Penang Airport

Not Verified | The staff were very rude and unwelcoming. We weren't welcomed with a smile or friendly hello. The Jetstar staff need a serious talking to about friendly happy customer service! Why be so rude??? A simple smile and friendly hello isn't asking too much I don't think. Very unhappy with the Jetstar staff at Penang airport.

✅ Trip Verified | A nice and easy small airport to use. Security a breeze and no over the top checks. Some small shops and eating places. Customs easy upon arrival and check in efficient. Clean. Toilets are ok too for quick stop before a flight if basic. Would be happy to recommend and use again.

Not Verified | Arrival was a breeze with quick clearance and good airport pick up. Unfortunately the entire opposite happened for the departure segment. Check in at the airport counter was slow (counters were not activated even though it says open on the main screen), immigration clearance was even slower and lacklastre, and the officers didn't even bother to help or speed up the clearance even though many in the queue had their flights departing in 10-15 min. Our new fifa soccer ball got confiscated as deemed not suitable as hand carry (hmm I just wonder why) and the flight just came in (!) when it was close to departure time. And of course, the flight was delayed. Most unfortunate end to a very good family trip.

✅ Trip Verified | The smoking room is not located in a suitable location. I can barely inhale fresh air when I sit around waiting area at b7. Please be alert that second hand smoke is definitely more hazardous to our health! Hope the responsible authorities take action for improvement.

❌ Not Verified | I recently went on a holiday with my family to Penang, Malaysia. Upon arrival, we took the escalator down to the immigration hall. It was swarmed with people! There was so many people I almost couldn't see or move! The staff should do more to help control the crowd. After passing through immigration, I decided to go to the toilet. But to my utter horror, the toilet was filthy! I saw the toilet janitor just standing outside the toilet doing nothing! The toilet was so filthy I decided to not use it. After a few days, my holiday in Penang had finished. I went to the airport for my ready to depart flight. I took AirAsia and it was clearly printed on the boarding pass that boarding will be at 11:10! But in the end, we managed to board the plane at 11:41! They kept us waiting on our feet! I saw the ground staff still looking calm and relaxed as if they are oblivious to the boarding time! One of them was even sleeping! They obviously don't care about us! All they want is for us to go on the plane and disappear! They did not show any care or efficiency. The staff were very unprofessional! They should learn from Changi Airport, Haneda Airport or Incheon Airport! Never going through that lame airport again!

❌ Not Verified | The toilets were dirty and not well-maintained. There were not enough options for dining and very limited shops in the arrival hall. Staff were slow and have low-efficiency.

❎ Not Verified | Generally speaking its not a bad airport at all. Has all the facilities etc.. Some things could be better. In particular what really needs to be addressed is the behaviour of Immigration staff. I have travelled a lot as an airline pilot and then after I retired I estimate I have been to 40 countries so far, and nowhere else I have experienced such rude, inept and arrogant immigration staff. I'm generalising of course because I am sure many do their job very well. Over the past couple of years or so I been visiting Penang frequently as I am interested in the MM2H scheme. Its a big decision so frequent visits are required so as to be sure Penang is the place to live and it also takes time to look at suitable properties to purchase. It has been on these frequent visits that I have been unlucky to encounter these rude officials. They seem to think that if a visitor is coming in for a 90 day visa and leaving the country for 2 weeks and returning again, the visitor is breaking the law. As I mentioned earlier, I need time in Penang to look for a property to purchase as I have applied for the MM2H scheme. In addition immigration officers are not really aware of the workings of the MM2H scheme. I produced a letter of approval from my agents in Penang and the immigration officer said he did not know of any agent by that name. When shown on the internet he wasn't interested. Instead he wanted me to go to Putra Jaya in KL, and get a copy of approval from the immigration department with an official letter head. It does not work like that. So instead of a 90 day visa, I got a 7 day visa, which is a huge waste of time and money for me. Please train your Immigration officials to be respectful, professional and empathic. Remind them that we are tourists, and also make them familiar with the MM2h scheme. We are the same tourists that the government spends millions of dollars a year attracting to Malaysia. Tourism is big business, creating jobs and opportunities for the locals. We are not criminals. Treat us with respect and we will come back, disrespect us and we will not return. I was so badly treated I cancelled my application for MM2H the next day.

✅ Trip Verified | The passport and boarding pass check point to let me into the immigration has this weird silly rule of “one phone per one person”. My boarding pass was in my partner’s phone because he booked the ticket for me and when he tried to share my boarding pass with me via a link, it didn't work. Hence, my boarding pass with my name was in his phone. I was asked to go back to the check in counter and reprint a physical boarding pass, which totally defeats the purpose of online check-in being paperless and environmentally friendly. In the future when I want to make a booking for my 86 years old grandmother, I cannot simply show 2 boarding passes on my phone but I must print another boarding pass to show them? If this was the case at least the airline counter should have printed it for me in the first place. In summary, “the one phone, one boarding pass” is totally unjustified. Please get rid of it.

✅ Trip Verified | The counters available for baggage drop at AirAsia were so few (only 3) and the queue was crazily long. Not efficient at all! The PA system in the departure hall was so bad that I couldn't hear a single thing from the announcements in both English and Malay. The passengers mentioned all of them did not get the announcements despite the announcement being repeated. Kindly please upgrade the system.

✅ Verified Review | There is a lot of room for improvement at the immigration (especially for arriving and departing Malaysians). New passport readers were installed and that has changed the way passports are expected to be placed in order for the biometric reader to work. As a frequent traveller to Penang, I fidgeted with it for a few minutes at my first encounter with the new reader. Unfortunately, I see many more locals were turned away without understanding why it failed. I suggest the airport have officers who can be readily available to assist the locals, otherwise it defeats the purpose of having such hi-tech machines.