I recently had occasion to try out Royal Brunei flights. It is now fairly well established that when you come to book a flight, the further away the departure that you book, the better price you will get. Obviously it can be difficult to plan ahead by as much as 11 months, usually the maximum time away.
On my recent trip to the Philippines, I left it late, 3 weeks before departure, for booking, and was unpleasantly surprised at the difference in price from about 6 weeks. The difference was £850 with Cathay Pacific as against £350, Scanning around, I found a deal with Royal Brunei Flights at just over £500. There was a slight drawback, a four hour stopover in Brunei on the way out and 5 hours on the way back. I did have a look at the possibility of stopping over in Brunei for a couple of nights on the 5 hour trip, but it did not really fit in with my schedule. I thought however, that I could use the stop over time to get some work done. At a saving of £350, I thought that it was something with which I could put up.
Two things happened after booking. Firstly, I then looked at some trip advisor reviews of Royal Brunei Flights. The most recent reports did not make encouraging reading with delayed flights, poor customer service and lack of information. Secondly, the Sultan of Brunei announced that the Kingdom would reintroduce the penalty of stoning to death those convicted of homosexuality, and George Clooney and some of his celebrity chums led calls to boycott the airline and hotels owned by Brunei.
I do not think that quite so much publicity was given to the requirement that in order to earn the penalty of being stoned to death, the act to be condemned had to be witnessed by four people. While I am not in favour of the death penalty for any crime (apart possibly for littering), it does seem to me that this sort of evidential requirement does make it unlikely that the sanction will ever actually be put into practice. Indeed, although Brunei provides the death penalty for a number of offences, no one has been put to death since 1957. At more or less the same time, Saudi Arabia crucified 27 prisoners, and Dubai threatened to imprison a UK citizen for calling a love rival a horse on Facebook. Silence from Mr Clooney. I suppose he was busy.
My flight from London left absolutely on time. The staff were polite and helpful. The seat on the Dreamliner was comfortable. Possibly Mr Clooney’s urged boycott was having some effect because the plane was by no means full, which gave an added aura of comfort. I rarely watch films on flights, even long distance flights, so I could not really comment on the quality of film choice, although from the quick perusal I had, there was nothing to excite me.
The flight to Bandar Seri Begawan arrived on time and we were quickly disembarked and led through transit. If there is a drawback to flights on Royal Brunei, it is that the terminal at Bandar Seri Begawan is limited. There is plenty of space, and a number of fashion and accessory concessions, but only one restaurant, and that closes at 9 pm. Worse, there is a minimum spend of $10, which might strike you as expensive if you only want a cup of coffee. There is a shop selling biscuits, chocolate and drinks (non alcoholic of course) where you can use a credit/debit card with no minimum spend.
There is free WiFi, but limited to an hour. Given that most flights stopping over had substantial waiting times, this does seem a little restrictive. I had a book and some work, so managed to work quite well on my lap, but would have liked to have had a coffee to go with it.
The return flight was slightly late, perhaps about half an hour, but with a 5 hour stopover it was hardly a problem. The flight from Brunei to Heathrow was pretty much fully but again the flight was entirely without incident
Another feature of Royal Brunei is that the baggage allowance in Economy is 40 Kg, a definite disadvantage for those whose partners feel that they have to pack up to the full allowance, but are not expecting to carry the bag.
So, without wishing to express support or condemnation of any of the policies of the Kingdom of Brunei, I would certainly recommend at least checking prices with Royal Brunei and flying with them if the price and flight times fit in with your budget and schedule. I will have no hesitation with flying with Royal Brunei Flights in future. It seems a good route for Bali and Manila, perhaps less so for Thailand, Malaysia and China as this means going back on yourself, but worth considering if the price is right.
