ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES   Customer Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  26 January 2010 by D Walker   (Australia)

AKL-BNE. Paid for an upgrade at checkin for 275.00. Used QF lounge at Akl. Cabin crew nice and attentive. Food nice and lots of it. Bathrooms kept clean. Entertainment system also worked fine although a touch dated.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  20 January 2010 by N Stewart   (UK)

LHR-DXB-BWN-BNE-AKL return. I paid a fairly cheap fair and received value for money service, but it does not compare to other business class packages. Food choice limited, no alcohol of course, and tired aircraft with bits failing to function in the cabin. One of my armrests was loose/broken. Staff smart and friendly onboard, less so at airport in Brunei where it is laughable to call it an international airport. Big bone of contention to take duty free off passengers in Brunei and blame Australia even if the passengers are in transit and will also be in transit in Australia. This needs to be sorted out or better explained. Will I use them again - only if I have to, and probably not.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  20 January 2010 by Au Kah Kay   (Singapore)

SIN-BWN-SIN economy. The aircraft was an A319. Both outbound and inbound journeys were over- booked. The check-in staff in Singapore and in Brunei were asking passengers to volunteer to go on a later flight. The cabin space was rather cramped in the single-aisle aircraft. On the 2-hour flight to BWN, a decent lunch of curry was served. Otherwise, Royal Brunei is a no- frills airline that will get you to Brunei safely.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  31 December 2009 by W Partington   (UK)

LHR-BNE-LHR with no delays. As comfortable as other airlines we have used, staff were pleasant, food good. My seat back tv did not work, and this was a problem for a number of passengers - as I was travelling with my wife I was able to swap seats when I wanted.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  30 December 2009 by Donna Mulligan   (UK)

LHR-PER. We were fed and watered constantly and the food was tasty. Inflight crew were great. Lots of films to watch on demand. On the way back we had a 5 hour layover in Brunei and decided to do the city tour - costs about £15 for a 2 hour trip and was fantastic. Just go to the desk as you go into the lounge when you exit the plane. The staff walk you through immigration straight onto your bus. The guide takes you around the city, Mosques, the Water Village and the food market. If you get the chance do it - as the airport in Brunei has very little to do and virtually no shops to keep you entertained. Don't be tempted to buy any spirits in Dubai - they will let you take then to Brunei but its Australia that will not allow you to take into the country. We had ours confiscated when boarding the plane to Perth.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  24 December 2009 by Daryl Smith   (New Zealand)

AKL-BWN-HKG return, transit BNE plus overnight BWN going up, short transit BWN returning. Very cheap fare. Food as good as other airlines. Cabin attendants okay. B767 good seat layout, 2-3-2, for couples - can’t get locked in. One hour late out of HKG but caught up on transfer at BWN. Not convinced that religious impositions are appropriate on a commercial operation. BWN airport small with rather limited (as expected) and expensive duty free selection. Rather smelly and tired toilets in basement. Can’t understand why airports implementing universal security standards are required to aggressively re-check transit passengers who remain airside with only hand luggage and no access to non approved purchases. We lost one liquid item ex HKG duty free, fortunately low value. Would recommend if $$ the overruling motivation but we wouldn’t use Royal Brunei again. By the time we had wasted holiday time on transit and overnight stops, money on the overnight hotel at BWN and limited our duty free options ex HKG due to the transit stop at BWN, we figure it would be almost as cheap and a whole lot less hassle to pay a bit extra and take a direct flight.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  21 December 2009 by K Hocking   (UK)

Not a great experience with RBA - 1st flight out of London Heathrow delayed by 9 hrs with no information re delay published on RBA website. We were offered to be put up in a hotel for the day but extra out-of-pocket expenses were incurred as my arrival time in Perth, Australia was then pushed back from 5pm to 2am. Food was of high standard but as others have reported, I had issues with faulty seats and in-flight entertainment. Return trip from Brunei to London was a disaster. Delayed in Dubai Airport for 8 hrs with minimal information about the cause of delay and expected departure time. We were eventually put up in a hotel as flight was cancelled but the final onwards flight was not offered until 64 hrs later. Very poor communication and organisation by RBA staff in Dubai. I ended up booking myself on a flight to London with another carrier after 36 hrs delay.

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES customer review :  4 December 2009 by P Harpin   (UK)

LHR-BNE-LHR. Seats as comfortable as can be expected for economy. Food was good and lots of it. Lots of drinks - didn't miss the no alcohol rule. Entertainment could be better and seat back TVs were unreliable. Mine didn't work all the way to Brunei. Excellent value for money.

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.