Airline review: This full-service carrier offers cheaper flights to Europe

The flight

Royal Brunei Airlines, flight B16; Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner economy class; Melbourne to Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), departs 1.10pm (40 minutes behind schedule); flight time 7 hour 10 minutes.

Frequency

Three times weekly.

Royal Brunei Airlines flies Boeing 787 Dreamliners on its Melbourne to London route.

The loyalty scheme

Royal Brunei has its own loyalty scheme, Royal Skies, which is not affiliated with any of the major programs.

Carbon emissions

0.919 tonnes for flying economy class.

Checking in

Someone’s got to be the last to check in, and in this case, it’s me. Physically averse to spending any more time in an airport than required, I take my place at the back of the queue. Even while anticipating a long wait, it is a really, really long wait, seemingly with drama for every passenger checking in. Nothing swift about this process (and all subsequent check-ins with Royal Brunei), the one benefit of being last is that I can negotiate a better seat than my middle-of-the-middle allocation, thanks to a last-minute no-show.

The seat

The aircraft feels a bit tired – not what you’d expect for an airline owned by one of the world’s wealthiest countries. Luckily, I’m pretty short, as my window seat (28K) refuses to recline, making it a tight flight when the person ahead drops back for a snooze.

The aircraft feels a bit tired, and my seat’s recline function doesn’t work.

With a 3-3-3 seat configuration, the pitch is 32-inches (81.2 centimetres) and width of 17.2-inches (43.6 centimetres), not unusual, but on the narrow side for long-haul aircraft.

Baggage

Up to 30 kilograms of checked luggage, owing to my ticket’s higher tier within economy, as well as a seven-kilogram bag and handbag of up to five kilograms.

Entertainment

I work for at least half the flight up to London, enabled by the power outlet beneath my seat (bring an adaptor for Brunei/UK powerpoints), but there’s no Wi-Fi. Royal Brunei has not caught onto the cool safety video trend – it’s straight from the 1980s – followed by a detailed video on how to open the toilet doors. There are a decent number of movies on the 9-inch (22.8 centimetre) touchscreen; you could rip through the entire Twilight saga or Lord of the Rings if travelling through to London. The audio channel – often overlooked by airlines – serves up a meditational music channel, which provides comfort for my overworked brain.

Service

One of the best things about this carrier is that it keeps offices in Melbourne and Sydney, so when I have ticketing dramas, it’s just a quick local call to the efficient staff, who solve all dramas swiftly. Inflight, the staff are dressed in the carrier’s teal and chocolate livery, and are admirable in their juggling of passengers fasting for Ramadan, the blood sport that is securing overhead locker space and the numerous requests to help shut the toilet door (the old-school pivot door design is admittedly a little tricky).

Food

If you’re offered the biryani, take it – it’s the best of the economy meals served on Royal Brunei. Kudos also to the staff for producing bread rolls that are actually hot and crispy. Thankfully, tea, coffee and drinks are served at the same time, rather than a 20-minute wait for a post-prandial cuppa with dessert. There’s no alcohol served on this airline, which is owned by the government of the predominantly Muslim country. Nuts, chocolate biscuits, juices and soft drinks are offered 90 minutes before we land in sultry Brunei, 25 minutes behind schedule.

One more thing

Royal Brunei offers a reduced youth fare for travellers between 12-15 years of age, which shaves off some of the taxes for a blissful reprieve for parents.

The verdict

This flight is the first leg of my Melbourne-London journey which, even though it is scheduled to stop for 90 minutes in Brunei, on the island of Borneo, and again for 60 minutes to refuel in Dubai, is only 90 minutes longer than the one-stop flights via the Middle East. And $1000 (return) cheaper. There’s no such thing as a free lunch: if you can endure a potentially wonky seat and the delays, it’s worth the saving.

Our rating out of five

★★★

The writer travelled at her own expense. See flyroyalbrunei.com

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