Royal Brunei Airlines

Flight BI 874 KUL-BWN Feb 17 2013. No 'welcome' 'thank you' or 'goodbye'. No newspapers at all. No entertainment. No coffee / tea in my section. Only one choice of meal (beef) which I declined and wasn't offered as much as a packet of peanuts instead. Crew apathetic and struggling with basic English. I appreciate it is Chinese New Year season but surely that has been factored into the price of the ticket (RM1700+). I used to think about bringing my family to Brunei on vacation (as opposed to just business). After this flight I'm afraid it's not going to happen.

Flew BKK-BWN-DXB-LHR 5th Feb 2013. Flights on all sectors were on time check in staff excellent. Had a 4 hour lay over in BWN waiting for the flight to LHR via DXB the airport at BWN is small and boring but you can get a coffee etc. The flight from BWN was a 777 3-4-3 layout. Seats comfortable enough quite a small screen in the headrest in front of me the entertainment was good but you had no way of starting and stopping a movie etc it was on a loop. Food was better than I expected and had a choice plenty of water or juice handed out in the cabin during the flight. Stop at Dubai you have to get off the aircraft and re-board remember to take your boarding card with you you are off the plane for less than 1 hour and back in your original seat. I paid £230 one way ticket and would definitely use Royal Brunei again real value for money if travelling on a budget.

The main reason for selecting Royal Brunei was the competitive price of $5000 for a business class return European flight. Being very tall I needed the legroom which I hoped their business class seats would provide. Staff really appeared to have little training in how to manage the needs of passengers on a long flight. The quality of the food when they remembered to serve it - sometimes the food was served over 2 hours into a sector - was very poor. They sometimes forgot to serve a course. When a course was served they sometimes did not serve the selection which we had previously made. The selection which we made on several legs seemed to become unavailable quite quickly. During the first sector out of Melbourne our attendant took 3 attempts to get a normal glass of water correct. The main expertise of the flight attendants was the handing out of hot towels which they did on a very regular basis. Our business class seats did not recline on 3 out of the 6 sectors - we had to change seats on 3 sectors so we could have seats which were able to fully recline. On the return leg from Europe there were some 5 seats which were marked up as being unable to be used. This meant that my wife had to accept a seat which was not able to fully recline for 3 of the return sectors. The Aircraft was also old and the quality of the entertainment was poor with most movies being pre 2005 and earlier. This made such a long flight even more boring.

LHR-MEL return. Business Class. Just back from my 3 week trip. Thoroughly enjoyed my flights. Plenty of leg room. The seat reclines electronically to become a bed. Plenty to eat and for airline food I thought the standard was very acceptable. Cabin crew attentive smiley and helpful. The interior on all 777s I flew in is starting to look tired. Entertainment choices limited. The lack of alcohol is no problem. No dehydration or headaches that way. 3 hour transit at Brunei was a bit of a pain but the SkyLounge there was OK. No delays dramas all went as sweet as a nut. Pound for pound it was excellent value. Dubai transit is bonkers by the way but 3 x 7/8 hour legs was about as tolerable as such a trip gets. No hesitation in recommending this airline for service & value for money.

MEL-BSB-MEL. Although the flights themselves were OK we were delayed for 22 hours on the return leg. Such delays do occur however Royal Brunei's communication throughout this delay was appalling and the experience was very confusing and frustrating. Therefore I would never fly with them again and recommend others avoid this airline.

LHR-MEL over Christmas period in economy. Flight crew could not have been more pleasant and smartly dressed. I'm a bit fussy for eating but the meals were excellent ok the entertainment system is a bit outdated and did need to be rebooted a few times. Overall I would recommend RBA to anyone.

MEL-BKK-MEL. Staff and service are good. The airport in Brunei is tiny and boring and can be a problem if your stop-over is more than 2 hrs. No alcohol served. Overall a good airline.

MEL-BKK-MEL. Staff were attentive efficient and always had a smile. The food was very good and the portions were more than enough. Seats were quite comfortable and almost lie flat. Inflight entertainment was a bit average. We were 1.5 hrs late leaving Brunei due to the aircraft leaving Dubai late but is was not a big deal. These things happen. Would without a doubt fly with RBA next time. Changing aircraft in Brunei the only negative but for the price you can't complain.

Heathrow to Melbourne in early December and made the return journey on New Years eve. Neither of us particularly enjoy flying but this was the most enjoyable long haul trip I have done and upgrading to Business Class was money well spent and in my view good value for money. Staff were friendly and helpful the food choice was good and varied. Entertainment system dated but still some good choices of film. Only drawback is Brunei airport which is very small and limited services which made the 4hr wait on flight home slightly dull! Would have preferred more time in Dubai airport which seemed to have a lot more going on. Overview a great experience that made the long journey more bearable.

DXB-MEL return regularly. Terrible service recently and continues to decline! Reasonably priced but service seat comfort food and entertainment have become unacceptable. We were not given a choice of meals despite only being seated in row 2 seats malfunctioned flights delayed staff forgot to serve some members of our party quality of food was dire inedible in some sectors. Entertainment only offered 2 or 3 movies worth watching and IFE system often needed rebooting. Toilets not cleaned often enough and staff forgot to hand out priority gate passes and customs arrival forms Brunei airport lounge limited. No longer worth the hassle despite the cheap business class.