KLIA Kuala Lumpur Airport

Today we arrived at KLIA on a flight from Bangkok and it was chaos at Immigration. Long lines, we waited over 2 hours to just get to the Immigration counter and the worse thing was that there were only 2 both open for foreigners - for the Malaysian nationals there were 6 open and nobody waited. It was chaos in the lines, no Airport Staff around, no lines set up. Everybody was pushing their way in, people jumped the line, children cried because they were pressed. It was a nightmare - I fly a lot but I have never anywhere in the world experienced anything like this. It was dangerous. I hope that somebody from KLIA will read this comment and do something about it. When we were finally through I went to the desk of the Tourism Authority from Malaysia and complained - but they were not interested at all. If that is the way Malaysia handles tourists, than I will not be back here.

Long passport security lines before you even get to the baggage security area. We arrived at the airport at 8.15 for a 10.50 flight. We checked in by 09.00 and immediately proceeded to security - we were stood there for almost 90 minutes. The queue was insanely long. If someone has issues with their passport - everyone in the line just has to stand and wait - there isn't a system to refer them to someone else for further questioning. When there was an announcement about our plane boarding - there was still about 25 people ahead of us. I went to speak to the counter staff but they said to just wait in line. There was also a group of about 10 tourists who decided to jump the queue forcefully to ensure they got on their flight - without a care about the people shouting at them and the standoff between the group leader and a traveller who he'd pushed In front of. clearly, I wasn't about to do the same although tempted. There wasn't a fast track service. It was a horrible wait. Finally after security, we start running to our gate, only to be met by the baggage scan security area. After that, it's a shuttle to the gate and a long run. The signs were confusing and my partner and I had a lot of domestics in that airport about where to go. We literally sprint to the gate carrying heavy bags and the woman at the gate started screaming in my face about being late and I should have been there earlier. I explained about the security checks and being at the airport st 8, to which she replied I should have known its peak hours. Her manner was horrid. Anyway, there were a number of other travellers going to London at the back of our line - none of them turned up on the flight and we saw a lot of bags being removed. Also empty seats. The airport needs a lot more staff. There were lots of empty counters at the first security area - if it's "peak travelling time," doesn't it make sense to add more staff at the security checks and open more counters? Ridiculous. I've travelled to 39 countries and never experienced an airport like this. Stressful experience which isn't helped by unhelpful and rude staff.

Extremely long queuing time for immigration check at Kuala Lumpur before baggage reclaim. There are over 20 booths but only 3 are open. Signage is non-existant. No one seems in charge. Very unpleasant arrival because of it. Apart from that nice terminals and lots of shops.

I am going to write my arrival experience at KLIA and departure experience at KLIA2. First impression, while KLIA is the main international airport and KLIA2 which is for LCC carriers I would say KLIA2 is better. Sure KLIA has all the high-end brands at the airport mall, the hallways are brightly lit, enough signage. But one area they failed miserably is the toilets, which is the basic requirement for all air travelers. Wet floors, no tissue, un-flushed toilets, dirty hand-wash area, used tissue on the floors. Right from upon my arrival all the way to the exit before going to KLIA2, I was looking at 6 or 7 toilets at KLIA in hope finding one that is decent enough, and I cannot find any. And i'm not even a picky guy. No cleaning personnel at the airport, and the one time I saw a cleaning personnel, he spent maybe a minute going through all the stalls and not doing any cleaning.

Arrive early morning at 3.30 at KLIA Kuala Lumpur and going to wait for connecting flight to Jakarta. I'd like to report that all the toiletes were not ready to use. They put yellow standing signs that the toilets are under cleaning progress - this is an international airport with passengers arriving 24 hours, so isn't this ridiculous? My daughter wanted to use one of the female toilets and a member of the cleaning staff shouted to her rudely to use another toilet. We walked through the gates and all female toilets were blocked with the yellow sign stating not ready to use. I end up letting her use one of the toilet with the yellow sign (without the cleaning staff present) and the situation inside quite wet everywhere. I think they seriously need to educate their cleaning services on how to give proper service at the airport.

Comparing the KLIA Kuala Lumpur to other international airports like Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul - it is still far from being a top international airport. The airport queues for Immigration are so long that it takes more than 40 mins to get through. There are no booths or signs for the elderly and children. The immigration staff behaviour is questionable as to who you meet, and what type of mood they have. Alignment of airline staff and management is not there at all, which means that you are stuck at the immigration or security queue and airline staff don't know. If you are at airport 2 hours before the flight time, there are chances that you might miss the flight. Airport management needs to have some sort timeline for queues at each point for frequent travellers, for children's and old people. Time consumed in all these stages should not be more than 20 mins. KLIA still require a long way to go to become efficient and counted as a top international airport.

Generally clean airport. Relative to other international airports I've been to, this is not up to standard though. Restroom cubicle floors are often wet. Wifi is rather expected in most of the airports, and KLIA provides it. Good. Food options are alright. Better than before they had KLIA2 definitely. Customs is a major bugbear. If Sydney airport is 10/10, KLIA I'd say is a 3/10. Inefficient, long queues for foreigners, and you'll see idle staff members at counters for locals. They probably have a SOP to follow, but it makes me wonder if they at least review the system to be more efficient, considering I see the same thing happening every time I arrive and depart from KLIA. Staff not very visible aside from customs. So low rating for that.

We were delayed arriving into KLIA with a connecting flight to Penang. There were no ground staff until the arrival hall. It is a big airport and it took about 40 min to get to where we wanted to go. Ground staff were not too helpful when we asked for directions. Had to clear multiple security checks before getting to our gate.

KLIA 2 is a huge airport and you need a lot of time to walk between check in and the boarding gates. Really needs to improve cleanliness. The staff are not initially welcoming but actually they good when we asked them questions. Although the departure hall is huge it is crowded. Baggage drop and imigration quite fast. I like that there are many stores and restaurants. WiFi is fast.

The new carpet installed is a waste of money. It is trolley unfriendly and collects dust that trigger my allergies. I am amazed how money can be spent this way. The upgrading work took ages and I was expecting something different from what i experienced. The previous floor was perfect though.