Your experiences / thoughts on Flying Royal Brunei Airways to Dubai or London.

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Royal Brunei Airlines

• 

  YOTR on 31/01/2015 - 19:25

  No booze.

  • 

    AnDyStYLe on 02/02/2015 - 11:16

    +1

    Not exactly true.

    I flew with them last Aug-Sep. As long as you bring your own booze, then you're more than welcome to consume it. They'll even be kind enough to supply you Coke, ice and a stirrer upon your requests.

    I bought the max amount of 200ml bottles of whisky, got them all sealed individually and only consumed what I needed for the first leg (Melb > Brunei). As you need to go through Brunei customs, you may have trouble getting through the non sealed alcohol so better off finishing all the ones that were open. The sealed ones got through no problems. Brunei > Dubai > London, I was still stocked up enough to get me through.

    Coming back was a different story. If I remember correctly, London has a tighter restriction of the amount of booze you can bring into Aus, so I basically ran dry from London > Dubai. We were delayed as well in Dubai so didn't have enough time to restock in Dubai airport as we had to quickly make our way to the plane straight away. That flight home sucked to say the least.

    Regarding comfort, even though the plane was the newer Dreamliner, still gotta say it's not the most comfy flight in terms of seat. Entertainment was limited (e.g. range of movies) and got over that quickly. The stop over at Brunei airport wasn't pleasant at all as they were doing reno's. There was only 1 cafe available, and too bad my bank issued black/platinum cards weren't associated to their lounge so I wasn't able to access.

    I wouldn't consider taking them again. For a first timer it's ok, and the cheap air fare makes up for it. But I'd pay a bit extra to fly Qantas, Emirates and Singapore if I do it again. Even just for the booze lol!

• 

  dasher86 on 31/01/2015 - 20:52

  It's a dry airline.
  Out of all the airlines I have flown including low cost carriers - jetstar, easy jet, ryan air, wizard air etc the seats are really uncomfortable. It was like sitting on a wooden plank for hours on end. When I asked for a blanket not because I was cold but because my arse hurt they didn't have any left!
  Worse economy airline I have flown by far. Mainly because of the seats.

• 

  JoyVee on 31/01/2015 - 21:54

  Have only flown them from MEL to BKK both Economy and Business class. New dreamliner 787 most comfy. My 180 cm son found Y comfy too. Last flew with them Nov 2014.
  Service excellent every time I have flown with them. Friends have flown with them to London. Very happy . Dasher 86 when did you last fly with them?
  Anthony you can check out other views on airlinequality.com just check out any airline for airline reviews.

  • 

    dasher86 on 01/02/2015 - 23:04

    Flew with them last week.

• 

  englishrose2015 on 01/02/2015 - 08:35

  definitely recommend!
  I have flown Emirates, Singapore, air India, China Eastern as well as Royal Brunei. I really enjoyed Royal Brunei I felt we'll looked after and seats very comfortable! My worse experience wad Singapore airlines with New Airbus, seats so uncomfortable and bad leg cramps.
  I liked with royal Brunei the two stops at Brunei and Dubai. Two opportunities to stretch legs. For jetlag it's important not to drink alcohol lol so I don't see that as issue.
  I would have flown with them again however as I was emigrating this time China Eastern offer 46kg to flew with them however you don't get the same service as Brunei,

• 

  anth0888 on 01/02/2015 - 11:55

  thanks for the info. Did they give you good meals? and etc how are the anmeties - such as entertainment, blankets etc (as in are these also included or pay extra per use?). Something to consider as they fly the new 787 dreamliner.

• 

  MaxTravels on 01/02/2015 - 12:35

  I flew royal Brunei with my kids a few years ago. While it was a dry airline, we bought a small bottle of spirits at the airport before departing and made our own drinks to pass the time. Nobody seamed to mind. The overall experience was good and I have no complaints.

  As a plus, Royal Brunei are one of the few airlines that consider "children" as those aged up to 18 years (I think) and had a hearty discount for child fares (about 25% of an adult fare from memory). I think we paid about $1200 for a family of four to KL! They may have adjusted this policy but it's worth investigating for anyone who wants to travel with children.

  Everything was included on our flights, amenities provided (even on the short leg from Brunei to KL). Food was good though not memorable either.

• 

  momov3 on 01/02/2015 - 14:56

  If you don't like an extra stopover at a crappy airport as Bandar Seri Begawan, avoid it. One stop at Dubai is long enough for your journey to London. Royal Brunei undercuts the rest because it is relatively new to the London route.

• 

  travelwiz on 02/02/2015 - 15:09

  won't supply alcohol but will give you eg. glass, ice & coke & supply your own duty free rum !!!

• 

  deansimons on 02/02/2015 - 16:41

  I'd recommend it.
  Flew them september last year just to Bali and their overall product is very good.
  The transit lounges in Brunei are absolutely crap. If i recall correctly there was one tiny coffee shop and the toilets are pretty feral.
  Im not sure what the layovers like on the London flights but if they are anything over 2-3 hours id highly recommend paying the 5 Brunei dollar visa on arrival fee and passing into the main terminal. It's brand new and all of the popular fast food joints + a restaurant. The toilets are new and western which is also great.

  The brunei + dubai stops are nice too. No ultra long legs to deal with.

  Also you may want to bring your own entertainment. There wasn't that much inflight entertainment to choose from.
  And yeah just buy your own alcohol.

• 

  lfclad on 13/02/2015 - 08:19

  Hi Anthony, my wife and I flew royal brunei from Mel to London.
  Overall they were fine and this was my first flight to Europe so I had no other experience to grade it by.
  We had a couple of issues and one was the Dubai stop was listed on the ticket but we assumed as it was a refuel only and we wouldn't need to get off the plane, but we had to get off check into customs, and then get back on the plane.
  The other issue was we had a delay for 4 hours in the brunei airport due to an issue on their end, the airport is quite small (one large building) and quite uncomfortable and had very little air con. Our flight literally slept on the ground due to the limited number of seats available.
  Due to this reason we would choose a different airline next time around.

  • 

    travelwiz on 13/02/2015 - 09:30

    -1

    Royal Brunei is often cheapest way to Europe from MEL.

    Possibly due to many people thinking, I can't get a drink onboard, so I'll fly someone else(so reduced demand)

    In reality, you shouldn't drink tea, coffee or alcohol on long flights as they are diuretics & you'll need to drink much more water, or you'll get dehydrated faster.

    Many people also won't fly airlines with Islamic links.

    Qantas lost a huge amount of business from the jewish market, when they linked up with Emirates, as did Virgin when they linked up with Etihad.

• 

  Stroudie on 13/03/2015 - 08:41

  +2

  Hi Travelwiz,
  Can you substantiate your statement "Qantas lost a huge amount of business from the jewish market, when they linked up with Emirates, as did Virgin when they linked up with Etihad"
  I have never read nor heard of this before.I would like to have a look at the article myself, or is this something you just heard ?

• 

  martinj on 13/03/2015 - 12:57

  I flew with them about 10 years ago from London to Brisbane. The flight cost only about $1,000, compared to about $1,500 for other airlines at the time.

  The flight was supposed to leave early (7 am I think), so I had to leave for the airport at about 3:30 am. Got to the airport to check in and was told the flight was delayed but they couldn't say how long for. They got some people on other flights but there were still around 50 people waiting.

  Around midday they said they were taking us to a hotel. They still couldn't tell us what was happening. They blocked the phones in our rooms so we couldn't call to let people know we'd be late. When someone complained they took down phone numbers of peoples relatives etc and said they'd call them to let them know what's happening. Around 7 pm they told us we'd be leaving soon. We ended up leaving about 11 pm. Turns out Royal Brunei only has 2 planes, one has broken down, so they've flown the other one over from Brunei. They still hadn't told us what was happening or when we'd get home.

  The original flight was London to Brisbane with a few hours layover in Brunei. The new flight had a stop over in Dubai for about 4 hours. The London to Dubai flight had hardly anyone on it, so we could take 3 seats each and lie down. Also, a young lady had taken the whole contents of the minibar from the hotel, so it wasn't too bad. In Dubai we picked up a lot of passengers so the flight was pretty much full. The flight from Dubai to Brunei was standard.

  We got to Brunei late at night and were taken to another hotel. Still no idea when we'd get to Brisbane. I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and the air conditioner had leaked all over my bag, soaking all of my clothes. Called my family to let them know I'm still alive, but get the answering machine. I got downstairs and someone from the airline tells us to check in about 2 pm and they should have more information. I go to the Palace Museum and on a boat tour with a couple of other passengers. We get back to the hotel at 2 pm and someone from the airline says hurry up, we're going right now. Grab my soaked bag and we go to the airport and get a flight to Brisbane.

  We arrive at Brisbane airport about 4:30 am and my family is there to pick me up. Back when we were at the hotel in London, Royal Brunei had called them and told them what was happening and when we'd arrive, despite the fact they could never tell me what was happening. I ended up arriving home over 2 days later than was scheduled.

  To be honest, at that stage in my life 2 days was probably worth saving $500. Plus I can now say I've been to Brunei. I wouldn't fly with them again.

  • 

    iseenya on 13/03/2015 - 18:32

    +1

    tl;dr

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  JoyVee on 15/03/2015 - 20:43

  They seem to have cheaper economy seats Mel to LHR but they are not cheaper to fly business… others offer only one stop and a tipple or two l used skyscanner to check this.

• 

  nakahanap on 16/03/2015 - 20:59

  -1

  Don't do it.

  Trying to catch a connecting flight is really stressful because they stop in Bandar Seri Bagwan and insist on making you go through customs. The Duty free booze methods I read above are difficult to use - at Bandar Seri Bagwan they tried to confiscate other passengers duty free alcohol even though it was still sealed and the passengers were catching a connection within the hour.

  And as someone else mentioned - horrible, uncomfortable seats and not enough blankets for the passengers.

  The cheap flights just weren't worth it.

• 

  herzy on 30/03/2015 - 19:13

  Often cheapest way to get to Europe. Didn't notice much of a difference between them and other standard airlines (Singapore, Qatar, etc) - except for the second stopover, which does make things a bit more tiring in my opinion.

• 

  peeweekathi on 08/06/2015 - 18:48

  +1

  I know this is an old post now, but thought I'd throw in my experience, anyway! Flew with them late May, 2015, to London. Easy online check in, with dedicated Online Check in desks at Tullamarine Airport (MEL). 32 kg luggage allowance, for Economy. Left on time. New plane, comfy seats and a bit of wiggle room for me, in an aisle seat (I'm 180 cm tall). Took a couple of little bottles of Gin, for the trip and cabin crew supplied soft drinks, ice and stirrers to me. Food was good, I thought. I really like the two stops, with 7.5 hrs, to Brunei and I paid $5 Brunei to get out, so I could have a few ciggies :) Airport is looking good now, as it would appear most of the renovations are almost completed. The Airport looks almost identical to the 'new' Denpasar airport, so, maybe the same developers built it. Security and customs staff were all good. Had a two hour layover, only. Brunei to Dubai, 8 hrs. Short stop there, just enough time to get through another security check, grab a coffee and a couple more ciggies, then back on the plane. 8 hrs to London. Luggage checked all the way through. I'd fly with them again! For the trip home, in early June, my flight was cancelled. I got emailed as soon as they knew. There was a tech issue with the plane, in Dubai. The majority of us had already been booked onto other flights, with Cathay Pacific, via Hong Kong and that flight left 50 mins after our original flight time. Royal Brunei staff were very helpful and efficient, at Heathrow and also supplied us with food/drink vouchers for the wait. The few they couldn't get onto flights were booked into Hotels and transported and re-booked for flight the following night. Cathay Pacific flight home was 9.5 hours to Hong Kong, 6 hour layover, then 9.3 hours to Melbourne. 2nd flight was older plane with zero leg room! So, all in all, I'd definitely fly with Royal Brunei Airlines, again!

• 

  JoyVee on 08/06/2015 - 22:14

  Flew Melbourne to London Heathrow with them in May 2015. Did economy from Melbourne to London and splurged on Business from London back to Melbourne. Really enjoy dreamliner, seats comfy, spacious and managed to get 3 seats to myself all sectors in economy. Also found out that loading on way home in economy was very light and lots of people enjoyed a sleep across 3 seats.Business was also light on return. Ten out of 18 seats to Brunei and only 7 in last sector. Loved the total flat bed and duvet in Business but felt AV screen was too far away for me compared to distance in economy. Loved their shared lounge in LHR, great shower and relaxing neck and shoulder massage prior to flight. Food very good in economy and excellent in Busness. Service delightful, friendly in both. More individual attention in Business.
  Also got express ticket for landing in MEL but not an advantage when you arrive at 4.45 a.m.
  Liked the hour or so extra stop over in Dubai as you had chance to stretch legs.
  Managed to get about 10 hrs sleep as tried to fit into Aussie time. Still took about 5 days to get body clock back to Melbourne time. Had no noticeable problem arriving in UK.
  Do not know what loadings are like on other flight days or dates. Flew out on Monday and returned on Tuesday.
  Combination fare available from Melbourne office. My friend told me that such a combination fare was not possible.Apparently it should be available from Travel agent. Reassuring post above about Royal Brunei handling of flight cancellation.

• 

  JoyVee on 08/06/2015 - 22:19

  Forgot to mention that new airport in Brunei has potential but their business lounge and shower facilities are really not up to scratch. In dire need of renovation.

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  anth0888 on 08/06/2015 - 22:38

  Interesting insights and thanks for your feedback :)