This archive report was first published on 4 January 2020.
On December 8th, I boarded a Fly540 flight from Nairobi to Juba, expecting a smooth journey. However, my experience was marred by a series of unfortunate events that left me stranded and questioning the airline's maintenance practices.
My flight was delayed by over 6 hours on December 14th, and when we finally took off, the pilot announced that the plane had a technical problem and had to turn back to Juba. The passengers were in a state of panic, praying that the plane would land safely. Thankfully, we made it back to Juba, but the flight was eventually cancelled, and we were booked into a hotel with promises to be picked up the following morning.
However, on December 15th, the Juba Fly540 representatives failed to show up, and their phones were off. The hotel management asked us to check out, as they too were stranded without any communication on whether to continue staying at the hotel or not. We waited for over an hour at the hotel lobby, frantically calling any Fly540 contact numbers.
Eventually, a contact person in the Fly540 Nairobi office informed us that the flight had been cancelled due to the technical problem not being resolved, and the plane could not fly in that condition. They also informed us that the scheduled flight for that day was cancelled and that the next flight would be on Tuesday, December 18th.
However, this was not a viable option for us, as we had commitments for the week and it was not feasible to stay in Juba for another three days. They also refused to book us on alternative flights, leaving us with no choice but to find our own arrangements to travel back to Nairobi. The cost of the available KQ flight to Nairobi was USD 790, which I incurred due to Fly540's inconveniences.
I have since tried to seek a refund from Fly540 through Emma Wangari, a manager in customer service, but she has stopped picking my calls and emails. I am now planning to take legal action against them. Anyone planning to use Fly540, please be aware that you are doing it at your own risk.
