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Insights At a Glance:

Pula, the Kenyan insurtech known for crop insurance, has launched DelayPay, a tool that pays you automatically if your domestic flight is delayed.
Pay KES 300 upfront; get KES 1,500 for 1–2 hr delays or KES 3,000 for 2+ hr delays or cancellations. No forms, no claims, no calls.
Works with all major local airlines.

If you’ve ever flown domestic in Kenya, think Nairobi to Eldoret, Mombasa to Kisumu, or even Lodwar to Nairobi, you’ve probably developed a sixth sense for delays. You leave for the airport early, clear security with time to spare, sit by the gate… and you soon realize that your flight has been delayed. Sometimes by an hour. Sometimes two. Sometimes indefinitely. The worst part? You don’t even get a sorry, let alone a refund or compensation.

For most of us, it’s an annoying but accepted part of travel in Kenya. But what if you could actually get paid when your flight is delayed?

Kenya’s aviation sector, while growing, is still plagued by poor communication, erratic schedules, and unpredictable disruptions. Compensation? It’s practically unheard of. You’d have better luck explaining blockchain to your grandmother than filing a successful delay claim with an airline here.

And while airlines like Kenya Airways and Jambojet continue to build reputation, they’re not exactly known for accountability when it comes to missed timelines. For business travelers and anyone with a tight schedule, delays aren’t just annoying. They’re costly.

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So yes, something had to give.

Meet DelayPay, Pula’s Smart New Solution for Flight Delays

Enter DelayPay, a new innovation by Pula, a Kenyan Agricultural Insurance and Technology service provider known for revolutionizing crop insurance across Africa. You may recall Pula raising a $6 million Series A funding back in 2021 and $20 million Series B round last year to scale its impact in agricultural protection.

Now, the same startup is branching into something radically different: instant, automatic compensation for flight delays. In a LinkedIn post introducing DelayPay, Pula says:

This new product offers instant, automated payouts for domestic flight delays in Kenya. No claims. No forms. Just fast, fair compensation, sent directly to your M-Pesa.

DelayPay is built for real people, not paperwork. We make compensation easy, automatic, and fair.

Here’s how DelayPay works:

You pay KES 300 before your flight.
If your flight is delayed 1–2 hours, you get KES 1,500.
If it’s delayed 2+ hours or canceled, you pocket KES 3,000.
No claims, no calls, no paperwork. Just money sent to your M-Pesa or Airtel Money before you even land.

You simply upload your flight ticket via delay-pay.pula.io at least 2 hours before takeoff, and that’s it. Alternatively, just email your ticket and number to delay-pay@pula.io. Pula’s system tracks all Kenyan domestic flights in real-time, and if a delay meets the threshold, your payout is triggered automatically.

The product is powered by what Pula describes as “parametric protection”, which is just like insurance, but driven by pre-defined rules in code. If your flight misses the scheduled departure window by over an hour, it qualifies. If not, well, you paid for peace of mind. And yes, they already have reinsurance lined up for risk events like widespread weather delays.

DelayPay launched quietly last week, and the first test run was promising. According to Pula:

38 travelers signed up.
4 flights got delayed.
Every one of them got paid automatically before landing.

Pula’s Nabil Janmohamed, the VP of Global Field Operations, even took to Reddit and LinkedIn to answer questions directly, brushing off concerns about legality, sustainability, and whether the tool was just glorified betting.

But perhaps what sells it better than any press release are the testimonials from users who’ve allegedly tried it:

Even better? The system tracks all major domestic airlines (Kenya Airways, Jambojet, Fly540, and Safarilink) and pays out based solely on scheduled vs. actual departure time. No excuses. No pleading with customer care.

Should You Try It?

If your flight costs you KES 10,000+, spending KES 300 for potential compensation of KES 1,500 or even KES 3,000 is, honestly, not a bad trade.

DelayPay doesn’t solve the actual delays. That’s still up to our ever-erratic airline industry, but it does soften the blow in a way that’s automated, reliable, and refreshingly transparent. And given Pula is “Africa’s leading crop insurance company with over 20 million customers served across the continent,” this doesn’t look like a one-off gimmick. It’s likely just the beginning of how tech can improve our often chaotic travel experiences in Kenya.