Mombasa county governor Hassan Joho on Friday, May 21 caused a stir when he opted to air out his grievances with a local airline after he missed his flight.
Taking to social media, the county head expressed his dissatisfaction with the service after he was unable to commute to Nairobi.
In a statement, the airline explained that the Governor was not allowed to board the plane for showing up late to the check-in counter.
"Our scheduled flight from Vipingo Ridge, to Nairobi, departs at 4: 00 p.m., and the check-in counters close 30 minutes before the flight departs.
"We understand you arrived at Vipingo Airstrip at 4:04 p.m. which is part of the departure time. As a premier airline, we offer an on-time service for all our flights. We also need to respect our other customers who were on time and onboard," the airline responded.
The airline added that even though the governor had not registered his complaint with them, they were willing to rebook him on a different flight.
"It is unfortunate that you were unable to make our flight on time but we are happy to rebook your ticket to another date without penalties," the airline service noted.
Airport rules dictate that passengers on domestic flights produce some acceptable form of identification at check-in.
They are required to check-in at least one and a half hours (irrespective of class of travel) with counters closing 30 minutes to departure.
Many airlines have adopted an online check-in system that allows one to jump the long queues at selected airports and choose their preferred seat.
At the airport, one only needs to drop off their luggage at the dedicated online check-in drop-off point and proceed to the boarding gate.
Pre-boarding is for passengers who require extra assistance for example wheelchair users and those with children under two years.
If one wishes to use the pre-boarding service, they should contact the boarding gate staff in advance but the service may not be available in some cases depending on flight status or for other reasons.
