I traveled with Royal Brunei Airlines and stayed at their Sky Lounge when I went from Melbourne to Tokyo. In between Melbourne and Tokyo, I had to transit through Brunei. The plane on all legs took off relatively on time and it was good to experience a full service flight for under A$800.
Inside the plane
Royal Brunei Airline plane from Melbourne to Brunei is a larger plane with a 3-3-3 seat plan, proper business class recliner seats, but outdated entertainment unit. The plane is pretty spacious.
The plane from Brunei to Tokyo is much smaller with a 3-3 seat plan, less leg space, but updated entertainment unit. The annoying thing about this flight is that the toilets are only in the rear and it becomes impossible to visit the toilets when they are doing their food service.
Before each take-off, the screen plays a Muslim prayer in Arabic, presumably to pray for good fortune.
The selection of films and television series were decent, there were a few Hollywood blockbusters. The selection wasn’t huge, but there was enough variety to keep me occupied on the plane.
Royal Brunei offers a large range of dietary meals, which is pretty good. The food was good. The drinks selection include juices, soft drinks and tea/coffee, but there is no alcohol on this plane.
The service on the plane was fine.
The transit at Brunei
On landing, we felt the heat pretty fast. It’s a country close to the equator after all.
Before heading into the terminal waiting area, we had to go through security. So make sure you don’t bring in anything like water, including alcohol, or anything banned or prohibited in Brunei.
The airport transit terminal feels spacious, but is most chairs and empty space. The terminal has a Starbucks and another Tea/coffee cafe and a few souvenir stores selling merchandise, jewellery or snacks. There are some vending machines and a small playground with few play equipment. It is quite tiny and mostly uninteresting. I wouldn’t pick this airport to be stuck at for very long.
Royal Brunei’s Sky Lounge
Flying with Royal Brunei means a stopover at Brunei. On our journey to Tokyo, there was a 7 hour stopover at Brunei! It was a long wait, so we opted to reserve the lounge because we couldn’t go out of the airport and back due to the fact we arrived at the airport late in the day and 7 hours didn’t seem like enough time to get places.
We pre-paid our stay at the Sky Lounge. All up, we paid B$45 to stay at the lounge for our entire layover period. The Sky Lounge offers wifi connection, some seats, a small buffet with soft drinks and juices, and a three lay flat chairs. During my time, they didn’t have any films playing in their theatre and the kids play zone was under construction. They did have a PlayStation 4 with internet connection. You can even shower and ask the front desk for a towel.
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