KLIA Kuala Lumpur Airport

I travel through KLIA2 at least 20 times since its opening. In terms of infrastructure, it is a better airport than the previous LCCT. Lots of room, better laid out, bright and cheerful, good shopping, and transportation to and from the airport were smooth. However, one problem is the distance from the boarding gates to the terminal building. Insufficient (or absence of) travelators, has made the distance to the boarding gates demanding to say the least, especially for the elderly and the infirm. Confusing signage is another problem. And the widely displayed 3D map only adds to the confusion. I have seen people heading towards to the carpark when they were supposed to be heading towards the check-in counters. The 'official' airport staff were unhelpful when it comes to giving directions. The queuing for both the check-in and in-coming immigration counters were not cordoned off, and as a result, queue jumping, pushing and shoving is normal. Where is the security when they are needed? And the toilets are filthy. Considering that this airport is only about two years old at the time of writing, I can't imagine its condition several years from now.

Immigration took more than half an hour to clear 9 people, the x-ray machine at customs broke down, and the walk from customs to the departure gates was ridiculously far (seriously, there was a large shopping mall between the two). Despite being at immigration more than an hour before take-off, I was held up for an absurd amount of time and had to run the entire way to the plane to just squeak through the boarding window, only to find the gate closed with nary a soul in sight. The airline staff returned 30 minutes later, claiming to have left their post only 5 minutes before take-off (yeah, right). I was refused a transfer to the next flight because, and I quote, "Everyday people complain customs slow." In the end, I was forced to purchase a new plane ticket at an inflated price.

I frequently travel between Singapore and KL on AirAsia and unfortunately need to use the new KLIA2 airport. It is without a doubt one of the worst airports that I have experienced. In addition to being very badly designed (many of the gates are 15 minutes or more walking distance from the check-in / arrival hall with very few travelators) it is very poorly constructed and maintained. I used it in the 1st week that it was open and it was obvious that operations had commenced before it was finished. Now after little more than 1 year it looks like a 20 year old building. It is dirty and starting to fall apart. The check-in process is bedlam and getting through immigration can often take 30 minutes or more.

I arrived to airport after 10pm I was looking to buy something to eat and I had to exchange money to do so or at least an ATM. But everything is "temporarily closed" in the airport. Even the convenience store.

We used KLIA1 four times in March and we had a very pleasant experience the only issue is the distance to and from gates other than that we found it clean modern and plenty of reasonably priced food outlets a word of advise if you arrive on a domestic flight and walk outside for a hotel transfer you are actually on Level 3 and its not obvious with all the taxis its easy to believe you are at ground level.

KLA2/AirAsia. This is Air Asia's hub airport. It is probably one of the worst designed "new" airports in the world. It is one big shopping mall with airplanes a long way away. The check in is chaos unless your in Air Asia's business class but if your doing a connecting flight you still have to go through customs and drag your bags to be checked in for your connecting flight and if your flight is many hours away you can't check in early to get back into transit to use the transit hotel. You can't stay in transit if you can get to transit for more than 10 hours so if your connecting flight is say 12 hours you have to stay in the country side of customs I believe this is all planned to get you to shop in their giant mall. Going from arrivals to departures for connecting flights is mostly a mystery as the signs are confusing and sometimes the moving stairs don't work and the elevators get jammed up with baggage carts. I had to go through three security checks. At Singapore Airport they check at the gate! Wise up Air Asia! The gates seem like miles away and you have to walk 99% of it. Avoid this terminal at all costs. If you have a short time between flights expect to miss your connecting flight.

The airport is very clean. The food is very good. Check in and passport is very fast.

Flew LHR-KUL-PEN-KUL-MEL in transit at KLIA both times very easy to transfer from an international to domestic flight there is a separate escalator once you exit off the train in the main terminal which takes you to an immigration desk then after passing through there yiu are in the domestic departure area. The terminal is well sign-posted with colour codes directing you. The terminal is bright clean and plenty of shops bars and cafes to occupy your time in transit. I find this airport a pleasure to use.

I have used KLIA dozens of times for transfer and I can say it is modern and clean. But there are really some issues: 1) Smoking area next to Burger King is a filthy empty box. people have to sit on the floor. You might dislike smoking but they are still paying guests! 2) Once at the gate there are minimal places to sit. Again the floor is the only alternative. 3) Misunderstandings and unnecessary crowding because of sharing one gate entrance for two flights while other gates are unused. 4) Nice public place (square) to sit is missing. You have to go to a restaurant to have a nice seat. Sorry but it is not my favourite place. Hong Kong is much better.

Very interesting view in the satellite and I didn't expect to see the forest in the middle of a modern airport. Also the toilets were very clean and the check-in counters were very neat in arrangement which will make it easy for passengers to find their check-in counter.