Advice on my flying in Kenya
Replies: 8 - Last Post: Oct 5, 2012 12:48 PM Last Post By: Filskov
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Advice on my flying in Kenya
I arrive in Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta (NBO), from Amsterdam, on the 10th of december at 7 A.M. and plan on flying straight to Lamu from there. I have a few flight options and are not sure which one to go for, as I am a bit uncertain on how reliable the air traffic is in Kenya.The options I have are at 9.40 AM from Jomo Kenyatta, NBO. The other option is from Wilson, WIL, at 3.30 PM.
I would obviously prefer staying at Jomo Kenyatta, but I am not sure if I have enought time to change flight and check in my luggage. How far in advance do I need to be for a domestic flight like that? I guess my question is: Is it too risky to hope to make the 9.40 flight at Jomo Kenyatta and should I just take the cap-ride from NBO to WIL to be on the safe side? The ride does not seem to be too far or expensive either.
Any thoughts? Thanks :)
1
Oh, definitely go for the JKIA departure. It's comfortably later than your arrival time. If you were getting in at 8.30, that would be a bit tight. But I think you'll be fine. The 3.30flight from Wilson won't get you to Lamu town until nearly dark, after spending a whole day in Nairobi doing nothing. Unless, of course, you choose to go into the national park or do something like that.Richard
3
JKIA definitely. Assuming your international flight arrives on schedule you will have enough time for the 9.30am flight. Checking for domestic flights is 1hr before departure time , but it's always advisable to be there earlier. The afternoon flight from Wilson will give you too much time on your hands. I would rather be cooling my heels in Lamu4
it should be sufficient time to get the connecting flight at JKIA, unless the machine from Amsterdam is really late. Do you already have a visum? Queues at the visa counters of immigration sometimes take a while. Also, the baggage delivery tends to be slow, and it gets chaotic as soon as a number of international flights arrive and hundreds of passengers try to get their bags (often from the same carousel due to space limitations). So it might get bit tight if you have to wait for your stuff for a long time, but you should still be able to get through customs, walk over to domestics and check in for your Lamu flight. If you are travelling with someone else and time is running out you can still split and one of you can rush to domestic check-in and ask them to wait5
If the flight departs at 9.40am you will have ample time to get to the Airport. at least you will require one hour to 45 minutes before check in for the domestic flight.A cab is safe and ok from JKIA to Wilson.
Safari Africa Guide ( Flight and Accommodation in Africa)
6
Thank you all. So sticking to JKIA seems to be a somewhat safe bet. I was actually leaning towards Wilson, but if people believe there will be plenty of time, I guess I'll go with the 9.40 option at JKIA.Then I'll just pray to that my flight from Amsterdam isn't too delayed. How "late" do you think that my Amsterdam flight can be for me to still make it?
Thanks!
7
I have used them plenty of times, and usually they are on time, sometimes even ahead of schedule. If you do an online check-in, try to get a seat as far at the front as possible to have a head start at the immigration queue.you cannot influence the speed of the baggage handling and that can be a bit nerve-wrecking if you have a connecting flight, but I recently came via AMS and had a connecting flight at 9 am - and even time for a coffee. So by all likelihood you should be able to make your connection. might be useful to call/text the airline handling your Lamu flight if you fear you are delayed for your check in at domestics - you can get sim cards and prepaid credit at the newsdealers store in the arrival hall.
