Review: Kuwait Airways First Class Airbus A330 (CAI-KWI)

For the next segment of my Allegris round the world journey, I flew Kuwait Airways’ Airbus A330-200 first class on the two hour flight from Cairo (CAI) to Kuwait (KWI).

I don’t want to be too critical of a short two hour flight, since you can only expect so much (and it’s not like Kuwait Airways is regarded as one of the world’s best airlines). While the flight was perfectly pleasant, there was nothing first class about it. Actually, everything about the experience, from the seats, to the food, to the service, felt like what you’d expect in business class.

Still, this was really only the teaser of the Kuwait Airways first class experience, as it was the connecting flight on the 777 that I was most looking forward to.

How I booked my Kuwait Airways first class ticket

Kuwait Airways doesn’t belong to any of the major alliances, and doesn’t even have many airline partnerships. There’s no practical way to redeem partner miles for travel on Kuwait Airways, so I instead booked an attractive first class fare. That’s the whole reason I positioned to Cairo, since the airport is known for its good premium fares.

Now, understandably, some may be wondering why I’d even want to fly Kuwait Airways first class, given the lack of options to redeem miles for the product, plus the carrier’s mediocre reputation. Well, the reason is because Kuwait Airways is one of the last two airlines in the world that I hadn’t flown in first class, so I wanted to check the experience off my list.

So I booked the following ticket in first class for $2,042:

5/03 KU546 Cairo to Kuwait departing 11:20AM arriving 2:00PM
5/04 KU413 Kuwait to Bangkok departing 2:40PM arriving 1:40AM (+1 day)

I actually indirectly redeemed points for this. I used Amex Pay With Points, so since I have the Amex Business Platinum, this ended up costing me 132,730 Amex Membership Rewards points, with no cash out of pocket. While not the world’s greatest deal, I figured this would be as good as it gets, if I wanted to review Kuwait Airways first class.

Kuwait Airways first class lounge & boarding

After spending a night at the Le Meridien Cairo Airport, I arrived at Terminal 2 at around 9AM, plenty early for my 11:20AM flight to Kuwait. The check-in process was quick enough, and I then headed for immigration and security.

Traveling through Cairo Airport is… an adventure. Always. It requires a lot of patience, and just going with the flow. After a predictably inefficient security screening process, I was airside. Terminal 2 is definitely the nicest at Cairo Airport, though that’s not ] saying a whole lot.

I briefly visited the Ahlein Premium Lounge, which is where Kuwait Airways sends its passengers. It’s one of the better lounges in the airport, but I still decided to just head to the gate area a bit early, since I found the seating there to be more comfortable.

My Kuwait Airways flight was departing from gate E6, with boarding scheduled for 10:20AM, an hour before departure.

I saw the Kuwait Airways A330-200 at the gate. While Kuwait Airways initially had five A330-200s, the airline now only has one, which is a nine-year-old plane with the registration code 9K-APE, still carrying the company’s old livery. For what it’s worth, of the four other A330-200s, two are now stored, and two fly for the Canadian government. Hah.

Anyway, boarding ended up starting at 10:35AM. There was no priority call, but rather it was just a general boarding call for everyone. The joys of Cairo…

Kuwait Airways A330 first class cabin & seats

I boarded through the second set of doors, where I was welcomed by one of the flight attendants. He motioned for me to turn right, though I pointed out that my seat was to the left, which he then acknowledged.

Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class cabin consists of a total of 17 seats, spread across five rows, in a 1-2-1 configuration. There are four full rows of seats, and then the fifth row has a single seat on the left, which is where I sat.

Kuwait Airways’ first class makes no sense to me. It’s a huge cabin, and the seats are really what you’d expect in business class rather than first class, given that they’re outdated reverse herringbone seats. Heck, Kuwait Airways also has new A330-800neos, and those planes have more modern reverse herringbone seats in business class, with no first class cabin.

If you’re traveling with someone, you may prefer to select the center pair of seats, so that you can sort of enjoy the flight together (though you still have to lean forward to communicate).

Meanwhile solo travelers are better off selecting the window seats.

These are just about the most outdated reverse herringbone seats you’ll find in service nowadays. The seats don’t have any storage compartments, and they’re also quite narrow, given that the A330’s fuselage isn’t very wide.

The side of the seat contained a reading light, entertainment controller, seat controls, headphone jack, AC power outlet, and USB-A power outlet.

The tray table folded out from the console to the side of the seat. When you release it, it’s folded over in half, but you can then flip it over to double the size of the table.

The personal television was connected to the seat in front. It’s ordinarily angled toward the windows, but you can push a button to extend it, so that you can have a more direct view of the screen.

Given the narrow width of the A330’s fuselage, the footwell in this seat is really tight, which you’ll definitely notice when trying to sleep.

The overhead console had reading lights and individual air nozzles, so I was at least happy that I could control the airflow to the seat.

So yeah, Kuwait Airways’ A330-200 first class hard product makes no sense. It’s worse than the carrier’s new A330-800neo business class hard product. I guess it’s no surprise that the airline is starting to phase out these jets. For those curious, the A330-200 business class consists of angled seats in a 2-2-2 configuration.

Kuwait Airways first class amenities

I wasn’t expecting much in the way of amenities on this short of a flight, so in that sense, my expectations were met. There were a decent pillow and blanket waiting at each seat. I wouldn’t be happy if this was all the bedding on a long haul flight, but for a flight of this length, it was more than sufficient.

There were also a pair of decent quality noise canceling headphones, which were presented in a nice leather Kuwait Airways branded pouch.

Then there was a bottle of Acqua Panna water.

The one cute aspect of the service was the crew coming around with a selection of pre-departure sweets, with the choice of dates, some pistachio treats, and more. This was complemented by Arabic coffee.

Lastly, menus were also distributed for the flight.

Kuwait Airways A330 first class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class features audio and video on demand, via the seat back screen. This was definitely one of the older systems that I’ve seen in some time, and the selection was also quite limited. There were a total of just over 50 movies and 25 TV shows, but that included options in English and Arabic, so that’s really limiting.

I didn’t end up watching anything, with the exception of the map feature.

While there’s also a nose camera, that’s not nearly as exciting as a tail camera, especially when it’s not high definition.

I’m a little confused by Kuwait Airways’ A330 Wi-Fi situation. The plane is supposed to have Wi-Fi, though in reality, I only saw an option for a complimentary messaging pass. There was no option to buy a Wi-Fi pass beyond messaging. Strange.

Kuwait Airways A330 departure from Cairo

At 10:55AM, boarding was complete, and the main cabin door closed. This flight was pretty empty across the board — there were three other people in first class, 11 people in business class, and economy didn’t seem too full either.

As soon as the door closed, the friendly-sounding Kuwaiti captain added his welcome aboard, informing us of our flight time of two hours. After that, a prayer was played over the PA, followed by the safety video being screened.

At 11AM we began our pushback, and then at 11:05AM we began our taxi.

Our taxi was long but quick, and at 11:15AM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 23C.

On non-US airlines, I’m used to the seatbelt sign being turned off within minutes. In this case, it stayed on for 25 minutes, despite a smooth climb out.

Kuwait Airways first class meal service

After takeoff, lunch was served. You can find the menu and drink list below (as you can see, Kuwait Airways is a dry airline).

About 30 minutes after takeoff, I was asked what I wanted to eat and drink. I ordered a glass of sparkling water and a lemon mint juice to drink, and that was served pretty quickly. I was surprised that there were no nuts or any other snacks to go along with it.

Then about an hour after takeoff, the meal was served, all on one tray. This included an appetizer of chicken and spinach roulade with sautéed sweet potatoes. Then there were two main course options, and I selected the grilled chicken with caramelized carrot, served with creamy mashed potatoes and sautéed broccoli. This was served with a nice bread basket that had several options.

Lastly, for dessert there was a tasty dark chocolate cake, and I had a cup of coffee to go along with it. While the menu indicated that there were cappuccinos, I was informed that the machine was broken on this plane.

At the conclusion of the meal, warm towels were distributed.

The meal was fine, but there was nothing about it that was first class rather than business class. The chicken in both the starter and main course was rather chewy, and the casserole dish presentation for the main course also didn’t feel very first class.

Kuwait Airways A330 first class lavatory

Kuwait Airways has a first class lavatory at the front of the cabin by the cockpit. It was totally standard and not particularly spacious. The only special thing was that there were some dental kits, as well as a couple of products from PAYOT.

Kuwait Airways A330 first class bed

This flight was too short to sleep, though I did briefly test out the bed. While this is definitely more comfortable than being in economy, this is one of the narrowest and tightest reverse herringbone seats I’ve been in for quite some time, so it definitely didn’t feel very spacious in bed mode, especially around the knees.

Kuwait Airways first class service

The crew on this flight was a mixed bag. There was one male Kuwaiti flight attendant, several Filipino flight attendants (both male and female) and some North African flight attendants (female).

The Kuwaiti flight attendant was stellar, as he was genuine, hospitable, and fun, though unfortunately he wasn’t serving my section for the most part. Instead, I was being served by a male Filipino flight attendant, who just wasn’t very polished or enthusiastic.

There was no being addressed by name, no offer for drink refills, etc. He was just going through the motions. Again, none of this is a huge deal, but if you’re going to have a cabin above business class, something should be done to differentiate it.

I also found it frustrating how pillows and blankets were collected nearly an hour before landing, basically at the halfway point of the flight.

Kuwait Airways A330 arrival in Kuwait

At 12:45PM Kuwait time, the captain was back on the PA to announce that we’d be descending shortly, and would be landing at 1:20PM. Sure enough, the descent started at 12:50PM, and then the seatbelt sign was immediately turned on.

It had been some time since I’ve been in Kuwait, so my eyes were glued out the window on approach, as seeing a city from above is always a treat.

I had a great areal view of the outrageously long Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway.

Then the Kuwait skyline came into view.

Then I saw The Avenues, which is the largest shopping mall in Kuwait, and one of the largest in the world. It’s also where I’d be spending the night, as the Waldorf Astoria Kuwait is connected directly to it.

We touched down in Kuwait at 1:15PM.

From there we had a 10 minute taxi to our arrival gate, which included passing the new Terminal 2, which is expected to open in the near future.

We pulled into our arrival gate at 1:25PM, 35 minutes ahead of schedule.

I then had to get a visa on arrival, which took about 20 minutes, and then I cleared immigration. Kuwait Airways offers a complimentary chauffeur service for first and business class passengers, so I used that to get to the Waldorf Astoria.

Bottom line

Ultimately my Kuwait Airways A330 first class flight was pleasant, which is to say that it was perfectly comfortable for a short flight like this, and we even arrived way ahead of schedule.

At the same time, Kuwait Airways markets this as first class, and there’s simply nothing first class about the experience. This is an average business class product in every way, and as a result, my rating reflects that. After all, Kuwait Airways’ A330-800neo business class is a better hard product than the carrier’s A330-200 first class.

I understand Kuwait Airways is now down to a single A330-200, so ultimately not many passengers will have this experience. Besides, this wasn’t the reason I was flying Kuwait Airways — I was looking forward to the connecting flight on the 777-300ER, to see what the long haul product would be like.

What’s your take on Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class?