I couldn't have clicked "like" on this surprise any faster. So obsessed with Brunei, its history, and the airline -- I'm so excited to see this flight review! Thanks for sharing this!
Patrick must have been ironic. Borneo is about TWICE the size of Germany, and THREE TIMES the size of Great Britain. I also didn't understand why he said that "it's one of the smaller islands of Malaysia". Malaysia has no other island that comes even close to a HUNDREDTH of the size of Borneo. Even considering just the size of the Malaysian part of Borneo, no other island in the country comes close to that. Now, the country of Brunei is really small, about half the size of Cyprus or twice the size of Luxembourg.
The exchange rate is S$1 = 1 Brunei Dollar. You bought your airticket from Malaysia and was paid in Malaysian Ringgit, it is super cheap after conversion to Singapore Dollar. The rate is S$1 around 3.45 MYR. Thank you for sharing this awesome flight report again. Brunei is a place more for business not for leisure.. I understand they served wine and alcoholic drinks many many years ago until they become a Dry airline to follow the regularisation of Islamic World.
@@PatrickSheaAviation Yeah, it's just a different writing system, common and made official after the adoption of Islam and the influence of Arabic and Persian traders and merchants. Before that, the language was written in predominantly Sanskrit script due to the previous cultural exchange between India and Maritime Southeast Asia (which is also why Malay and Hindi share many words). European colonial rule brought about the Latin script; Indonesia actually had Dutch-style spelling in the Latin script and Malaysia had more influence from English until the 1970s when there was a conference to standardize the method and style of spelling in the Latin alphabet. However, Jawi has been maintained and also encouraged in Malaysia and Brunei as it is a great cultural heritage from during the golden age of Malay civilization. And much like Urdu script, for example, there are additional letters not found in Arabic to reflect the sound and phonology of the words in the language (like the P sound and the Ch--like in "charge"--sound).
Nice video. I also enjoyed my flights Melbourne-Brunei-Singapore return just after they go their B787s. I didn’t miss the alcohol, and was intrigued buy the Muslim prayer before takeoff. The reason for the weight limit for carry on baggage is the weight limit of the overhead bins that many airlines ignore.
It used to be the case (maybe still is today ?) that if you bought alcohol at airport duty-free you could bring it on board and cabin staff would serve it with the meal. BI is a kangaroo route player and on such long flights some people do appreciate an alcoholic drink.
Yea the seats are great, and you are allowed to bring your own alcohol if you’d like. That’s a nice touch that most airlines don’t allow… since they offer their own onboard alc
Brunei airport is nice. 23:07 Me too, I love to fly new airlines and new countries for vacation. The pre departure and arrival drink with a hot towel is appreciated (something not many airlines do), they have amenity kit inside the lavatory in business class, which is good. Hopefully when the Boeing 787-9 is deliver this year to Royal Brunei, I agree with you, I wish they have wifi on a medium and long haul flight, external camera and window inside the lavatory. Royal Brunei is a good airline to fly if is cheap and I would like to fly to Brunei 1 day.
BI used to fly only to my home city in Australia, BNE. Then they expanded to DRW, PER and MEL. We originally got the 767-300, then the 777-200ER (ex-SQ) and then the A320. Before Covid they wound back and only flew to MEL. They were always the cheapest to Europe (LHR and I think FRA at one point) via BWN and DXB.
Definitely loved your video. Thank you for sharing week in and week out with airlines from around the world/countries. I enjoyed this review and video very much
I just did KCH-BWN-MEL on the 6th to 14th of April. On both sectors to/from BWN, we had the middle seat empty which made for a very comfortable flight in Y. Meals were delicious just that there was only one meal service, wish there was a substantial arrival refreshments.
That looks like the seating in the Latam 787s that used to fly to Frankfurt and Madrid before the pandemic. Although no privacy and all aisle access the seats were pretty wide and very comfortable when sleeping which was important for the very long flights to Santiago de Chile.
I don’t hate this setup honestly… even if it lacks privacy. LATAM has been upgrading theirs to the 1-2-1 setup it looks like however. Just smaller beds
Are you sure that the “Arabic” signs you saw in Brunei were actually Arabic? Like in Iran, the Arabic script can be used to write other languages than Arabic. Check Jawi script for more information.
The language there is NOT Arabic; it is Malay using Arabic-based alphabet. Just like Latin script, there are many languages that use the Arabic script too (Urdu, Persian, Penjabi, Pashtoo, Malay, etc).
I think the thing for the 10kg handluggage is that it is pretty heavy otherwise just in case it would fall out of the overhead bins... so it's a safety thing I guess
the wealth distribution in a country like that must be insane to see and eye-opening. It looks like a beautiful country, though. Thanks for the new review!
Royal Brunei have been serving the UK and Frankfurt markets since the early 1990s. I worked with them in London in 1995 and 1996. They also used to serve Darwin as we jsed to sell a fair few cheap tickets to Darwin from London.
Royal Brunei is a popular option to get to London for those of us here in Melbourne, as the fares are usually one of the lowest. Pre-COVID it wasn't hard to purchase a MEL-LHR return on them for under AUD$1,000.
That seat looks like the same one LOT Polish Airlines has on their 787s, which thankfully is getting a cabin refresh soon. Good for 2012, not as much in 2024.
Thank you for the good review. Yet, you made no mention of the flights to Darwin in the '90s. I flew with them several times then from Darwin to Bandar Sri Begawan and on to Frankfurt or Zurich or Singapore.
@@PatrickSheaAviation The Sultan of Brunei owns an enormous cattle property in the Northern Territory since the 70's or 80's, to supply the country with meat. That led to the stop at Darwin. Later on they discontinued in favour of Melbourne. The meat goes by ship.
Thank you for this! I lived in Brunei for a years in my childhood (dad was a Shell expat). Flew the airline a lot in those days so it has a special place in my heart and when I see a review I always hope RB did well. I knew what was coming when you said you were flying business class. Yes the seats are outdated and the IFE hardware seems a bit too old for the software (the A320neo's don't have this lagging problem). I hope the arrival of the 787-9's will mean the -8's will get refurbished and that you will give Royal Brunei another go 😊
Great report, wonder who they cater to, Brunei nationals, or foreigners? And is there a choice of airlines if you have to get to Brinei from, say, Australia? Does Qantas serve the route as well?
I don’t believe Qantas does at this time. I didn’t see signage for them at least. I do know Singapore and Malaysian fly here so you could get here with a stop at leadt
@PatrickSheaAviation BTW, Etihad is bringing the a380 back to the Abu Dhabi to New York route. Any plans to review that? Will give you more time to truly savor the service on a 13 hour flight, compared to the just 6.5 to London that you've covered.
Hey love your vids! About the carry-on more than 10kgs, I guess it's because the overhead bins have a max that they can have. And also, it's dangerous if it happens to fall off someone :P
Great review Patrick - Ive flown them a few times and yes they are happy for you to bring your own alcohol - and it’s pronounced “Ban Dar, Seri , Beg - a - wan “😊
The reason why you couldn’t have more than 10 KG‘s weight weight of carry-on bag is because if it falls out, it will hit someone’s head and then also second of all it will be too heavy for the bin.
It is fun that I found out about most airlines back in 2008. I had a Flight Simulator X, and I would download loads of mods and skins for aircraft. After seeing them, I would go to Wikipedia and search for the airline. I miss my teenage years so much. :'(. The airport looks very small for an oil-rich country. Normally, these countries REALLY LIKE to show off their money, haha.
I am curious, how much they charge you to check in your overweight luggage? When you arrived in Melbourne from Brunei, you flew Jetstar to Honolulu? If so, how is your Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Honolulu?
I recall flying F class as only pax many years ago to BNE on a late night departure and crew did not ask or serve a meal and left gally area till morning and closed the galley. I queried this and they said they thought I was a spare pilot not a revenue pax Of course complaint never answered Poor form
Once again there are signs of insufficient research. Those signs everywhere in Brunei you mention at 0:33 are not "in Arabic" but rather in Malay language written using a modified Arabic-based script (Malay has no indigenous script of its own). Your channel is established enough for you to avoid making simple factual errors that detract from overall quality.
I was going to point out the same thing. The Malay language comes in several standards. The most common ones are Bahasa Maleyu in Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, both written in Latin alphabet. Brunei also uses Malay as the official language. I guess it wants to differentiate itself from the other two and uses Arabic script.
Coming from radical lefty San Francisco, Islamic Fundamentalist monarchy Brunei must have been a bit of a culture shock for you 😆I've seen other aviation and travel bloggers (e.g. Drew Binsky, Josh Cahill) have not so nice things to say about Brunei. As for Royal Brunei Airlines, I give high marks to any airline that doesn't serve booze inflight (I'm of the opinion that alcohol should be banned from the skies, both inside the terminal and on board the aircraft). The hard and soft products are quite impressive for such a small airline.
You seem surprised by the disparity between the rich and poor in these oil rich countries. 😅. Maybe the sultan could spare some loose change to help those in need.
Wow, what disappointing Business class food service. No Breakfast offered ? How much was the ticket to Melbourne? I think Singapore Airlines & Malaysian Airlines would give you better service. Did you notice the stain on the right Edge of the seat cushion at 7:00 ? Not what I would expect to see on a Business class product! 😕
Flew on a Royal Brunei 767 from Dubai to London in 1994. It was so dirty I told the kids NOT to take their shoes off. The dirtiest plane I’ve ever been on.
The airline has a number of major flaws very much like the leadership of the country itself. The airport and facilities are well below par and closes every evening. Transfers through the Brunei generally will attempt to trap you into an overnight layover. This will result in a mind numbing experience unless your interest lie with a shopping centre devoid of shops, a mosque or the copy of never land which is in varying levels of decay. Unless you need to fly to Brunei my advice is avoid at all costs. There are reasons why it has never made a profit and there are a lot of reasons to avoid using it. There are so many better options to fly Singapore to Melbourne
