Royal Brunei Airlines

My wife and I booked return tickets to Jakarta via Brunei. On 15th March the schedule was changed. Due to these changes we were to spend all day in Brunei at the Terrace Hotel. This hotel was dirty smelly with broken fixtures and fittings and was the low light of a very ordinary trip. Also on two of the planes we found faulty seats that sagged backwards to the annoyance of the people behind. Value for money - yes but you get what you pay for.

We were booked to return to London from Kota Kinabalu last Sunday. The flight was cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano which was fair enough. Although Heathrow is now open Royal Brunei Airlines seem to have no idea of how to deal with the 1000 plus stranded passengers. We have made numerous phone calls and all we get is a promise to phone back - they never do. I get the impression that they have a vague plan to send us on spare seats on scheduled flights which should get most of us back by Christmas. We are not expecting miracles all we ask is some information on how they are planning to get us home.

My wife and I have just returned from Brisbane airport. Twice today I was contacted by phone confirming that we were on our "booked" business class flight to London. When we arrived at the airport we were told that we had been bumped off the flight. There seemed to just be random people chosen. About 8 of us were in the same boat. No taxi voucher was given for us to return home and no future booking made. Very poor public relations.

We booked with the airline purely based on cost. 585GBP return to Auckland from London was simply too good to be true. The outbound journey was only the start. My wife managed to be allocated a seat with no working TV screen for the entire trip and given we made the journey on 2 different planes I can only assume that other screens were broken on the planes. The food was OK and they were happy to provide soft drinks throughout the flight. The stopover in Brunei was terrible. Be warned if you book a flight with an eight or nine hour stop over there is nothing to do at the airport. By nothing I mean nothing at all. The return journey still hasn't happened as the Icelandic volcano led to the closure of EU airspace and this is where Royal Brunei have really showed how much of an amateur airline they are. Since Saturday morning they have prevented any London passengers from leaving Auckland. Whilst understandable due to the changing events in Europe what isn't acceptable is the way they are handling the backlog. We were given a scrap of paper and told to call the number regularly for updates. The head of check-in took everyone's telephone number on scraps of paper - and that was it. If it wasn't so sad it would be funny but the lady involved was unaware that there was a problem before she got to work - as she had been on holiday. This is the Senior representative of the airline in New Zealand. I called their office on Monday to ask if they were keeping a record of who would be able to fly on what flight once the airspace was opened and was told they couldn't as the 4 points on the journey were all working independently - incredible. So when Heathrow was opened rather than the airline being able to give you a flight that you would be on you are left in limbo and having to call in 3 or 4 times a day only to be told that they still can't give you an assured flight date and time. Whilst I understand delays and cancellations were unavoidable I find it incredible that the stranded passengers at each point were never collated into a delayed manifest/passenger list and therefore an exact answer could be given once the restrictions were lifted. The upshot of this is that a number of very upset and angry passengers were told that even though Heathrow was open no London bound passengers would be allowed on the first flight out of Auckland on the first flight and that 2 days later cannot give a definitive answer to the question - "when will I be flying". As an upshot of this mismanagement and total lack of proactive communication my wife has had to stay in Auckland whilst I have simply decided to stay here and lose my flight. So if you are thinking of booking a flight with Royal Brunei remember that you are essentially letting yourself in for an uncomfortable and sometimes unpleasant experience with friendly inflight staff but very little in the way of support if something goes wrong. In my opinion I wish I had paid twice as much and flown with a bigger airline.

Check in at Heathrow was smooth and efficient aircraft comfortable and very clean. Food was plentiful. The non alcohol policy wasn't a problem especially when you are allowed to take your own. We had our own TV screen - perhaps the choice of films wasn't the best but it was adequate. All crew were smart extremely courteous and very helpful.

Fourth long haul flight (Perth WA) I have done with Royal Brunei in the last six months and I have to comment on the deterioration of the food. Overall it was poor and I found the snacks inedible. Another disappointing experience is the ladies toilet in the transit terminal at Brunei airport - far from international standard. Very unpleasant. The cabin crew were efficient and friendly and I was grateful not to be charged extra for my slightly overweight baggage. Whilst I think the airline probably gives value for money I would rather pay a little more for a decent meal and an acceptable ladies toilet.

LHR-BWN (via DXB). Disappointed with all 4 sectors. Aging 767-300's are really showing their age. Seat pitch ok and food served acceptable but a poor choice of beverages and little imagination given that Royal Brunei are a dry airline. Seatback TV's 60% not working in all sectors and very poor choice of films and TV choices when working. Most passengers were travelling onto NZ with 2 more stops after Brunei - would never contemplate choosing Royal Brueni to travel all the way to Australia or New Zealand. There are far better airlines in the Asia Pacific region and Royal Brunei needs to upgrade to compete with its neighbours.

Business Class Perth-Brunei-Dubai-Heathrow. Check-in quick and easy apart from the usual slow pass through security followed by a calm wait in the Malaysian Airlines lounge which Royal Brunei use. All flights on schedule. Meals could be ordered on demand were as good or better than we have had on other airlines. The space between seats on the B767 Brunei to London was excellent and reclined sufficiently for reasonable comfort. However we would have liked the leg rests to rise to a more horizontal position. A320 Perth to Brunei was satisfactory. Business Class lounge in the modern Brunei terminal pleasant and offered a range of nibbles and non-alcoholic drinks. We did buy a small bottle of spirits in Perth Duty Free and were supplied with a suitable bottles of soft drink mixers on the plane. And while you can take the remains with you if you dis-embark in Brunei you can't bring it back on. You can purchase Duty Free wine and spirits in Dubai very cheaply and these are allowed back on the plane as are Duty Free purchases in other airports. There were no individual TV screens in the plane we flew movies were shown on a large screen in the front of the business class cabin.

Auckland to Brunei. Auckland airport is not passenger friendly at 3am and not well set up for such early flights. If like me you are conditioned to check in at least two hours before the flight you will have a long wait in the check-in area before you can go airside. There is not much seating and what there is is largely occupied by sleeping passengers who have got to the airport on the last cheap transport from the city the previous night and who sleep across three or four of the available seats. Immigration and security open one hour before scheduled boarding and Qantas Business Class Lounge at 4am thirty minutes before boarding call. I did not see the other lounges open at all but did not check this out. Immigration and security lines moved fast so if you are flying business class I would recommend not checking in much before 45 minutes before departure or better still take the noon departure even if it means a couple of hours extra journey time for the Brisbane stopover. Maybe others were aware of the early departure discomforts. The business class cabin was only half full. Cabin service on the AKL-BWN the best. Arrival procedures for Business Passengers in Brunei is rapid and I was in my hotel fifty minutes after touchdown.