Update: Read my full Royal Brunei Business Class 787 Bandar Seri Begawan To Dubai review.
Hello from Dubai! I just flew Royal Brunei’s 787 for the 8hr25min flight between Bandar Seri Begawan and Dubai. The plane continues to London, though I got off here. I’ve been wanting to take this flight for a long time, and am happy I finally had the opportunity. There were aspects of the experience that were exceptional, while other areas where a small investment would go a long way.
Royal Brunei’s 787s feature a total of 18 business class seats, spread across three rows in a 2-2-2 configuration. The seats are forward facing and fully flat, so they’re not my favorite product when traveling alone, but are perfectly fine. This is very similar to the 787 business class product you’ll find on airlines like Azerbaijan, Hainan, LATAM, LOT, Xiamen, etc.
The flight departs at 8:30PM and gets to Dubai at 1:30AM, so it’s a bit oddly of a timed flight for those terminating their travels in Dubai. That’s because it’s timed to optimize connections to Melbourne and London. To my surprise, almost everyone in business class seemed to be flying from Melbourne to Bandar Seri Begawan to Dubai to London.
Royal Brunei has a dine on demand menu, though I elected to eat right after takeoff, so I could rest later on.
To start I was offered cashew nuts with a (non-alcoholic) drink.
Then for the starter I had a chicken, potato, and leek cream soup.
Then I had a salad with beef tenderloin.
Then I had a tumeric baked sea bass.
Lastly for dessert I had a bread butter pudding with blueberry.
I had a cappuccino to accompany it, which was freshly made with espresso, rather than powdered. It was very good.
The meal was okay — I thought the soup was good, the salad was alright, the main course wasn’t very good, and the dessert was very good.
However, much like on my previous Royal Brunei flight, the service on the flight was once again exceptional. The crew addressed each passenger by name at each interaction, was very proactive in their service, and was just generally friendly. They were a delight, which matches my experience on my previous Royal Brunei flight.
While Royal Brunei doesn’t have Wi-Fi, they do have an extensive entertainment selection. It’s not the best in the world, but is quite solid. I especially appreciated that they had entire seasons of certain sitcoms.
I had mixed feelings about the amenities Royal Brunei offers. On one hand they offer a really cheap amenity kit and headphones that aren’t especially comfortable.
On the other hand, the bedding was exceptional, and the blanket was the most comfortable one I’ve ever been offered in business class.
So based on my two flights with Royal Brunei, I guess my overall thoughts are that they’re a solid way to fly. The service and bedding are exceptional, while there’s room for improvement for food and some of the amenities. If it matters to you, the fact that they’re a dry airline will also be a consideration for many.
Overall both of my flights on Royal Brunei were enjoyable.
You certainly can bring your own alcohol on board, and there will be no objection from the crew. Indeed, my wife and I were sitting in row 2 behind a couple of RB pilots slipping from Dubai to Bandar who turned around during meal service and offered us their bottle of Claret they had bought from Dubai duty free!
Lucky, so where have you deposited your miles from Royal Brunei flights? Asia Miles?
How full was the flight? I wonder if it is easy to redeem award seats in J for Royal Brunei?
When you consistently order fish for your main course, most times it'll be dried out or overly sauced.
Interested to see if claim that you could bring your own spirits on board is true. Otherwise it would be a real bust over 8+ hours.
Once I flew their 767 and the first class restroom was unlike any other I've seen - gold plated sink and knob (yes, real gold!) and even some of their F seats had some gold elements.
@Jason
Royal Brunei business fares MEL-LHR are not that cheap at all. Generally approaching 6k. There are several cheaper options than them.
You can actually bring on the small duty free bottles of alcohol on all the flights except for the last BWN-MEL leg I believe. The FAs will apparently give you glasses/soda for it etc.
I was a travel agent in Melbourne and they are an extremely popular option to get to London as their return trip fares (in economy) would often be around $1200 during peak season when Emirates, Etihad, Singapore etc would be...
You can actually bring on the small duty free bottles of alcohol on all the flights except for the last BWN-MEL leg I believe. The FAs will apparently give you glasses/soda for it etc.
I was a travel agent in Melbourne and they are an extremely popular option to get to London as their return trip fares (in economy) would often be around $1200 during peak season when Emirates, Etihad, Singapore etc would be around $1800-$2200. Also people like the idea of breaking up the journey so they are are not on a 15 hour flight from MEL to the Middle East. The airline reps would market this route and getting people familiar with the routing by explaining it as a "7 hour flight to BWN, 8 hour flight to DXB, and 7 hour flight to LON on the 787", trying to emphasize how nice it is to break up the journey. To each their own I guess.
the only reason people are flying Melbourne-Bandar-Dubai-London is because RB offers dirt cheap fares in J. That's it.
It would be a pain to fly from Melbourne to Bandar Seri Begawan to Dubai to London without even having a glass of wine.
Suggested lighthearted post: Should you eat up at the lounge or save space for the inflight meal? I've found that most lounges have better food than their respective planes, but of course it varies.
Lucky how did you decided to get back to the US?
I'm jealous. Have long wanted to give BI a try since 767 days. Just could never swing the excuse for a side excursion to Bandar Seri Begawan.