ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  15 July 2008 by T Lee   (New Zealand)

Customer Rating : 4/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

AKL-BWN-HKG return. The aircraft to Brunei was a 2-3-2 config, flight was very full. The attendants did their jobs (but that was all), on the way there. Flight to Hong Kong from Brunei was in the same plane & pretty empty. IFE content was ok (IFE working) but was exactly the same for the return leg. On the return both flights very full, but still with good meals and attendants offering juice etc. Only bad meal was breakfast before landing in Auckland - really mediocre, but 5 out of 6 is pretty good.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  7 July 2008 by Bruce Comyns   (New Zealand)

Customer Rating : 1/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Never again! Flew AKL-Brunei. Plane was shabby and not very clean. Our return flight was delayed because the plane wasn't fueled and was even worse than the outwards flight. We had bulkhead seats with no screens and couldn't see the big screens at all. The meals were awful and cabin crew very surly. All in all , not a happy experience. An example of how flying used to be 20 years ago when there wasn't any competition.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  17 June 2008 by John Cains   (Australia)

Customer Rating : 4/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

Business Class Sydney-London-Brisbane. Very good value for what we paid. Well looked after. Would use again as very competitive fares. Only problem is they have ceased Sydney flights.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  17 June 2008 by Kenneth Chong   (Malaysia)

Customer Rating : 4/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

KCH-HKG via BWN. RBA offered the best price for my HK trip, KCH-BWN was 55 minutes and a decent hot meal served. Like the fact that hot towels were offered to every passenger prior to take off. Seat pitch on their narrow body is not too bad but seat cushions were rather stiff. BWN-HKG leg was pleasant, flight was not full and I had two seats to myself. IFE a drop down screen providing adequate entertainment for 2 hour 40 minutes flight. Flight attendants friendly. The return flight was a little disappointing as the movie shown was the same as the previous flight.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  7 June 2008 by Emanuel Spencer   (UK)

Customer Rating : 3/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Travelled return to Australia with Royal Brunei. Journey over great, no complaints. Plenty of legroom as long as the person in front doesn't recline their seats. Journey back was terrible. Every seat taken giving a 'chicken coop' effect. Lots of noise, hustle and bustle. Too much for the stewards to cope with. Too much food, almost like it was to keep everyone seated and quiet. Hot pasty at 4am? No TV - mine wasn't working and I heard a lot of other complaints about screens being out of order. It made it a long journey home.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  3 June 2008 by S Buchanan   (UK)

Customer Rating : 3/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Economy class HKG-BWN-SUB return. All four flights departed on time and arrived at destinations 20-30 minutes early which was rather unexpected. FA's very pleasant. Declined the headsets on all sectors as entertainment showing on main screens and either too far away/too close or you had to hold your head at a strange angle to see. Food average. No alcohol served as this is a dry airline. B767 on first flight HKG-BWN showing its age in the cabin. All other flights on A320 which are bright and clean. Seats slightly uncomfortable on the A320 as they feel very rigid in the upright position. Lucky to get seats with extra legroom on all sectors as I am 6'3". All in all, a very average airline. Would not like to be a passenger on one of the long haul flights from UK to the Far East/Australia.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  21 May 2008 by A Richards   (UK)

Customer Rating : 3/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

LHR-BWN Boeing 767-300. Legroom ok in 2-3-2 arrangement but seat not very comfortable. Meals average for economy. I didn't find the crew particularly friendly on either legs of the flight. I think their long haul fleet need upgrading, the aircraft was showing its age and the personal video screens very problematic for passengers around me, as IFE would freeze and stop working altogether. I would not fly Royal Brunei long haul again, however I have to fly Manila-Brunei in Sept as they are the only carrier on the route - at the time of writing they just moved the schedule forward by 9 hours so I now find I have a tight connection on my hands.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  20 May 2008 by G Hunt   (Australia)

Customer Rating : 4/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Travelled economy class from Brisbane to London Heathrow. We had a stopover in Brunei and refuel in Dubai and return to Brisbane. Schedule changed one month prior to departure created no problems. Plane OK with entertainment systems working with the exception of a faulty screen on one leg. Plenty of food and drinks and attentive and friendly cabin staff. The quality of food was generally high with only one offering as sub standard. Economy Seat comfort acceptable. Check in was good on most occasions but on one leg family members were allocated non adjoining seats. I have not flown long haul for many years and cannot judge RBA against other carriers. I would recommend the airline for economy travel.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  24 April 2008 by L Rolle   (Germany)

Customer Rating : 1/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Things got from bad to unbearable in my experience. While being good value for little money before things have turned to a nightmare on my two latest trips from Frankfurt to Bali and return. On three from four flights delays up to two days happened, with no refund or compensation whatever. First their office in Frankfurt did not answer calls at all, then it was closed. No response on written documentation either. Tried to transfer accumulated miles - no success. It is good that they have closed their Frankfurt office and some others - surely an airline to avoid.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  23 April 2008 by K Geary   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Travelled economy class as part of a tour package from UK to Borneo. Service as good or better than other airlines. Constant supply of non-alcohic drinks and food very good by airline standards. Coped well with our strange diet needs. 2 meals on London-Dubai leg, and 2 more meals on Dubai- Brunei leg. Provided complementary 1.5 hour tour of Brunei while waiting in Brunei Airport for last connecting flight to Sabah. Staff dressed smartly and always helpful and efficient. Entertainment system worked well, with selection of VOD. Seat pitch comfortable but seats go back a bit too far in 767, which is disconcerting if you are the passenger behind.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  25 March 2008 by H Brant   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

London Heathrow-Auckland return in economy class. This flight involves stops in Dubai, Brunei, and Brisbane, all of which involve full security checks of you and your hand luggage. Royal Brunei is a dry airline - no alcohol served on board. The seats were not the most comfortable. On most of them, the headrests could be lifted (important if you're taller than average), but if you took your head away, they would come sliding back down onto the base of your neck. The quality of the inflight entertainment is fairly poor, and reliability of it is appalling. In every row I sat in over many sectors, at least one of the entertainment systems either had something wrong or was not working at all. In most cases the angle of the screens can't be adjusted, even if you're fortunate enough to have one that works. They can be pulled out slightly from the bottom, but as soon as you let go, they fall back down, so if you're tall like me, it's difficult to get into a position where you can see the picture. The cabin crew were attentive and helpful, food better than average, the plane (including the toilets) was clean, and legroom was good compared with many long-haul airlines. Their fares are often the cheapest on this route, which makes them worth considering if you're on a budget.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  25 February 2008 by  S Fenwick   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

A poor experience. Schedule changed at little notice making timings over Christmas much less convenient. Flight from Brunei to Sydney overnight in an ancient plane with seats not working and business class little better than most economy. Return had improved plane but stopover in Dubai two passengers had belongings stolen. IFE broken on one leg. Food ok and staff ok, but not a good experience. Website does not allow you to send any feedback, London office rarely answers the phone, and my complaint has gone unanswered for two weeks. Avoid this airline - business class is cheap for a reason!

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  21 February 2008 by  M Kanaks   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

A cheap ticket is what they offered and cheap was the service I got. The flights were delayed in Brunei, and I missed my connection in Europe. In Brunei, the ground staff had no idea what was happening, toilets dirty, no restaurants for a decent coffee, no alcohol, hot and stuffy. The food onboard was poor compared to a budget european airline. The customer service manager was of no help when I spoke to him on my return. A cheap ticket on a long haul can wind up being a nightmare! Many other disgruntled customers lining up for assistance at the airport.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  16 February 2008 by  Ken Chan   (Malaysia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

KUL-BWN and return. Check in no problem. The service however is just normal, nothing to shout about, IFE is boring, with lame comedies and entertainment offered. Crew not very friendly, just do their work. On short haul is ok, but on long haul flights, just keep your fingers crossed.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  15 February 2008 by  R Sriram   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Booked London to Sydney via Brunei leaving on the 22nd of December and reaching Sydney on the 24th December - in time for Christmas and how badly were we let down by RBA. 17 days before the departure got a message from the travel agent that the flight timings have been changed and instead of a 3 hour stopover at Brunei it was an overnight stopover and reaching Sydney only on Christmas day! After a lot of haggling got a flight to leave London on the 23rd with a 11 hour stopover in Brunei on the 24th December and hotel accommodation for that time. Waiting to take the 23.25 hours Sydney flight from Brunei on the 24th December, around midnight, we were told that the flight had been cancelled and that we would be put in a Brisbane flight the next day (25th December) and then to connect to a Qantas flight on the 26th morning from Brisbane to Sydney. We arrived on the 25th December at 9 am for the 11.25 am Brisbane flight and yet again there was over a three hour delay for the flight to take off! Thankfully the return flights were on time (arrival to London delayed by an hour). The inflight entertainment did not work on both legs of the journey. Please do not travel this airline if you want to reach your destination on time, especially if you have kids, and do not expect the ground staff at Brunei to be any helpful. I have complained to the airline and have not received an acknowledgement as yet!

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  12 February 2008 by  Keith Fisher   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

We struggled with the in-flight meals, with very little or even no selection - we did not eat any in-flight meals after our first flight to Dubai selecting to eating in between the flights. But the food in the business class lounges in Dubai and Brunei were acceptable! The in flight entertainment films was very limited with nearly 70% comedies and quite a few were quite old. Our main issues were on the return flights - at Sydney airport there was only economy class check-in (no separate Business Class). On joining the flight in Dubai we were horrified to find out that we had to sit separately, we made a bit of a fuss and were told that 2 adjoining seats were not working. We have travelled this route before using Business Class on other airlines and the difference in standard of service is considerably different. I have even sent my complaint into RBA only to have it automatically returned. I feel in summary we had economy + class service for business class prices

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES review :  5 February 2008 by  Adrian Lunandi   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Sydney to Jakarta with stopovers at Brunei. The trip initially had a stopover 1 hour but 2 weeks prior to the flight the flight magically disappeared and the stopover became an overnight 17 hour stopover. We were told by our agent that we would get accommodation and food as compensation but upon arriving we were told that we didn't get any accommodation. The staff were unhelpful but only after 2 hours did we get the accommodation. We were then told by the staff at customs (also very unhelpful) to pay for our own visa (which we were initially told was covered already) to go to the hotel. Also despite having a phone next to them, they refused to call the staff at the transit desk and instead made us walk there to get it sorted. It took another 30 minutes to get the visa after walking several laps to and from the transit room and customs. The hotel was also very poor, it was more of a motel. The flight to Jakarta was then delayed for about 3 hours the following morning. We were given a lunch voucher to claim. The staff at the cafe (rudest of the bunch) only said we could only get one meal due to the vagueness of the voucher. Only after introducing them to their own phone did we get any communication between the airport staff and finally getting the 3 meals we were supposed to get. The flight was pretty average. Staff unenthusiastic and not very helpful. Food was average for airplane food. The personal entertainment system was alright but the keypads were broken so playing games not possible. The return flight from Jakarta was just as bad. Stopover at Brunei again. Initially 6 hour stopover became 14 hour one. Got the same staff, still unhelpful. Once again we were informed that we got hotel rooms but again we had to battle the staff to get the tickets. This time we were made to pay our visas. The money exchanger would only exchange everything into Brunei money and refused to give change in Australian dollars despite having the money there. It was too much hassle and the lines at customs was too long so we decided to stay in the transit room. The toilets there are dirty and at one point there was no water. This time around there were more passengers with similarly extended stopovers so the cafe offered lunch and dinner to the people applicable. This time a list was sent to the cafe staff and announcements were made over the PA system. The food was the same for lunch and dinner. For lunch they didn't even give any water saying that the tap water was yellow yet they wouldn't give bottled water either. At dinner there was a small glass of bottled water but no dessert. The rest of the transit area is very uninteresting. Only about 5 small shops with rather expensive items. The seats were mostly in very poor condition and not very comfortable. Overall the flight wasn't very good, the airport very bad for an international airport. The only upside is that we got to our destination and back safely.