Royal Brunei Airlines

Royal Brunei Airlines is the flag carrier of Brunei, flying from its Bandar Seri Begawan hub across Southeast Asia, to the Gulf and on to London and Australia. It runs a compact fleet and pitches itself on a quiet, dry cabin experience rather than sprawling scale. For travellers, that means a manageable set of aircraft to learn, with the widebody and narrowbody choices each carrying a distinct premium fit worth knowing before you pick a seat.

The long-haul work falls to the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which carries a lie-flat Business cabin up front and a single economy cabin behind. Regional routes lean on the Airbus A320neo, and this is the aircraft to study closely: it splits into three seating zones rather than the usual two, with Business, a small Premium Economy and economy all sharing the same tube. Knowing which zone your fare lands in changes the seat maths entirely.

Up front on the 787, the flat bed is the reason to be there on the longer sectors, and the cabin stays dark and low-key in the Dreamliner way. The A320neo Business seats give you space and a settled front-cabin feel on shorter hops, while the Premium Economy stretch sits between the two worlds without pretending to be a flat bed. Economy on both aircraft is a conventional layout, so the seat-selection decisions there come down to legroom, window alignment and how close you sit to the galleys and lavatories.

On the A320neo, check which of the three zones your ticket actually books into before you pay to choose a seat, because the front rows carry very different comfort for the price. On the 787, the flat-bed Business rows reward the extra spend on the long sectors more than the short ones. In economy on either aircraft, aim a few rows clear of the galley if you want a quieter run, and check window alignment on the Dreamliner where a couple of seats sit slightly off the glass.