KLIA Kuala Lumpur Airport

I flew Air Asia recently via KL and was in transit for 5 hours - an experience I will not repeat. To be fair the airline has its own terminal so this review relates to that one. The Air Asia terminal has no transit facilities - so you need to enter Malaysia and then exit via Immigration. So be sure you have a visa if you need one. You can only check in for your continuing flight about 2 hours before departure and there are few facilities available before you get to the departure gates (after immigration). There are very few chairs and the crowds are huge so don't expect to find a place to sit. The air conditioning hardly works and KL is a hot tropical city. Its less comfortable than most Greyhound bus stops in the US in fact its the worst air terminal I have ever had to go through. Availability of food or drink in the check-in area is very limited. Bathrooms are dirty and several facilities are broken. This is an awful terminal in almost every respect - so I won't go on and on. Don't transit through this airport if you can help it and avoid flying Air Asia.

We travelled by Air Asia from Kansai to Singapore on 12th/13th Oct and had a transit in KL LCCT. If there is a worse airport than KL LCCT I have yet to see it. Filthy toilets dirty seats forget aerobridge not even a shuttle to and from airplane lazy staff at immigration and overpriced shops. After a wonderful Japan trip this was a nightmare. Really surprised how the domestic travelers don't take their airport authority to task. We are never again going to take any airline which has a stopover at KL LCCT.

Since around late August or early September 2013 Malaysian Airlines has adopted the policy of having all international check-in happen at row C at the KLIA. What it does is cause a huge line to form from row C right through to row G. This happens from between 06.50hrs to about 08.30hrs every morning. Travellers become very agitated and very fearful of missing their flights because of the long queues. Most importantly there are no Malaysia Airlines staff to help explain or assist passengers who are confused by this new system. Thick skinned clients cut queues and no Malaysian Airlines staff are there to help pacify the crowds. This is a very bad experience for any first time passenger with Malaysian Airlines or KLIA. Whilst one can understand the cost saving that happens with consolidating to only one row for check in of all international passengers the disinformation or rather the non existence of Malaysia Airlines staff to help soothe the nerves of the passengers is most unprofessional and shows a complete lack of customer service by the airline. It also makes the airport experience start on a very tense note. I have flown this airline for over 26 years now and this is a low point in the airline's airport check in experience. I do hope that Malaysia Airlines will at least put staff to help manage the long queue at row C and soothe passengers' nerves.

KLIA: Quick passport clearance and baggage claim reasonably clean airport big with a lot to do if you are transiting. LCCT Crowded nowhere to sit dirty (the toilets) not much to do if in transit. But you get what you pay for.

KLIA used to feel like a modern airport. Unfortunately the airport has been under-maintained and it's beginning to show it's age. First up the Aerotrain system had no announcements. Several monitors next to the platform were dead. Trains looked old and tired. This was not the case before. It seems as if they've not bothered to repair the PA system. There were no queues at immigration but the area has poor and illogical signage. They gave warnings on Taxi touts before the immigration counters without little information on Foreign or Malaysian passport lines until we got to the counters. There were no lines and all counters were open so that they've improved the well-known KLIA passport lines. Then you're squeezed into a small hallway with small monitors detailing the carousels assigned. Upon exit booths for rental cars and airport taxis are cluttered and strewn about. The airport taxi counter has long lines forming blocking the exit. When you exit surprisingly there are other taxi booths all empty. On the way back we were assigned the last check in row which was did not have enough space to accommodate the crowds. Not to mention the oversized check-in portal was also located there creating a huge bottleneck. There were 3 flights being checked in at the same time for our row. We were shoved around because the airport staff needed to put up queue barriers to check in an Oman Air flight at the counters next to ours when there was a line already forming for that flight. They took their own time. Shops are worthless because they're either too expensive or are just uninteresting. Eating places haven't changed since three years ago and were terribly disappointing. Seating is terribly inadequate. Several seats were dirty and rusty and not to mention had come lose meaning that they were not in a straight line and were strewn about. Shops are disorganized and are cluttered around resulting in inefficient floor use and various bottlenecks. Trash cans are overflowing and some had their lids broken resulting in trash on the floor. Not a good experience. Departing and Arriving from SIN (a very well kept airport) you can definitely see the difference ironic because we departed from SIN T1 which is at least a decade older than KLIA. Goes to show KLIA's management needs to buck up.

Nice bright if somewhat confusing. Little help from signage and totally rude and disgraceful attitude of the person on the transfer information desk. Had I been a manager there I would have dismissed the young lady instantly due to her rude and unhelpful manner. A smile does not cost anything. The shops are disorganised and all over the place. I did not think it was a very user friendly airport at all. The smoking room is rank and filthy. The toilets were just acceptable. It looks a nice new terminal but some of the staff need some customer skill training. Very disappointed with this airport. The inter terminal transit train is not sign-posted very well Although the general direction is indicated it does not tell you that it is on a lower floor and how to get there.

LCCT review only. This facility is a disgrace to Malaysia that is otherwise a joy to visit. Over two hours in the immigration queue on a Saturday afternoon with minimal air-conditioning. Then another queue at the taxi counter and a massive walk past the domestic terminal to the almost unsigned and disorganized taxi rank. On departure the terminal is average nothing notable but it functions acceptably and hence the overall fair rating. This was so bad that I will reconsider using a carrier that lands at the LCCT. A real pity because the main KLIA is a lovely airport facility nowhere else in Asia does "low cost" mean "appalling".

There was a long queue at the online drop off luggage area for my flight to Istanbul on 21st August. However those check-in agents were able to clear the queue pretty quickly. The gentleman at the counter was polite and helpful. Most of the duty free outlets were closed by midnight but there were several of them were willing to extend for the last minute customer. In general the airport is clean and majority of the staff were friendly. Again those MH staff at the departure gate were helpful and polite when handling the busy flight that evening.

Modern facilities that do not always work. Staff were unfriendly. Proof that a "new" building does not guarantee a good airport. On top the generous layout of the airport is clogged with medium range shops and outlets. Sad.

LCCT. It was my worst airport experience by far. First time flying AirAsia but probably the last time. It was nightmare. The whole terminal was chaotic. It felt and smelt like a fish market. Overcrowded disorganised and not enough signs. You need to go through scanning for your luggage first then check in counters. It was so disorganised. Nothing at waiting area not enough seats and dining options and very dirty. Then you will have a long march to the aircraft. Landing experience is not much better. First long march with no signs. Once you are outside the shed another chaotic parking and pick up experience. Our hotel car could not find us and did couple of laps around the airport we had to drag our luggage from one line to another. I would not recommend LCCT to anybody.