Penang Airport

✅ 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.

✅ Verified Review | Arrival was a breeze, bit tight as arrivals and departures are on the same floor. Baggage was fast and the taxi stand easy to find, you pre-pay and are told where to wait. Departure - long line ups so get here early. There is KFC and MacDonalds prior to security. Less choices after security although the Starbucks was good for an ice chocolate drink (snacks were available here too). The toilets were clean and my husband was happy with a smoking area. Got a great view of the runway from inside the terminal, It looks to be an old airport but works well and is definitely much better than I expected.

✅ Verified Review | Arrival was a breeze, bit tight as arrivals and departures are on the same floor. Baggage was fast and the taxi stand easy to find, you pre-pay and are told where to wait. Departure - long line ups so get here early. There is KFC and MacDonalds prior to security. Less choices after security although the Starbucks was good for an ice chocolate drink (snacks were available here too). The toilets were clean and my husband was happy with a smoking area. Got a great view of the runway from inside the terminal, It looks to be an old airport but works well and is definitely much better than I expected.

❎ Unverified | Penang airport is pure horrible. Very small, not many eateries and shopping inside and outside of the departure hall and seems old and outdated. Toilets at the arrival hall smell really bad, but the one inside the departure hall was better. Immigration staffs didn't look very interested. Most of the planes land and disembarked travellers through the overhead walkway. However, some planes such as AirAsia, use the stairs and ask travellers to walk on the airstrip. If it's raining, you have to wait for the rain to stop or wait for the staff to transport passengers slowly using umbrellas. Food options were very limited, and weren't very appetising either. They placed 3 flights worth of passengers into one small boarding gate waiting area, which caused much confusion as the screen showed Ho Chi Minh City when the plane was actually bound for Singapore. Staff didn't announce it properly too. The free wifi was pure horrible, couldn't access anything.

Penang Airport smoking room near gate B7 seems to be continuously spewing bad air into the surrounding area. This should be fixed immediately as too many people especially young kids and senior folks are breathing in second hand smoke. I already feel less healthy after sitting here for 20 minutes.

✅ Verified Review | My first time to Penang. It is small airport. Easy to find fast food and prices reasonable. Boarding room quite clean but not comfortable. Trasnport to city just 2 options - bus or taxi. Be careful if your flight is between morning and noon ans everything is jammed near the airport.

Flew into Penang from Singapore on Silk Air and left on Malaysian Airlines to KL. Arrival process was quick with no delays at immigration. By the time I arrived to pick up the bags they were already there. Had planned on changing money upon arrival but very poor rate of exchange at the airport. Did not change any money and was able to pay for taxi voucher with credit card. Check in for the flight to KL was quick and no delay through security. Was flying in Business so went straight to the Golden Lounge which was OK. Flight was due to depart at 10.35am and as we went to leave the lounge was told there was a delay with the flight. It turned out that the flight had not arrived but the screens were showing ready to board. The incoming flight was delayed by about an hour. Overall a serviceable airport that does the job.

Flying Malindo Air from Penang to Subang in May 2015. Check in at counter quick and efficient. Bags dropped. Boarding passes provided. Cleared security in less than 10 minutes. Once airside, the airport is fairly open and bright after the renovation. The old terminal with carpet from 1980s was gone and replaced with stone floor. Much nicer and easy to clean and maintain. Restrooms are not very clean and there are always wet floors. A few over priced shops airside with a few restaurants, really nothing to do but just sit and wait until your flight is called for boarding. I advise that you stay on the landside until you are ready to board since there is not much to do airside. There is a MacDonald's, Old Town Coffee Shop and other local restaurants on the landside. Much nicer and better choice and reasonable prices. All in all, not a bad regional airport but I would not want to spend more than an hour at this airport. It is a lot nicer than what it was just a few years ago.