Royal Brunei Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Chaotic boarding at Brunei airport, even though this is the airline's base and hub. Wifi doesn't work in the departure lounge and toilet facilities are old, wet, and needing refitting. Very limited options to eat and more shops were closed than open even though it was still early evening (before 7pm!) Priority boarding for Reserved Seats was not offered, even though it is advertised. They seem to struggle to be able to manage the boarding of large widebodied aircraft flights given the small size of the airport. Onboard the experience was fairly decent. Only one meal was served on this flight lasting almost 8 hours, as they presumed most people would sleep. No amenity kit was provided, though blankets and pillows were at each seat. Free toothbrushes offered in the economy class toilets. Cabin crew were well-trained, hardworking and polite. This airline is consistently sent to the far D gates in Dubai airport, entailing a long walk for passengers on arrival.

✅ Trip Verified | Great flight from start to finish. Online check-in worked but without the facility to print a boarding pass at home. Ground staff were polite, although there was some problem with the ticket when checking in at Kuching airport which took a long time to resolve (the ground staff even rang Brunei for assistance). A light meal (sandwich) was served on this short flight. No headphones were distributed even though the aircraft had individual entertainment screens at each seat.

✅ Trip Verified | Unpleasant check-in experience, which really spoiled the overall experience more than anything else. First of all, online check-in failed repeatedly and no help was forthcoming from the email address that the airline’s website FAQs directed questions on online check in errors to. (To this day I have never received a response to my email). Their online check-in system seems to be fundamentally broken since resumption of operations post covid. Therefore I went early to the airport (3 hours ahead of the scheduled flight time) for manual check-in but found a long, poorly-managed queue. The ground staff to whom Royal Brunei have subcontracted ground operations at Heathrow Terminal 4 were surly and disinterested. The particular lady who handled our check in was rude, asked the same question 3 times (because she wasn't paying attention to our answers or to her job) and was instead casually complaining to her colleague about not wanting to work overtime right in front of us, rather than just getting on with the task at hand. (It’s very unprofessional to discuss work gripes in front of customers whom one is supposed to be attending to at that moment). Priority boarding for Reserved seating was honoured, though you have to listen carefully for the rushed announcements or you'll miss the very short window given for priority boarding. Additional leg space for the Reserved seating was good, making the journey more comfortable. The flight took off almost two hours late, though the exact reason for this wasn’t made clear to passengers and we had to wait on board during the delay. Cabin crew were very polite and helpful, though overall the standard of service on Royal Brunei has declined compared to a decade ago. e.g. no amenity kits were provided for this flight, and only one meal was served on a seven and a half hour flight (LHR to DXB). It was tasty but the portion size was on the small side. Free snacks were available at the rear galley for those who went to get them, but the cabin crew almost never came round with drinks except once with the meal service. However, they did always respond attentively to calls and were friendly and efficient. The condition of the aircraft is very good. Complimentary toothbrushes were provided in the washrooms. Blankets and pillows provided for all seats. The entertainment system had a wide variety of options though some were quite obscure and the system is not easy to navigate or search through. Headphones were not distributed from London and I had to ask for them. They didn’t actually carry enough headphones for all passengers on this flight , which is shocking. Quality of the sound from the airline-supplied headphones was poor.

✅ Trip Verified | Priority boarding for Reserved seats was not honoured during boarding in Dubai, despite this being an advertised perk of paying more for such seats. The result was a rushed boarding experience. Good on-board service. Polite and hard-working cabin crew. 2 hot meals served and free snacks available from the galley during the flight. Luggage took a very long to come out on the conveyor belt at Brunei airport despite ours being the only flight to have landed at the time, and this being Royal Brunei's hub!

✅ Trip Verified | Overall a decent experience with Royal Brunei and I would fly with them again. There was no sign of any of the horror stories that some other reviews talk about. The cabin was clean, crew were helpful and friendly, food was good (especially the warm croissants for breakfast) and IFE choice was enough for a 14 hour flight (although more language / subtitle options would have been appreciated). The biggest highlight was an overnight layover in Brunei in which we breezed through a really easy-to-navigate airport and spent a comfortable night in a hotel.

✅ Trip Verified | This lot make Ryanair seem comfortable. Everything about this airline, it’s airport and sky “lounge” is third rate. Sure, you save money as it’s always one of the cheaper fares but you will have to carefully consider it it’s worth it. On board food is almost inedible. They take all your water bottles before you board (yes even after you have gone through a security scan!) and then you have to beg the two staff working the entire economy cabin for a cup of water any time you want a drink on a 8 or 16 hr leg. Thinking you might make the journey a little more bearable by buying the $49 sky lounge pass? Don’t bother. Grubby tiny lounge, with no edible hot food options, and barely edible cold sandwiches. Filthy toilets.

✅ Trip Verified | Appalled at the complete lack of customer service following a complaint. Prior to my 21 hour flight I purchased a better seat for £120 - only to then have a broken seat on the second 14.5 hour leg of the journey: resulting in being more uncomfortable than anyone else. I’ve reasonably requested the refund of the extra £120 I paid but all I’ve received is a meek apology.

✅ Trip Verified | Bandar seri Begawan to Kuala Lumpur on 4th March. When I saw my seat with bread / or biscuit crumbs, I ask the cabin crew if i can have a napkin to wipe it off, but without hesitation, the female cabin crew uses her hand to wipe off the crumbs across my seat. I put on my seat belt, very shock to see the seat belt had a stain, IFE screen had a fingerprint and so does the window. I spoken to the crew about this incident and hopes the airlines are aware of the cleanliness.

Not Verified | In December 2019, My wife was travelling with my 3 young children using Royal Brunei Airline from Melbourne to Kota Kinabalu transiting at Brunei. Then with connecting flight (Malindo Air Kota Kinabalu to Kuching. No Notification of flight delay We were only told of flight delay till 2130HR (vs original departure at 1845HR), after waiting in line for 45mins at Melbourne Airport to check in. We would appreciate if the airline could send us an advanced notification about the delay but NOT upon check in. We have arrived in Melbourne airport by 1520HR. Having the young children to wait at the airport for 7 hours till departing time 2230HR, without any assistance extended was not a good experience. Making matter worse, we were declined our request for a simple meal arrangement. This was not a very considerate and responsible gesture – as you can tell the delayed flight hour had passed the dinner time and we didn’t request for anything unreasonable. Poor arrangement on Connecting flight: We repeatedly express our concern of how this delay would impact our connecting flight, ground staff reassured us that the delay will not affect the connecting flight to Kota Kinabalu. She affirmed that the flight will definitely wait for my family to connect to Kota Kinabalu as many passengers were transiting as well. It was obvious enough, from frequent traveling experience, having 30mins time to transit was quite impossible but we were once again reassured that we could make it. As expected, my family missed the connecting flight. My family was stranded and had to wait for the next available connecting flight to Kota Kinabalu at 2330HR on 11/12/2019 (vs original flight at 0030HR on 11/12/2019). As a result of above delay, the connecting flight from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching were forfeited, costing us extra expenses to purchase a new flight ticket. When venting our frustration with Brunei Airline ground staff, the lady tried to reassure us that they will try to help to get a reasonable reimbursement and even attempt to negotiate with Malindo air to reschedule a connecting flight from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching. My family were then quickly shoved onto a bus full of other waiting passenger to a complimentary hotel and asked to wait for the update but no phone calls or follow up message received. When we called up the next day, the airline staffs denied any arrangement or promise being made, and deterred all responsibilities. No apologies made. We were feeling helpless. The original trip was supposed to take only 1 day to reach the final destination but the whole journey was prolonged to 2 days in the end. Sadly, there was no empathy or service assistance throughout the whole journey, which made it even more painful to travel.

✅ Trip Verified | I am traveling from Jeddah to Bali using this airline for the first time and will be the last. Flight No. BI002 on 1st Feb 2020. Our flight had to land in Dubai due to a passenger critical health case which had him to be hospitalized urgently. However after waiting for long hours, we have been informed that flight has been cancelled, lost our transit flight and still waiting at Dubai airport for very long hours with big mess, no Hotel, no idea when is our flight. Thanks to Royal Brunei Airlines for making from our honeymoon bad experience.