ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES   Customer Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  19 November 2009 by A Mujdrica   (Australia)

We flew with Royal Brunei to Bangkok return. No IFE on the way over but read our magazines. Seats comfortable enough, plenty of food and drinks. Stayed overnight in Brunei - pleasant airport but big line up for customs. On the way back we had the same experience with IFE and new movies.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  15 November 2009 by L Elliott   (Australia)

Economy return from Singapore so a short journey each way. Everything fine although the seats on the way out were cramped and no individual IFE. Wouldn't want to do a long journey in economy. Food okay; crew pleasant. Would recommend for short trips, but cannot advise for longer journeys.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  9 November 2009 by Linda Martin   (UK)

LHR-PER return Business Class. Outward uneventful, on time, generally good service. Food looks better than it is, IFE dated , but the semi-flatbed enables reasonable level of rest and comfort. Return journey a big disappointment - old seats, IFE provided by one communal cabin front screen and faced almost 14 hours of flight in seats with only partial recline. Twice denied our first choice in food as they had 'run out', this in a half empty section. Their antiquated fleet is still not fully retro-fitted, and the compromise on long haul is truly huge. All in all, the risk of being fobbed off with one of these old aircraft makes the potential saving much less attractive. Beware Royal Brunei Airlines and the budget Business Class.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  28 October 2009 by R Freeborough   (UK)

Heathrow to Auckland return. Friendly and helpful staff. Stopovers in Dubai, Brunei and Brisbane helped break up a long journey. The meals were fine and planes clean. The seats could have been more comfortable . A word of warning, do not get any duty free at Heathrow to take through Brunei, it will be confiscated whatever the people at Heathrow tell you.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  26 October 2009 by S Mouland   (Australia)

RBA from Perth to LHR in September 2009. It wasn't as bad as imagined. The seats were not very comfy, and it was very cramped, but inflight entertainment was fine and cabin crew lovely. The food was typical airplane food nothing special but it was edible, there was plenty of it, with lots of drinks offered throughout the journey. The plane was clean, though a bit shabby - it is that its a budget airline and you get what you pay for. My major whinge is at LHR we were overweight by a fair bit, and RBA wanted £47 for each kilo we were over - needless to say we didn't pay.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  26 October 2009 by D Phillips   (UK)

London to Brisbane return. Excellent trip both ways and couldn't find much to complain about. Comfortable seats and the cabin crew courteous and helpful and nothing too much trouble. The food was some of the best airline food we have eaten. Planes are a little bit older than some airlines, and for two legs it was back to the old big screens for entertainment. It was the best value for money trip to Australia yet and we'll certainly be booking Royal Brunei again next year.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  24 October 2009 by John Fancourt   (Australia)

Brisbane-Brunei-Singapore return. Chose this airline to try a different route to Singapore. While all staff friendly and courteous and first leg of flight was pleasantly surprising, went seriously downhill for the other 3 flight legs. Brunei-Singapore aircraft positively cattle class - far and away too tight seating configuration, even before anyone put their seat back. On the return Singapore-Brunei flight, while cattle class again, neither entertainment unit worked and seat parts coming away - my reading light switch cross-wired, operated my wife's light and vice versa. Same on Brunei-Brisbane leg, while my tray table was broken and I had to reposition a loose floor section before take-off, neither entertainment unit worked (again) - and despite my asking 3 different staff who undertook to "reboot" the system, nothing was fixed - and from what I could see around me, there were many other passengers in the same situation. Also if I pressed my remote unit "volume down" button, it operated my reading light, as did the actual "reading light" button. All this questions the quality of the airline's pre-flight maintenance/operation procedures, particularly internally. While I chose to ignore the many negative comments noted previously before flying Royal Brunei, choosing to form my own opinion, I should have taken note. While the ticket price was competitive, it did not compensate for the inconvenience and discomfort encountered. As such, I will never fly Royal Brunei again and will be unable to recommend anyone else do so either.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  5 October 2009 by Michael Fadjar   (Libya)

Jakarta to Kota Kinabalu via Bandar Seri Begawan retur, in Business. I found crew polite and efficient for these regional legs. Aircraft clean, excellent seats (A320), food quite good. Brunei airport is nothing to shout about. On return flight from Brunei to Jakarta, big mess in boarding (overbooking, people having the same seat numbers etc), which looks extremely unprofessional. Got delayed one hour because of that.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  28 September 2009 by Alan Todd   (UK)

LHR to Kota Kinabalu. A very long flight with stops at Dubai and Brunei. Outbound excellent seats and very attentive service, food also very good. Return, less good seats and service less attentive, as staff would only do tasks in the order they had planned. At rear of aircraft entertainment system broke down. I am a drinker but never drink when flying so did not miss the lack of alcohol.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  28 September 2009 by P Oliver   (Australia)

Brisbane to Brunei. Food great and plenty of it, drinks regular - we took alcoholic drinks onboard to celebrate our holiday and used on the plane. Skyshow was good, plenty of on-demand movies. Staff were cheerful and helpful. The only gripe I have was they didn't check luggage enough - I always make sure I am under 20kgs and one carry-on, but by the time I boarded the overhead bins were crammed by passengers that assume limits don't apply to them.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  22 September 2009 by R Smith   (UK)

London-Brunei, June 2009: have used majority of airlines that fly UK to SE Asia and RBA is ok. Nothing glamorous, but nothing from the flight to complain about. It's a dry flight but you're ok to take your own on board. Staff are good ambassadors of Brunei and friendly. Food is ok, entertainment ok - neither are anything to write home about, but adequate. Only major complaint is the luggage policy : was made to repack my bag twice in Heathrow for a measly 4kg over the allowance - clearly a money making exercise. Made it on-board with no charges, but missed opportunity for duty-free and other passengers were also held up unnecessary. If Royal Brunei want to cut costs, make the administration more efficient. Attempting to rob passengers via excess baggage charges is not a good way to keep them loyal!

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  3 September 2009 by C Green   (Australia)

Brisbane to Heathrow return and thought the airline was very good. The staff were friendly and helpful. The seats were fine, plenty of leg room. The food was nice if anything too much. For anybody that wants alcohol you can take your own on they sell little bottles duty free and the airline gives you the mixers. TV worked.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  31 August 2009 by Mary Samasoni   (New Zealand)

AKL-BKK via Brunei return. We are a family of five, with three children 5mths, 6yrs and 9 yrs. The flight was fantastic, staff extra helpful and excellent with the children.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  15 August 2009 : by Jim Lewis   (Australia)

Brisbane-Brunei-Singapore return. B767-300 all clean, staff very helpful. Were good at getting me into the exit row on all flights as I am over 6/6 tall. The food and drink were very good and in good sized portions. Mixer drinks supplied for those who wanted them for duty free drinks. All staff we spoke to spoke at the least passable English, in most cases good English. All flights were on time, seatback TVs seemed to work.