Bitter Experience With Kuwait Airways

Kuwait Airways is the national air carrier of Kuwait. I had the opportunity to avail its service when I went to Bangladesh on the 16th December. Previously I was very impressed with Emirates, another airlines of the middle east. I was so happy with Emirates that I rated it higher than the world renowned British Airways. Emirates seemed to be a perfect airlines to me. It did not miss its schedule, the crews in the flights were very cordial and sincere in their duty. Moreover I cannot forget the dinner ticket and one international call ticket provided by Emirates when I reached Dubai International Airport. The buffet at the gorgeous restaurant was unforgettable.

I thought Kuwait Airways will be as good as Emirates as it too is an airlines of a wealthy middle eastern country. But it gave me quite a contrasting experience. Almost half of the crews were Kuwaiti and their behavior was horrible. It seemed like they do not like their job at all and by serving us they are doing a favor. The rest of the crews of foreign origin were professional. I remember that one Kuwaiti air hostess was constantly frowning indicating her disgust with the job. In my journey from JFK to ZIA I had a 7 hour stop over in Kuwait Airport. The airport is ugly, it looked like a tent made of concrete to me. May be the design is a result of living in tents for hundreds of years. It had rooms for smoking. It is the only airport I have seen so far with this facility, none of the western airports I have visited, which are much much better than Kuwait Airport, had this (at least I did not find it). The fountains were dirty and filled with cigarette filters. The prayer rooms do not have any place for ablution. Kuwait Airways did not give me any hotel. It only gave me a meal ticket when I asked about it. The restaurant looked very cheap and small. The food was moderate. The quantity and number of items were fixed.

On my way back the experience was even worse. The flight from ZIA to Kuwait Airport was delayed by three hours because the plane could not arrive in time. This time I had a 17 hour stop-over at Kuwait Airport. Kuwait Airways was supposed to provide hotel but to my astonishment they refused to provide me hotel! There were many people who did not get hotel and were infuriated by this. We all protested and in response they agreed to provide hotel but only to U.S., U.K. and Canadian passport holders! People like me was guilty of having a Bangladeshi Passport! This time too they provided the dinner ticket only when asked to provide it. They did not provide the breakfast ticket though they clearly knew we are going to stay there for 17 hours and it will include breakfast time. Families with kids and old people stayed in the sofas of restaurants at first. But they were chased away but the restaurant stuffs.

I urge everyone to take lesson from this. Specially the Bangladeshis should be aware that Kuwait Airways discriminate against them. This is their return of our sending troops after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. On my return to JFK, I found that few Kuwait Airways crews are held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers for further security screening. Looks like Americans know better how to deal with Kuwaitis.