KQ on the spot after Kenyan passengers were left stranded in the US

Kenya Airways (KQ) has issued a statement after more than 50 Kenyans stuck at the JKF Airport since Sunday decried the carrier’s customer care service.

According to Lanji Ouko Awori, the carrier had been cancelling flights from Sunday, with no communication to the passengers.

50+ Kenyans stuck at JFK incl babies! Canceling our flights since Sunday. Just letters from a “ghost worker” Philip Kandie.

Our Covid certificates expired, we can’t switch flights. No word from @KenyaAirways

Please help us get their attention. @citizentvkenya @StandardKenya

— Lanji Ouko-Awori (@LanjiLanji0) February 18, 2021

“Fly directly from Newyork with KQ at your own peril! Customer Service is non-existent, on day 3 arguing with a wall because there is no customer service,” Awori wrote on Twitter.

The Kenyan passengers claimed that their COVID-19 certificates had expired, meaning they could not switch flights, leaving them stranded at one of the world’s busiest airports.

In a statement on Friday, the national carrier said its flight which had been scheduled for February 16 had been rescheduled due to a technical hitch and a snow storm:

Fly directly from New York with KQ at your own peril!!! Customer service is nonexistent. On day 3 arguing with the wall because where is customer service @KenyaAirways

— Lanji Ouko-Awori (@LanjiLanji0) February 18, 2021

“All our passengers were re-routed or accomodated until the next flight or negative pcr test, kindly get in touch via DM if you still have concerns,” KQ wrote on Twitter.

The statement however did little to settle the dust, with Awori claiming that the carrier had not even communicated with the hotel after the flights were canceled.

A brutal storm sweeping across America has been disrupting business across a range of industries, including many sectors that are still trying to recover from the pandemic.

Airlines continued to cancel flights in the region. The nation’s four largest airlines — American, United, Delta and Southwest — canceled 2,220 flights on Wednesday, after canceling 2,450 flights Tuesday.

Fly directly from New York with KQ at your own peril!!! Customer service is nonexistent. On day 3 arguing with the wall because where is customer service @KenyaAirways

— Lanji Ouko-Awori (@LanjiLanji0) February 18, 2021

Those airlines account for more than 80% of the nation’s air traffic, and three of them — American, Southwest and United — have major hubs in Texas that were hit by the storm. Another 1,230 of Thursday’s flights were already canceled, according to Helane Becker, airline analyst for Cowen, who cited data from tracking service FlightAware.

Becker said there is likely to be only a “small financial impact” from the cancellations. Airlines are still operating only a fraction of the flights they scheduled before the pandemic caused a plunge in air travel, and fares for the tickets they are selling are well off of year-ago levels.

Additional report from CNN