Royal Brunei, not your average Asian airline.
Written: Nov 04 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: An economical, generally un-crowded way to fly. Low passenger loads can make stretching out easier.
Cons: Worn out seats and carpets, lousy food and poor music channels.
The Bottom Line: Royal Brunei suits the undiscerning traveler who only sees this airline as a way to get from A to B at a low cost.
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| mayhewga's Full Review: Royal Brunei Airlines |
Royal Brunei Airlines connects many of South East Asia's cities with Australia, New Zealand, The United Arab Emirates, London and Frankfurt.
This review is of their longest journey from Brisbane Australia to London and return.
I have written Epinion reviews on similar journeys taken with Singapore Airlines and EVA Air, so this makes an interesting comparison, although this review is of economy class only.
See my review of EVA air at http://www.epinions.com/content_66737966724
and Singapore Air at http://www.epinions.com/content_56427449988
Royal Brunei offers very economical fares for Australians and Britons to travel between the two countries and for the money you spend you get what you pay for.
This journey is made in 3 hops; Brisbane to Brunei (6 hours) then to Abu Dhabi, (8 hours) then to London (8 hours)
The stop in Abu Dhabi is only 45 minutes whilst the Brunei stop is between 2 and 6 hours depending upon connections.
We are a pair of 50 somethings and have made the return journey from Australia to Europe 4 times in the past 5 years.
The Planes
Firstly their fleet of mainly 767s is in desperate need of some sprucing up.
The carpets are threadbare and the seat's foam cushioning has compressed so much that on some seats your thighs have very little between them and metal frame. Even before take off on one of the sectors, we had to move because the seats we had (exit seats with lots of legroom) were just too uncomfortable. Leg room is similar to other airlines (ie cramped)
We flew on 4 aircraft and all were the same and upon talking to an airline staff member we learnt that the planes were going to get cabin refits in the near future.
The use of 767s on such a long journey has advantages and disadvantages.
Being smaller (than 747s) you don't have a feeling of being hemmed in as the seating is 2 3 2, and the queues for toilets are much shorter. However, being slower than the 747 makes the journey longer, but because of the fuel stops, at least the journey is broken up into manageable sectors.
We were lucky on some sectors the plane was only half full so my wife and I quickly grabbed a centre row each, put the arm rests up, grabbed a few pillows and blankets and slept for entire sectors which made life much more bearable.
Staff
The staff are a mixed bunch. We generally found the male stewards to be more helpful and friendly than the women. The uniforms are fairly nondescript and include a type of scarf worn as a head covering for the women which is quite attractive.
The ground staff in Brunei are very helpful
The flight crew appear to be mainly Australian or English and all staff speak very good english
Entertainment
The entertainment system is a mixed bag. The overhead monitors are few and far between, and the single large screen on the bulkhead on all 4 aircraft were very poor quality, but at least the movies were latest release, with 2 movies shown each sector. The music choice was woeful. 1 channel of classical, 1 of western pop and 5 channels of Asian pop and Arabic selections.
I had dead controls on two seats which was on par with the general state of the seats anyway.
It has to be remembered that 95% of the passengers on this route are either British or Australian, so it is surprising that the music selection is so slanted towards Asian tastes, especially when you consider the food they serve is in no way Asian!
When there is no movie showing, a symbol indicating the direction and distance to Mecca is shown on the screens and in keeping with the Muslim faith a (quite long) prayer in Arabic is broadcast prior to each take-off.
Food
The food on this airline has to be the blandest imaginable!
Every major meal consists of a choice of either beef stew with pasta or chicken and mashed potato. On one meal the beef was replaced by steamed Cod. None of the meals have any flavour whatsoever nor any sort of sauces or condiments apart from pepper and salt to give the food any taste. The tiny glass of water with each meal is inadequate, as there is nothing else to drink with the meal until tea and coffee is served on the next round...see drinks below.
I asked a stewardess why there was no Asian style food and she said they only serve that on Asian flights...obviously the airline management thinks that non Asians only enjoy plain English style cooking.
Every desert was a slice of marzipan cake, a flavour that you either like or hate.
The snacks are few and far between, although they do bring around juices regularly, but you have to keep asking for water. We found the hot noodle snacks (that we had to ask for) very satisfying and welcome.
Drinks
This is a Muslim airline so there is no alcohol served.
We brought on board some small bottles of duty free spirits and mixed them with coke etc from the trolley, and there was no problem there. Some people made the mistake of bringing aboard wine and without a corkscrew couldn't be opened. The staff wouldn't assist in these cases.
Layovers
We had a 5 hour outbound layover in Brunei and took advantage of a city sights tour for 25 Singapore dollars (they accept both Singapore and Brunei currency which are the same rate.) This was very interesting and filled in the time nicely.
The stops in Abu Dhabi are only 45 minutes which gives you time to stretch the legs in their very interestingly designed duty free area which has some of the cheapest perfumes and spirits I have found.
First and Business class
These appear to be very nice with large leather seats and individual entertainment systems that fold away. That is all I can report on, as we didn't have the opportunity to get to try them.
Frequent Flyer
They have just introduced a frequent flyer scheme which they claim is the most generous of any, but without any other partners at this stage it is not very useful. You do however get to move up to the next tier with only 6 international sectors giving you access to their lounge in Brunei, but without any drinks this surely would not hold much appeal.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
mayhewga
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Location: Caloundra, Queensland, Australia
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
An Aussie who loves to travel, drink wine, and go to the beach.
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