a delay or cancellation exceeding three hours. Kenyan carriers operating out of Europe must comply with these rules despite not being European airlines themselves. Notably, a strike by airport or aviation workers is typically classed under such frameworks as an "extraordinary circumstance" beyond the airline's control, which can exempt carriers from compensation obligations even as passengers bear the disruption.

No comparable regulation governs flights within Kenya or the wider East African region. Domestic and regional disruptions are instead handled through individual airline goodwill policies, which typically only apply once a delay stretches beyond eight hours.

Travellers and aviation observers say the real difficulty lies not only in the rules themselves but in how airlines characterise a disruption in the moment, often avoiding a clear determination of fault.

Dr Yetunde Folami, convener of the Voices of Africa Leadership Summit (VOALS) Kenya, held at Argyle Grand Hotel, Nairobi, described her encounter with her flight out of Kenya back to the United States of America after the summit on Monday 31st August, 2026.

"They told us our flight wasn't cancelled, it wasn't delayed and it's still on time, but we should go back and call them tomorrow morning! Whatever that means," Dr Folami said.

Her account illustrates a pattern travellers say has become familiar: a flight status that is confirmed as on time, not delayed nor cancelled, yet leaving passengers unable to invoke compensation rights because no formal disruption has been declared, while also unable to make alternative travel arrangements with any certainty.

Another attendee whose experience was similar to Dr. Yetty's, Uche O'keem, said "We spent 8hrs in the airport with no information from our Airline, only for them to cancel our flight and send us out with no compensation, no water, no food and no hotel accommodation. We had to sort ourselves out! What they told us is to wait for an email update from the airline. They rebooked our flight 24hrs later but said there was no “guarantee” we would be flying out. Eventually after a great ordeal they checked us in at the last minute and we left."

Not every case ends in the same ambiguity, however. Dr. Winnie Meme, another attendee at the VOALS Kenya, said her own experience showed how the process is meant to work when an airline accepts responsibility. Dr. Meme had already boarded and was on the plane for hours before the strike took effect, after which passengers were taken back to a hotel. Her flight was subsequently rescheduled, and the airline covered the cost of her hotel stay.

"My flight was rescheduled and the airline is responsible for the hotel I'm staying in," Dr. Meme said.

Her case, aviation observers note, reflects the clearer end of the spectrum, a disruption the airline acknowledged as its own, triggering the accommodation obligations that should follow.

This reporter, Olufemi Odeyemi, publisher of Abesan News, was also at the airport during the disruption while travelling to Nigeria from Kenya after the VOALS Kenya summit. Unlike Dr. Meme, the delay lasted roughly three hours, after which the flight departed, with the pilot indicating it was the tenth aircraft in the queue for departure. The shorter delay meant no hotel accommodation was required, illustrating how the length and timing of a disruption, not just its cause, can determine what passengers are owed.