Hello from Kuwait, as I’m currently in the middle of a review trip! I just flew Kuwait Airways’ Airbus A330-200 first class on the 2hr10min flight from Cairo (CAI) to Kuwait City (KWI).
Ultimately this is just the “appetizer” of my Kuwait Airways first class experience, since I’ll be connecting to the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ER first class on a longer flight. But still, I was curious to experience Kuwait Airways’ first class on a shorter flight as well.
So, how was the experience? It wasn’t bad, but it also didn’t feel very first class. Furthermore, the service was just “meh,” aside from the very nice Kuwaiti gentleman working the cabin. While I’ll have a full trip report soon, in this post I wanted to share some initial impressions of the experience.
Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class cabin makes no sense
I can’t make sense of Kuwait Airways’ A330-200 cabin configuration, and choice of first class product. The plane has 17 first class seats, which is a massive cabin, as it’s in addition to the 30 business class seats behind it. The thing is, Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class hard product is worse than what you’d expect from a decent business class nowadays.
The airline has reverse herringbone seats, and they feel particularly tight, given the A330’s narrow fuselage. That wasn’t an issue on such a short daytime flight, but it would be less pleasant on a longer flight where you wanted to sleep (and the plane operates some longer routes too).
It’s kind of wild that this plane was only delivered in 2015, and this is the first class product the airline decided to install. Fortunately the airline is heading in the right direction — Kuwait Airways’ new A330-800neos have modern reverse herringbone seats in business class, and no first class. So in terms of hard product, the A330-800neo business class is better than the A330-200 first class.
Kuwait Airways’ first class catering is forgettable
There didn’t seem to be all that much differentiation in terms of service between first and business class. Perhaps the nicest aspect of the experience was the pre-departure Arabic coffee and selection of sweets. Oddly, there were no other pre-departure drinks offered.
Then after takeoff, lunch was served. The meal was decent, but not necessarily better than what you’d expect in business class. There was no choice of appetizer, and it consisted of chicken and spinach roulade with sweet potatoes. Then there were two main course options, served in casserole dishes. I chose the grilled chicken with caramelized carrot. Frankly the chicken in both dishes was quite chewy.
Perhaps the best part of the meal was the focaccia in the bread basket, as well as the dark chocolate cake.
Kuwait Airways is a dry airline, so while many airlines differentiate themselves with alcohol selection, that’s not at play here. At least the lemon mint juice was tasty.
Kuwait Airways’ interesting crewing & service
Different Gulf carriers take different approaches when it comes to the types of flights attendants they’ll hire (whether any locals work at the airline, and the distribution of male and female flight attendants).
The last time I flew with Kuwait Airways (admittedly many years ago), the crew consisted of Kuwaiti men and foreign women. On this flight, there was a single Kuwaiti guy (at least that I saw), and both foreign men and women (mostly from the Philippines and North Africa).
The Kuwait guy was lovely — he was so genuinely hospitable, and a great ambassador for the airline and country. Meanwhile the rest of the crew was significantly less warm. It’s not that they were rude, they just weren’t very attentive, and also weren’t overly friendly.
On the Gulf carriers that have this kind of mixed staffing, it’s rare that you hope you’re served by one of the “locals,” but that’s exactly how I felt here.
Bottom line
Kuwait Airways is a pretty strange airline, and this A330 is the perfect example of that. The airline has a massive first class cabin on this jet, yet the seats aren’t even as good as business class on some of the carrier’s other jets. Unfortunately Kuwait Airways doesn’t differentiate its soft product that much either, at least on this regional flight.
I’m looking forward to experiencing Kuwait Airways “Royal Class” first class on the Boeing 777-300ER to Bangkok. Hopefully the longer flight and flagship aircraft makes for a better experience.
What’s your take on Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class?
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