Royal Brunei Airlines review - by S McGee

9 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Just flown Perth to Heathrow - first flight I had no complaints, food good and service and entertainment system. Got to Brunei and changed planes and very disappointed no entertainment from Brunei to Heathrow - not only myself but half the plane. Flying with my son of 12 so wasn't happy. Entertainment makes the long journey slightly easier and this was just awful so even though cheaper ) wouldn't do again - I would pay extra. Dreading flight back home. Also people who had bought duty free booze in Perth it was taken of you in Brunei.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by T Sweetman

9 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Economy class Perth to London (stopped Brunei). We had a terrific flight!! Only one leg where one of the screens only had the tv programs running, no movies. Had minimal waiting times in transit, basically hopped off plane, walked to transit lounge and used toilet facilities etc, walked around small shops and then had to board ongoing flight. Food was great, and heaps of it, also staff often walking about offering juice or water. The planes were full all legs. Considering the money we saved by using Royal Brunei, we would use again. Hopefully we will have the same good experience on our return to Australia - fingers crossed!

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by F McCallum

5 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I booked an economy return flight to Darwin from Heathrow with a weeks stop over in Brunei. The outward leg from Heathrow had only about 30 passengers at the departure gate and they simply cancelled the flight. They offered me a flight with Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur I accepted and I had a lovely flight and spent a week in Malaysia. It took Royal Brunei 36 hours to get my bags to me even though they had 4 hours at Heathrow to transfer to Malaysia Airlines. I got to Brunei under my own steam using Air Asia since Royal Brunei abandoned me when I reached KL. Royal Brunei check in staff tried to refuse me boarding on the Brunei to Darwin leg on the basis that I had voided the onward legs by not taking the original flight to Brunei even though they had put me on the Malaysia Airlines flight. On getting on the plane it was virtually empty and I had three seats to myself and slept the whole way. The flight back to Brunei was also almost empty and I slept across three seats. The flights from Brunei to London via Dubai was average although the transfer at Dubai was chaotic again due to Royal Brunei staff virtually abandoning transfer passengers. Other airlines had staff escorting transfer passengers. On balance the planes are old but clean, seats old but comfortable, food is reasonable. The cabin staff are good but the second you step off the plane during transfers you are somebody elses problem. The company itself is chaotic. If you have loads of time and dont stress easily they will get you to your destination. Bottom line I got all the flights for a week in Malaysia and a week in Australia for £620.00 I am on balance happy but must caution anybody with expectations of a timely, organised flight to use another carrier. If you are adventurous and adaptive in my case having a week in Malaysia rather than Brunei then this very good value.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by M Draper

23 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-Dubai-BWN Business class We arrived from an overnight flight from Washington DC hoping to connect to Royal Brunei. The lounge at Heathrow is run by SAS and quite nice. We were boarded about an hour late at 10:50am. Rolled out to the tarmac, and waited and waited. Mechanical problem. About 2 hours later, we came back to the terminal. We returned to the lounge, with the idea that we would reboard at about 2:30. Instead we were give a meal voucher. Finally at 4:30, the flight was cancelled, and chaos ensued. Royal Brunei only has three ground staff at Heathrow, so trying to just get information about what to do was very trying. To make a long story short, we finally got to the hotel at 8pm. We left the following morning. The cabin was very worn, but the inflight entertainment worked and the food was fine. Would I fly it again? Only if I needed to get to Brunei again, but even then I would probably consider getting to Singapore on Singapore Airlines and only taking Royal Brunei from there.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by D Spencer

23 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-DRW Business class. Still using a rather tired old 767 to Brunei and Airbus 320 to Darwin. All sectors outbound and return were more or less on time. In fact at both Dubai and Heathrow on the return we arrived early but then had to keep circling to await our landing slot. Food adequate rather than exceptional and we found being on the last row of business class, we had our orders taken after everyone else and by then some items had run out. Our seating position, also meant we had to step across others in the middle of the plane to reach the single business class toilet, which incidentally sometimes ran out of loo roll. Its suggested that you can dine at anytime you like during the flight but the feeling we got was that they preferred to serve everyone at the same time. Had heard horror stories about the IFE never working but have to say apart from 30 mins after taking off from LHR when it was unavailable, there were no further problems. However after a few hours on each sector, the in- flight map charting the plane's progress started flickering and was never re-set. Most of the staff friendly but on the Darwin-Brunei leg when we had only 13 passengers on board in total, the chief steward chose to spend most of the time sat down at the back of business class coughing and sneezing. We've used Brunei before and probably would again as their business class is more affordable but there's certainly room for improvement. Also believe there is little benefit in flying the Darwin- Brunei sector in business class.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by J Davis

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Heathrow to Darwin Business Class. Thank goodness for Business Class Lounge to avoid crowds at Heathrow! All connecting flights were on time. Staff friendly and courteous, especially on the first London-Dubai leg. Cabin dreary. Anyone who thinks it should all be in grey is in serious need of a bit of livening up! I thought the food was pretty good although it is not a mix of Asian and European as described. It was pretty European including scones and jam!! The really bad part however was the dreadful aircraft from Brunei to Darwin. Shabby, worn out and the worst cabin staff who disapeared shortly after take off and did not emerge until we were nearing landing. I noticed there were only about 40 people travelling in Economy and they were all able to stretch out whereas our seats hardly inclined at all and we got no extra benefits. If I do it again I shall stop off for a day or two in Brunei and continue that leg in Economy. It will work out cheaper and a better use of my money! Return trip much the same.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by G McDonald

6 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-DXB-BWN. Check-in a joke in London T3 and had the same problems with the entertainment system on board the plane, with stops and breaks. Plenty of room on outboard flight which meant that I could change seats. Cabin staff friendly and helpful, but working under bad conditions.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Trish McKinnon

28 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Sydney to London via Brunei. A smooth and efficient service. All flights on time, or nearly ; food generally fine, with a couple of outstanding offerings. Seats and overall condition of the planes (two different 767s for the trip) was quite satisfactory. And the in-flight entertainment worked for both of us all the way!

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by G Trainor

15 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

AKL to LHR with transfer at Brunei. Both old, weary 767s with overhead screens. One set of headphone jacks didn't work and my daughter's seat cushion kept sliding forward so arranged a seat change at Brunei to the front of a row. Again, only one headphone jack worked. Return was later model planes with personal TV, except they couldn't show movies, just the same looping tv 'entertainment' channel (low-grade Hollywood celebrity pap & RBA promotional videos) as the out-bound journey. 25 hours in the air without a single movie to help pass the time! How RBA have the cheek to put a copy of their movie schedule in the seat pocket amazes me when, having read comments below, this is clearly a frequent occurrence. In short, RBA - never again!

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Greg Carpenter

10 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Return SIN-BWN-LHR economy class. I booked Royal Brunei because of its 4-star rating and competitive price, but my expectations were not met. While service and food were good, the Boeing 767 seats were the most uncomfortable I have experienced in a long time. The aisle seats had very limited legroom, because there was some sort of plastic box under the seat in front, which meant I had to compete with my neighbour in the window seat for space. Also, the headrests were not in good shape and would slide down all the time (I 'fixed' the problem by stuffing something between the headrest and the back of the seat). Inflight entertainment was OK, although as always the personal screens were installed at such an angle that the contrast was bad (typical problem if you are tall and squeezed into an economy class seat). It seemed to me that the plane was not up to the standard of a long-distance (10hr+) flight. To summarize, the whole flight from London to Singapore felt like three consecutive budget airline flights. It's impossible to catch any sleep on any of the three legs of the trip, so I arrived tired. At least I learned that next time I will definitely book a direct flight. Oh, and I will avoid Heathrow - the new '1 piece of hand luggage' rule means that, even if you have two tiny pieces of hand luggage (laptop bag and documents bag) you will have to try to stuff one into the other: absolutely ludicrous.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Edmund Carew

9 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Singapore to Brunei, with a tired 767 Brunei to leg after a five hour stopover. The first flight was on time; the second was 20 minutes late into Sydney. While the airline staff were pleasant enough, the 767 was dated, with tatty carpet in places and an inedible croissant breakfast served on the Sydney leg. When boarding the Sydney leg, airport staff confiscated all duty free even though this was all purchased in SIN, DXB and so on. Of the 15 to 20 passengers affected, nearly all argued with the airport police and other staff, who refused point blank to hand back the duty free and who claimed that the bottles would be broken. The airport staff also refused to place the duty free together in the hold, suitably wrapped to prevent smashing of glass bottles. Some passengers had their own theories: either lovely private parties in this Islamic state, or a lucrative trade in on-selling litre bottles of spirits. After arrival in Sydney, I spoke with the crew, one of whom confirmed that there was trouble with some of the airport staff but that there was no memo suggesting that duty free would be confiscated at the boarding gate. If this scam affects you, write to RBA and request compensation.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Mark Welker

3 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Beginning of July 2007 my partner and I boarded the RBA plane off to London, with the familiar stopover in Brunei, and stop in Dubai. I quickly noticed that nothing had changed since 2000, meaning it seemed to be the exact same plane I flew in 2000, with same 80s decor, temperamental headphone jacks, tired seats and grubby seat covers. In 7 years even the overhead TV screens don't seem to have been updated. We change in Brunei and get a slightly newer plane with PTV screens. Super, if only my screen actually worked - it didn't, and with no spare seats I had to ride out the 15 hour trip with no entertainment at all. Several other people around me experienced the same thing. My partners screen worked, so I watched her movies in silence (only one set of headphones can jack in) and then 6 hours before touching down in London, her screen stopped working. Things got worse on the return flight - my headphone outputs don't work, and touching down in Dubai at 3am for 1hr stop we are informed that due to operational issues the flight won't be leaving again till 1.30pm in the afternoon. A 10hr wait. We are filed off the plane, with no information about what is about to happen, but assured by the staff that our connecting flights from Brunei to Australia are aware of this delay and will be waiting for us. "They will not leave without you" was the exact phrase. Many people get told different stories, and we go from line to line, checking boarding passes numerous times until all of a sudden we are going through immigration and they take our passports off us altogether (without explaining why) and give us a small tab of a boarding card with a number on it to identify us. We are taken to a hotel for the day (it's 6am by this stage). The hotel is good, but while we are all ushered there in a bus, people at the back of the line are eventually told that there are in fact no rooms available. Eventually arrive Brunei at 3.30am. To our surprise there's no announcement as we touch down about connecting flights. We get to the transit lounge and there's is no one to meet us. Staff seem ignorant to our Dubai delay and explain to us in a patronising way that our plane left 10 hours ago. When asked when the next flight to Perth is they say 5pm that day, but the flight is full and we're told the next flight is 2 days later. The staff, management, airport security want nothing to do with us, but as there are 60 of us we refuse to leave the counter until they come up with an acceptable solution that doesn't involve us waiting almost three days for our flight home. Miraculously after about 4 hours of this, all 60 of us are put onto the very next flights to Australia leaving that day, with 33 of us put on the supposedly full flight to Perth at 5pm that afternoon. The most disappointing facet of this trip was not delays, as you come to expect some delays in airports, but the lack of communication and compassion for customers. Many passengers had children travelling with them but throughout the whole 40 hour transit, we never had access to anything but hand luggage. The strength of an airline is in it's ability to deal with you when things go wrong. I would never fly them again, and would advise anyone else to avoid them at all costs. Many would have been like me, and had never had any problems with the airline before, to those people I would say either wait and see, or play it safe and avoid.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Susan Frampton

23 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

We were travelling Brisbane to Brunei, with a stop over for 3 nights and then on to London, Business Class for the entire journey, back to Brisbane 6 weeks later. The saga started the night before we were leaving when we had a message on our answer machine telling us our Royal Brunei trip would not be leaving as scheduled at 11.30 am next day , but at 2.30 am the following morning! Who wants to start a holiday in the middle of the night? How are you supposed to get to an airport at that time anyway. No help was offered on that problem and no compensation offered for the pre paid night at the 6 star Empire Hotel . Well the plane did leave at 2.30 am and a tired old plane it was, no individual TV or anything up to date but the old 1st class seats were roomy and comfortable. The second leg of the journey was good with sky dreamer seats and our own TVs all the way to London. Coming back was another story. The first leg from Heathrow to Dubai we were back to the old 1st class seats, no individual TV screens, food was pretty poor the entire trip and not a single seat spare. Little did we realise worse was to come. We overnighted in Dubai and when we went to check in next day there was no business class queue to check in at. Only one Royal Brunei employee was trying to check all passengers and an Arab with 15 passports and hundreds of suitcases managed to push his way to the front of the queue. After an hour of this charade we discovered Business Class could check in at a totally different desk at the airport for Business Class for all airlines. There has to be a 1st for everything! When we got on the plane an old 767, we were dismayed to find our seats were the same as economy class, all they had done was remove 1 row of seats to give a little more leg room. My seat was broken, the footrest did not come up. This was the plane we had all the way back to Australia, no individual TV screens, not even screens for those sitting on the sides. The food was pretty tragic too, who wants red onion in a breadroll on a flight? We will never fly with this airline again and I can assure you that all of us on that flight thought the same. I felt sorry for staff who were lovely, friendly people who were doing their best under very trying circumstances. I forgot to mention I changed seats after a row at Brunei from 11a to 9a and that seat was broken too, only this time we had less leg room as we were front row on the side and could not even see the TV screen. We've had more leg room in economy on other airlines. Don't travel with this airline, pay a bit more and get some value for your money.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by E Wallace

4 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SYD-LHR Return in Economy. The flight over was acceptable, we did encounter a few problems with our TV but we were so tired we didn't realy care. The return flight was terrible, Our TV wasn't working on the first leg between LHR-Brunei. Although cabin crew attemped to fix it, when this failed we were offered no compensation e.g changing seats. Brunei to SYD we got one of the '"old" planes. poor inflight entertainment and a hard lumpy seat, i was not at all impressed. Other than that the trip was OK, the food wasn't that great and airport security at Brunei seemed a bit excessive. Cabin crew were polite and helpful.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by N Dalton

14 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

We have never been so disappointed with an airline as Royal Brunei. The retrofit is retro-bucket, half the time the IFE wouldn't work, it took me 4 hours to watch a 90 min movie as the crew had to re-set the movie 3 times. The seats are shabby and unclean. Brunei to Brisbane was an old plane. If you advertise the "new sleeper cell" then get rid of the old buckets. I cannot see me flying with them again, I don't care how much money you save.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Bill Plan

22 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Economy class from Sydney to Heathrow and have no major complaints. The food was good, exceeding expectations, hot food was hot and it was sufficient. The seats for economy were as good as Qantas and service was attentive. It was very good value. We did a tour in Brunei each way, Bandar Splendour on way out which was excellent and minimised jet lag as it fitted in with our sleeping times. On the way back we did the countryside tour and it was good but it was in the afternoon of a 12 hour stay in Brunei and we were tired by the time we started it. The down sides of the trip were the 12 hour gap in Brunei, too long with a 6.5hr time to Sydney they should fly out the same day to meet the night curfew. Our opinion on this may be coloured by the fact that we were diverted because of fog to Brisbane and instead of getting off at 6.00am we finally got off at 11.00am. During this time the communication was abysmal from the staff ranging from incorrect to completely absent. They also did not cater for breakfast so we had virtually nothing to eat in the morning. I appreciate the diversion was not Royal Brunei's fault but they need to tell their passengers what is going on. The other down side is that they always seem to delay takeoff for late arriving passengers and this is inconsiderate for those on the plane on time.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Jerome Pearce

20 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

We fly Royal Brunei Business class every year from Sydney to London and back. We started by getting a good deal, and now we fly because it is the cheapest business class we can find. We find everything is fine. The only complaint is sometimes the IFE does not work (maybe 1 in 6 journeys) but that is not uncommon. Food is good, service is fine, although we find the male staff better then the female. Brunei is a bit boring unless you take a tour, but all transglobe flights will inevitable have a few hours delay, and we eat and sleep there in the lounge. I kind of miss the 2 flight journey of JAL (and the free stop- over in the hotel), but the 3 leg journey at least keeps you moving about. Sitting in one chair for 12 hours has got to be bad, however comfortable it may be. All in all we must have been lucky the last 3 years as we have always had the retro-fitted planes (sometimes a bit shabby, but it is ex-first class). We have never had a delay, and never been down-graded (I would just bitch and threaten till I got what I paid for, but as we are Silver members of their miles club, I suspect it would not happen).All in all we are very pleased, and will continue to use them unless we get significant problems. The price is not too bad, too and there are often cheap deals.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by W Moore

10 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Darwin to London with Brunei and a poor experience. We had 8 hours in Brunei so took a city tour, only to get back to the airport and there was a 5 hour or so delay on our flight - the last thing you need on a journey that was already scheduled to take about 34 hours. This meant that we would miss our connecting flight out of London (not booked with Brunei). I spoke to the staff at the airport and the best they could offer was letting me use their phone to call ahead. Most helpful. When we got to London we had to then go and spend another $800 getting flights to the north. Coming back, we settled down to watch a film, only for the screen to stutter and go off after about an hour - both our screens that is. We called the cabin crew and they said they would reset it for us and we should wait 15 minutes. 15 minutes later, we start watching and it crashes after about 5 minutes. This routine is repeated a couple of times before we ask to change seats. However, due to the ridiculous seat allocation system, there were no empty seats. The plane was either a 2-3-2 or 2-4-2 configuration - can't remember but it's not important. We (a couple) had been allocated 2 seats on our own and single travellers had been given the 3 or 4 seats to themselves in the middle. On such a long flight, they did what we would all do and stretched out to sleep. Hence a flight with probably 40 passengers less than capacity had no spare seats. This kind of attitude to those of us who have no choice but to fly cattle class is unacceptable.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by M Bown

8 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR to Brunei via Dubai in business class. We couldn't fault the service. The new retro fitted business class cabin was excellent along with the food. Cabin staff very friendly and professional. We were on board for approx 16 hours in total and we had working IFE systems all the way without fault. Would fly Royal Brunei again.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Charles Lacey

5 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BWN-LHR-BWN in Economy. Over the last 2 years I have flown this route 8 times in Economy and once in Business class. There has been a marked and steady deterioration in standards of timekeeping, reliability and service. I cannot understand a supposedly reputable airline still using planes with no seat back inflight entertainment on a 16 hr flight. Even on the planes that do have seat back screens, the inflight entertainment rarely functions properly. In March I flew this route, and sat in seat 32A. Predictably the screen would not function, and neither would the screen next to me. I personally was not too worried, but my neighbour was and asked to be moved. This was not possible, presumably because there were so many other screens not working. 9 days later, I flew back from London to Bandar, and by chance I was in the same seat. Again both screens were not working. I feel sorry for the cabin crew who have to deal with the constant complaints about the in flight entertainment, and it is obvious that they are becoming inured to the problem, since now they generally don't bother to pretend that the problems are solvable. In addition to the in flight entertainment problems, this route is subject to frequent delays, usually due to mechanical faults. Out of the 8 flights I have experienced a 4 hr delay at Bandar, due to a problem with the in flight catering equipment, a 4hr delay at Dubai due to problems with the flaps, a 2hr delay in Dubai as a new starter was fitted to one engine, during which time we had to remain in the plane, and a 3 hr delay at Heathrow for an unspecified reason. The flight has not yet arrived in Heathrow on time and Bandar only once. In addition to the grumbles above, I am now on the receiving end of the most incredible piece of daylight robbery I have ever encountered. I booked four return flights from Hong Kong to Bandar for my family, who were coming to visit me in April, and were travelling via Hong Kong. Unfortunately the flight from London to Hong Kong was delayed, and it was obvious that my family would not make the connection. I went to the RBA head office to inform RBA of this and try and arrange an alternative flight on the next day. I was told this would be expensive, which I expected, and then informed that all the flights from Hong Kong to Bandar were full for the next week. Obviously I had to make alternative arrangements, which I did by booking one way tickets on Singapore Airlines. When my family came to use the return leg of their tickets to Hong Kong, RBA refused to honour the return leg because the first leg had not been taken. They would only let my family board once they had purchased new tickets to Hong Kong, thereby forcing me to pay twice for the same flight. Despite my protestations to the management, and their written admission that this should have been pointed out to me when I was in their offices advising them of an imminent no show, they have refused to refund me in any way. Please hurry up Air Asia and get those nice new airbus planes, and then I won't have to use this mickey mouse airline any more.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Olaf Handrick

28 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

On suggestion of my travel agent I used Royal Brunei Airlines for my flight to Bali. It was marketed as the cheaper option in economy for getting from Auckland to Bali, with one stopover each way in Brunei. Flying out from Auckland, Royal Brunei used a plane with the interior reminiscent of distress look and very few entertainment screens. However inflight staff very attentive and friendly and good food choices. In Brunei no provision for transport from Airport to Hotel and return. Taxi costs (50$). On the return trip the same, no possibility to check laguage through to Auckland and 50$ taxi fare. In summary this airline provides not a good value for money and the customer service on the ground need some modification. I probably would not fly again with this airline.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Ann Burrows

28 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Heathrow to Brisbane, Business Class return. The positives outweighed the negatives. Patient, willing service on all legs of the journey with good food served. On the outward journey seats were the fully reclining type, which made for comfort and some sleep, and individual screens worked. My travelling companion required wheelchair assistance at each airport and it was always ready. The only negatives on the outward trip was a delay of approximately two hours at Dubai. Whilst accepting that this was unavoidable, I cannot understand why no information was given. A short announcement that there was a technical problem that might take a couple of hours to fix would have made all the difference. Instead we were left wondering what was going on and not knowing if there was even time to pop to the toilet. At such times everyone gets restless, tense and ill tempered. The return started badly because we learned at Brisbane that the plane was cancelled that day. Obviously this was a blow, but I was very impressed by the efforts of the staff at Brisbane who organised solutions. We were informed at each point what was happening and were transported to overnight accommodation, with the promise of a seat the following day. This was confirmed to our hotel and the return journey passed without problems. We had the older aircraft - seats not as comfortable as the full recliners, there was nothing really lacking in service or enjoyment. In Dubai we experience the personal touch when the attendant organising the wheelchair recognised us from the outward trip and asked if we had enjoyed the birthday party for my brother! I consider we had good value for money and would use the airline again. If the negative items were given attention I would give an excellent rating.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by K McMahon

27 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Business class from Heathrow to Perth stopping at Dubai (which we didn't know about) and Brunei. Heathrow to Brunei was in retro fitted cabins and they were fine,. IFE was good with a good collection of CDs. Brunei to Perth was OK but it was slightly old fashioned with no individual IFE. Food was OK, nothing special, and we had brought our own wine thank goodness. Returning we flew from Sydney to Brunei in retro fitted aircraft. It was fine. Unfortunately the schedule included an 8 hour wait in Brunei. That was purgatory. Brunei airport is not conducive to an 8 hour wait because there is simply nothing there. However it got worse. The aircraft from Brunei to Heathrow was the oldest I have ever seen. The business flight cabin was frankly a disgrace. The seats were old worn and tatty. There was no personal IFE and the food was passable. It was, at best, the equivalent of a BA economy-plus cabin - but not as smart! You get what you pay for and the prices are reasonably competitive. My advice though would be to shop around and if you can find something that is only slightly dearer then take it.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Johnny Law

27 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

RBA Brisbane-Brunei-Kuala Lumpur and for the price it is acceptable. The food is above average and servings rather good. The entertainment is ok. I flew in one of the old 767 aircraft that meant that TV screens are still not installed on each seats. I have a read through all the comments that were posted here - all I can say if anyone planning to fly with RBA it will never be as sophisticated like Singapore Airlines. The only reason I flew with RBA is the price - if I can fly with a cheaper airline to get me to my intended destination I would have forgo RBA.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by A Sal

26 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

RBA economy class from Singapore to Auckland, with stopovers at Brunei and Brisbane. The 2 hr flight from SIN-BWN was ok, since it was short, and breakfast was served quite fast. Stopover at BWN for about 4 hours, there really wasnt anything to do at the airport except to catch up on some sleep. BWN-BNE I didn't get the retrofitted planes so there weren't any personal TVs, and had to watch the movies playing on the overhead screens. I was unlucky as my seat was directly below one of the overhead screens, and the seat infront of me was blocking the view of the projection screen. The movies were recent, but I had to watch the movies with discomfort, craning my neck. Lunch was served, which I found was not bad. Legroom was good, could stretch quite a bit. Throughout the journey, I only spotted 1 or 2 stewardesses, the rest were all stewards. Quite odd, but the stewards did a good job in their service. I was served by a steward who was friendly and he chatted a bit, so I guess it was a good experience flying with them. BNE-AKL it was the same plane and dinner was served, which I also found was ok. Overall the long flight (10hrs minus stopover times) was alright, though there's still some areas that RBA can improve on. But with the cheap price tag for the flight, I'm not complaining. However, our return flight was cancelled, which gave me a shock! But luckily we were put on the next available flight from AKL-SYD on AirNZ and from SYD-SIN on Singapore Airlines. All in all, if you're looking for affordable flights, RBA is for you. Plus it also has a good safety record. If not, if you have lots of money to burn, you could fly with other airlines. Flying with RBA has been a pretty good experience for me, for the amount I'm paying, and I will fly with this airline in future if it keeps its affordable prices.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Mabelline Tan

25 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I flew with Royal Brunei to Auckland with transits in Brunei and Brisbane in Economy class. On short haul flights, planes were not fitted with personal tv screens. The leg from Brunei to Brisbane had personal tv screens in every seat. The choice of entertainment was good but the entertainment system wasn't user friendly. The buttons on the remote controller were hard to press and the system was lagging and slow. Service wise it is not the best. Crew did not exceed expectations. However, they did provided the basics of serving food, ensuring safety, greeting passengers. I would give an average rating. 5/10 On my return flight I was informed that the flight had been cancelled due to a failure on the plane's engine at Auckland airport. The RBA rep compensated me with a food voucher of NZ$12. I was told that I will be put on other flights. I was glad that RBA had put me on a flight on AirNZ to Perth (7hours). I had a pleasant flight on AirNZ. They were way better in service than RBA. Upon arrival to Perth, RBA had arranged me a free 4 star hotel stay. I had to stay in Perth for 9 hours before I could fly for my next flight from Perth to Brunei. I was given a room and offered free dinner at the hotel dining lounge and was pleased with that. I think RBA offers very competitive prices and it suits travellers on the shoe string. But if you do have cash to boot, I recommend that you fly with other airlines. Short haul flight is ok on RBA. Long haul flights, forget about flying with RBA.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by E Jones

20 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I had read some of the comments posted here before I flew out so I was prepared for the worst! When I got on the plane I was grateful to see that the plane had been refitted with the tv screens at the back of each seat, but 15 minutes into the flight I realised (along with countless other people on the plane) that the tv's were not working. After complaining to the steward, he informed me that that they were not going to operate the TV on demand on any of the personal screens and that they were going to show a film on the drop down screens instead. The film they showed was good and recent, and fine if you were sitting in the right part of the plane that could see the screens. However after putting on my headphones, I realised that one ear was in English, whilst the other was German! Many other passengers on the plane also had the same problem and after complaining again, we were told that the boss (Whoever that is) would sort it out, which of course he didn't! Food wasn't too bad. The choices were Salmon in a cream sauce or Beef noodles with a waldorf salad for start and the usual fruit salad and cheese and biscuits to finish. We were sitting at the back of the plane where they preparing the food so were also one of the first to be served so that had not run out of choices! The journey back from Dubai was the same old story. My personal tv screen worked for all of 10 minutes and then nothing! The cabin crew kept trying to reset the system which then caused other people's screens not to work. All in all it was a bit of a lottery and you could tell that the fact that some people's screens worked and some people's didn't was causing air rage amongst some passengers! Worst of all because it was a night flight, they did not show any films on the drop down screens so basically there was nothing to do other than read a book and try and get some sleep! For a 7 hour flight I could just about put up with it, but if I had been one of the poor people that had flown from Australia or Brunei then I would have gone stir crazy! My sum up is that I would only use this airline again if it was substantially cheaper than Emirates/Virgin/BA and there is no way on earth that I would fly any further than Dubai on it!

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by D Ghirardi

12 April 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

I travelled with Royal Brunei from Sydney to Dubai via Brunei on 2nd April, back on the 8th. None of the flight was on time, average delay 1.5 hour. I was sitting pretty on the front, they run out of meal choices. The plane from Sydney to Brunei was a museum worthy piece, with an old overhead projector that was recently upgraded to colour. The other planes had seat screens, but unfortunately in three occasions out of three were temporary out of order. Only good note, since the airline is so poor , I got plenty of space to sleep, the only entertainment option I got! Briefly: never again.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Margaret Livesey
20 March 2007

I booked and paid in full in June 2006 for a Business seat from Heathrow to Sydney. I checked the web site and had an e-mail confiming my flight, and seat number in business class. I arrived at check-in only to be told I had to travel economy class as my seat had been given to a frequent flyer. (I assume I was a women travelling on my own and they thought I would not make a fuss.) There was no other business class seats until 2 weeks later. I was told I could have a bulkhead seat in economy and they might be able to give me business class food - my comment was I was not interested in the food ( which was pretty mediocre anyway). I had booked business class to have a reasonably comfortable seat for a long flight, as I have a back problem. All to no avail. I travelled economy to Brunei, then they found me a business seat to Sydney. I was given a cash compensation on leaving Heathrow, but only as I was boarding - their comment being, they could not give it before in case a seat became available- or was it that by then I could not argue about the amount and their job was over? I travelled back on 6th March from Darwin to Heathrow via Brunei and Dubai, the food again was just about ok but they ran out of choice. IFE did not work and on mentioning it to the crew they said they knew, and there was nothing they could do, it keeps going wrong! They were apologetic and seemed embarassed that passengers were complaining. Well I don't know how Royal Brunei expect to get new customers if they bump them for there frequent flyers. This was my 3rd & worst journey to Australia in 9yrs thanks to Royal Brunei who I would never fly with again. My friends are still saying they have heard of being upgraded but never downgraded!!

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Viola Berz
26 February 2007

Travelled to Germany from Australia last year flying with RBA, and flight was great. The food was excellent and delightful to taste, and seats were comfortable. Keep up the good work Brunei, you are doing a good job!

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by D Eyre
26 February 2007

I had the misfortune to travel from Heathrow to Brunei and on to K. Kinabalu with this airline. The aircraft was old and looked it. There were no individual seat screens, so virtually unseen for the majority of passengers. The seats were worn, small and uncomfortable, I would be very surprised if the seat pitch was a full 32". The food was poor and ran out of choices at times. The staff did a good job in the circumstances. The return flight was a little better as was retro fit, but the inflight entertainment did not work for any of the journey. The seats were more comfortable, the food was the same.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by S Murphy
26 February 2007

My family and I travelled with Royal Brunei twice last year. Return to Thailand (in July 06) and return to London from Brisbane (Sept 06). I won't fly with them again. We are by no means fussy but the food was terrible - they kept running out of anything else. And we were at the front of the plane! We had to keep asking for water, etc. Luckily because we were flying with children we had taken lots of snacks so were able to manage on those. Out of all of our legs that we travelled I had a TV screen that actually worked once only. After the Thailand flight with no working screen I wasn't surprised when the same thing happened on our London flight. When I asked if it could be fixed I was told that it would be reset but I think that is the standard answer that they give everyone. No fun when you are on a 22 hour flight and you are travelling with children. After walking around the plane a few times and hearing other passengers it was pretty clear that not many of them work at all. On our return journey from London to Brisbane we were delayed in Brunei for 30 hours- no explanation, no representative to tell us what was going on. Lots of misinformation. One guy told us to take our luggage with us another told us to leave it at the airport. We were bussed to a nearby hotel and told we would meet someone from Royal Brunei at the hotel. No one ever arrived. We were told we would be flying out at 6am the following morning yet when we arrived at the hotel we were handed breakfast vouchers. When I asked why we were given breakfast vouchers when we were flying out at 6am I just got a funny look from the receptionist. Clearly we werent flying out at 6am but no one told us that, we just guessed. We were lucky enough to take a taxi back to the airport for our flight. Even our taxi driver mentioned that Royal Brunei were always delaying flights. Even though we were near the first to arrive we were told that the flight was to full to accomodate our request for window seats? This is because they pre allocate and print boarding cards before you check in so they are very reluctant to fulfil any requests. I have to feel sorry for all those people that were elderly or were travelling with babies. They were given no assistance whatsoever. I also know that a lot of those passengers that had originally been on our flight from London were bumped of again and did not reach Brisbane until 2 days after us. Not fun when you are meeting family and are limited with your holiday time. We did write to RB when we arrived back home but it took them 3 months to reply after much chasing. Even with the price difference I won't fly with them again. It's much too big a risk when you are limited with your holiday time. The overall experience was poor and I would rather pay the extra to get a decent flight.

Royal Brunei Airlines review - by Helen Homewood
15 February 2007

Heathrow - Auckland returning business class. Had refitted plane for whole or return journey and First leg of outward journey. Was disappointed by the standard of service on outward leg - staff reactive not proactive and seemed to be very disorganised. Was aware of strenuous complaints from Economy passengers re poor service. The service from Auckland to Brunei on the return journey was superb (Brunei to London - v good) and in retrospect I am cross about the outward journey - the crew let their colleagues and their airline down and as a result I would think twice about flying RBA again - at their best, excellent but they appear to be inconsistent.