ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES   Customer Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

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ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  14 August 2009 : by Harry Browne   (Australia)

Perth to London was satisfactory. On our return flight we were upgraded to Business Class Heathrow to Brunei and were appreciative of the seating arrangement, food and service offered. However on the 6.5 hour leg from Brunei to Perth we went from the sublime to the absolute ridiculous. The A320 seating was far too cramped for such a flight and the resulting discomfiture was exacerbated by the fact passengers were not required to place their seats upright during the serving of meals. This latter plane should be used for short haul (less than four hours) flights only with purely snack meals provided. Generally, the cabin staff were attentive and accommodating with no complaints.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  10 August 2009 : by J Forshaw   (UK)

Cabin staff were pleasant and helpful. Meals were pre-booked oriental, but because my wife and son were allocated separate seats to me on an only half full plane (why?) we managed to exchange seats with accommodating passengers - so someone else's meals was given to the wrong person - no checking. Manila return saw them weigh everyone's luggage - hand luggage too - even my camera! Fortunately I could offload some Kg as my wife was waiting outside - otherwise it would have been a big money making exercise for Royal Brunei and that was totally unnecessary as the plane was half empty. Never again for me - I will stick with Cathay Pacific.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  28 July 2009 : by Ben Johnson   (UK)

London Heathrow to Kota Kinabalu, via Dubai and Brunei. Lots of legroom, staff were friendly and attentive. Food on outward bound journey very good, not so great the second time. Newish planes, and inflight entertainment good enough, with a reasonable range of films (although didn't vary for the return leg).

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  21 July 2009 : by J Frew   (New Zealand)

Auckland to Brisbane. Flight hadn't been cleaned out and delayed. Plane looked as though it was falling apart, no inflight entertainment. Cabin crew rather rude and appeared to be under trained - English is not their first language and very hard to understand announcements.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  13 July 2009 : by R Nair   (New Zealand)

Auckland to Heathrow. The stopover in Brunei is great giving a free look at Brunei. We were given a whirlwind tour of the city and then returned to the city to browse around more at leisure. I think the break in the journey gives you some relief from jet lag and is a chance to catch up to a new time zone. Good leg room on the plane - window and aisle seats. Eating was good for airline food and plenty of drink refreshments.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  25 June 2009 : by Barbara Barrett   (UK)

Heathrow to Brisbane with my eleven year old granddaughter. I was pleasantly surprised with the trip and level of service from a budget airline. The flights were on time and we were kept fully informed at each stage with stops in Dubai and Banda Seri Begwn. The flight crew were very attentive and the experience was positive.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  14 June 2009 : by Neil Madsen  (New Zealand)

To P Sommers of NZ (3-2-09), Mike Larkins of the USA is 100% right in condemning Royal Brunei FA's for allowing sleeping on the floor. It is downright dangerous. You obviously don't care about your child.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  10 June 2009 : by G Cappucci  (UK)

London Heathrow to Dubai. There was plenty of leg room on the window side, but coming back was in the middle of an aisle and leg room was cramped. If you want legroom ask for a window seat. Excellent entertainment on board. Going out my entertainment system didn't work, the cabin crew were helpful and rebooted the system twice but still no luck - they offered me another seat or magazines to read. The food was basic. During the flight out they came round with drink trolleys (no alcohol), coming back the trolley only came round once during the 8 hour flight. I had to keep pressing the call bell for a drink. The cabin crew staff were very friendly. If you want a cheap economy flight then Royal Brunei is the one to travel with.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  4 June 2009 : by Fergus Stephens  (Ireland)

LHR to BWN and Kota Kinabalu return with family of 4 over Easter. Flights almost full. Aircraft 767 with refurbIshed interior to BWN. All 4 IFE units worked well, which is a first for a trip with RBA, although the number of films was limited. The food was passable and cabin staff friendly. Seats average but legroom good for economy. The stopover at Dubai allows for a quick stretch of the legs and purchase of alcohol before entering dry Brunei. I've used RBA many times in the past and it's good to see that the airline still offers a cheap and acceptable way of flying to Brunei and Sabah/Sarawak.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  29 May 2009 : by A Mariner  (New Zealand)

Auckland-Brisbane-Brunei-Manila return (family of 3 adults). All flights on time. Our luggage didn't get lost or damaged. The inflight meals are not great, but passable. We didn't go hungry or thirsty. The inflight entertainment system does need an overhaul or upgrade. sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. We were lucky because due to the low patronage we could easily swap seats to a position that did work. On the return Brisbane-Auckland leg there were only 28 passengers - makes you wonder how they make money? Watching full length movies was ok, but anything else was very poor. Even the flight progress navigation map kept scrolling off the screen. However the stewards were very friendly and polite. Im still undecided if I would fly Royal Brunei again. There were too many stop-overs for my liking including a 10-11hr overnight stop-over in Brunei on the return trip. We stayed at the Orchid Garden Hotel (which was ok) but an extra expense. At the time of booking this was the cheapest ticket available. (even after adding in the hotel accomodation for Brunei). You have to remember it is a budget airline and I guess you get what you pay for.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  26 May 2009 : by R Ashin  (Australia)

Auckland to Brisbane with my daughter. When I checked in at Auckland Airport, they hadn't allocated my daughter a seat in the plane, so we were waiting for quite a while during check in, while the staff were trying to fix the problem. I booked my daughter separate to me and I was told by the call centre that they would seat her next to me - but they didn't. I requested the child meal, and again the call centre hadn't arranged it either. I hardly touched the meal - my daughter didn't eat the meal either. The inflight entertainment wasn't working, for both of us. I always consider in flight entertainment when booking is a must. If I go with an airline that doesn't offer it, I always take my $15 to purchase it. And it wasn't just us, half the passengers behind us had the same problem. The staff tried to ignore me when I asked about it, they kept saying, all we can do is press a reset button, so if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. You have to wonder, if an airline doesn't have simple things like in flight entertainment working, what other electricals may not be up to par. I am grateful that at the end of it all, we got home safe.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  7 May 2009 : by Jacqueline Riley  (Australia)

This was our first flight with Royal Brunei and I would have to say it will be our last. We arrived at Perth airport waited for ages as there was a computer hitch. Then be told we were overweight by 7 kilos and asked for 350 AUS dollars - we declined so she instructed us to repack but not to think that we could put more in the hand luggage as she would check that again. Luckily for us our son said he would pick the case up. Our long stay at Brunei airport was not the best - facilities could do with a facelift. Staff on the plane were very efficient and friendly and I would thank them for a very comfortable journey - but I would not Royal Brunei again. I am not looking forward to my return as I am already panicking just in case I am slightly overweight.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  24 April 2009 : by D King  (New Zealand)

AKL-BKK on Feb 3 via Brunei. The seating was very cramped and food was just passable. The flight was just satisfactory but the wheels on my luggage were smashed off when I picked it up from the carousel in Bangkok. That was a bit of an inconvenience but what has turned out to be worse is the total lack of satisfaction from the airline back in New Zealand. I have been in contact with 3 people already at the airline and it is hard enough to get them to reply to emails let alone resolve the matter. It will soon be 3 months since I flew with them and their "customer service" department still haven't contacted me from the initial email I sent. If you want a basic flight then they are passable but if you experience a problem with the flight don't count on any service because you will not get it!

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  7 April 2009 : by Jeremy Lockley  (UK)

London Heathrow to Dubai with our two year old son. Outward journey was good, food ok but nothing to shout about, leg room excellent for economy and the entertainment system worked for the whole flight. Staff attentive and helpful made the flight as comfortable as possible. We were under on our luggage so no problems there. We booked our flights two months in advance and at the time of booking they were £200 cheaper for the three of us then any other airline. The problems started on the return leg. We arrived at the airport in Dubai and the weather was awful. At the time of scheduled departure there was no aircraft on our stand so we assumed we would have a delay. Nothing could have prepared us for the response we received when we questioned the likely length of the delay "we have lost the aircraft, it is not appearing on the radar, we don't know how long it will be before it arrives". Myself and other passengers were stunned and many were considering not getting on the flight at all, even if it did turn up! That is what we did, we offloaded our bags and returned to our accommodation for another night. We later discovered that the plane had made an unscheduled landing in Muscat due to the severe weather. However all the other flights, including BA flight to Heathrow left on time. On reflection after this experience, it seems that Brunei have a problem communicating delays and even arrival times to passengers. Even the arrivals board at the airport had no information for the flight we took on the following day! All other airlines are happy to tell you to got to gate 118 or that this is the last call, but Royal Brunei seem to tell you nothing apart from what they, to my amazement told me at the gate that stormy night. Even when are plane left on time the next day, there was no call to board, no "boarding now message" on the departures board. And our parents who were picking us up, and had tried to check that the flight was on time prior to leaving to pick us up from the airport, were also unable to find out if the flight was on time!! Its not what they do tell you that matters its what they don't - or at least that what we thought until we flew with Royal Brunei!!! Basically, next time I would pay a little more and fly with a more established operator.