When Airlines' CEOs Tweet on the Facebook Wall

[David.W 0]

KLIA2 is not as bad as Tony think it is.

[Holger 0]

But its not as good as Terminal 1!

And thats the core of the question.

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

But its not as good as Terminal 1!

And thats the core of the question.

 

No it's not. T1 is in dire need of a refurbishment. Until then klia2 is better in my book.

[Holger 0]

In your book ok, but i see it from my point of view :-).

[Chris Tan 0]

...but i see it from my point of view :-).

Which is?

[Holger 0]

As a passenger who uses KLIA several times every year?

[flee 5]

I would. In fact last time I had used it, Tony's company stranded me for 6 hours because they cancelled my flight without informing me. The wait for my rescheduled flight (which they had the gall to charge my travel party extra to take!) was made bearable because it was at klia2.

 

If it had been the shed, I'd be pretty pissed off.

Good for you.

 

I only use it if I find a really low fare - at least I can console myself that I have saved some money and set my expectations appropriately.

As a passenger who uses KLIA several times every year?

Wow, you use it more times than me. Its been over a year since I flew from klia2!

[KK Lee 5]

 

You can have all the attitude in the world, but without knowledge you still not going to achieve anything.

 

Sometimes you need to be realistic.

 

Sure, but that requires more funds from the government. And more funds from the governments means more revenues required. More revenues required means more taxes.

 

We just reverted back to a pretty much useless taxation system (SST). Think the government is going to go for increased taxes to do all that? Not with the current yahoos in office.

 

Knowledge to operate airports is not monopolize by mahb.

 

If these rural airports are losing money; by removing these rural airports from mahb, mahb will make more profit and pay more tax.

Edited February 20, 2019 by KK Lee

[flee 5]

If these rural airports are losing money; by removing these rural airports from mahb, mahb will make more profit and pay more tax.

Yes, make MAHB manage just one airport - some people think that it is dead easy to manage just 1 airport. So why not let MAHB try that and see if they make a success out of it.

[Chris Tan 0]

As a passenger who uses KLIA several times every year?

I do not fly as often as some people but in the dozen or so times I have passed through KLIA so far this year, not once did T1 feel much different than T2.

 

T1 has a rickety aerotrain (which is more of a disgrace than a convenience) and a mini patch of rainforest in the middle of the Satellite. Do those luxuries make it a better terminal?

[Walter Sim 1]

I am not fortunate enough to fly out of KLIA often enough, the peasant in me means I'm at KLIA2 for at least half of the days in a month. Also on some times of the year if I'm lucky enough I get to fly out of KLIA. My humble 2 sens

 

The GOOD
KLIA

• The check in area is spacious enough, which allows for better queue management.
• I always think KLIA is one of the most straightforward airports to navigate through, no hidden gates etc. Simple Floor 1 to Floor 5.
• The size is relatively small of which the furthest gate is not too far off each other
• Walkalators which serves a purpose.

 

KLIA2

• Jaya Grocers, FourFingers
• Landside Aerotel Lounge & Hotel
• Pretty much the plethora of F&B, Shopping options landside, that even MH & KA cabin crews come to hangout

 

The BAD

KLIA

• Actually I do not have much qualms of KLIA other than the old Aerotrain, or the super annoying bubble lift at the satellite terminal which opens and closes at slomo pace.
• Yes it may be a bit worn out, but I can live with that. I can get from the aircraft out to land side in record time. I'd take a dated worn out airport over a super blitzy blingy Crazy Rich Asian airport which takes ages to get out from.

 

KLIA2

• The check in area tight, which makes for a inefficient queue management, introduces a lot of bottlenecks which disrupts people flow.
• The idea of going through the mall before reaching check in, can be intimidating for some people. Also people who take public transport are often lost at the mall. The complicated labelling of the floors does not help further. The carpark is consist of 5 levels, CP1 to CP5. Gateway is made out of 4 floors, L1, L2, L2M, L3. Arrivals is at L2, Departures is at L3. To get from the carpark I need to get to CP4, walk to L2, take one floor up to L3 etc.
• There are some gates which are hard to get to than the other. For example domestic gates, which are located at the K pier. Takes twice as long to get to compared to the ones in J. Which involves an escalator down, a ramp up, and then another two floors down the escalators before arriving at the gate. Gate K18, K20, K22 are hidden behind a big wall, and can be easily missed.
• A lot of walking yes, but like many big airports in the world. But I'd be less critical of this because it is highly inevitable for an airport this size.
• The scanning machines are not efficiently placed. Often creating massive bottlenecks.
• Most gates at the K/J pier only have around 140 seats, the last time I've counted. Indigo / Cebu Pacific / Scoot / Jetstar / AirAsia has a full load of 180-186 passengers.

While I agree Tony can be a bit whiny at times, to an extent ANNOYING, apart from the SUPERFICIAL stuff here is what he has to deal with as the largest operator there. Remember everything is not about you.

• KLIA2 is built over soft land, the tarmac sinks, and because of that constant resurfacing of the tarmac has been going on since day 1. I lost count of how many times an aircraft has rolled back, jumped over the chocks, causing damage to the nose gear, and also shearing of the towbar. The depressions can be knee length deep.
• The constant resurfacing has caused many closures to taxiways, which results in inefficiencies during taxi.
• Runway 33 seems to be closed more often for ad hoc emergency repairs compared to 32L and 32R.
• Ruptured Fuel Lines
• There are stuff regarding operational crew welfare which I can go on and on, if anyone of you would like to know please buy me a cup of tea.

Just like everyone, I get annoyed and tired too of the incessant bickering vetween AK and MAHB, but I feel the terminal is a wasted opportunity. Then again I may not be as well traveled as most of the people here so what do i know.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Walter Sim

[Holger 0]

Back in 2017 there was the discussion about Malindo Air:

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/malindo-relocated-klia-because-it-full-service-carrier-%E2%80%94-deputy-minister

Malindo Airways Sdn Bhd has decided to shift its jet operations from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to klia2, because it is a full service carrier and wants to “ensure sustainable growth and to provide comfortable services to passengers”, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

 

 

So in 2017 KLIA1 was more comfortable in the eyes of Malindo...

And folks, yes its really a difference if you are walking around in the satelitt, the quality of the shops, state of the art departure gates...

Compare that to the long and dark waiting area in KLIA2 with nearly no shops when you are waiting at the gate.

But in the end, Malaysian airports have to decide if they want growth!

LCC-Growth all around the world goes in line with lower costs, "cheaper packages" or whatever you call it.

More growth means more passengers, more tourists etc...

[KK Lee 5]

KLIA2

• The check in area tight, which makes for a inefficient queue management, introduces a lot of bottlenecks which disrupts people flow.
• The idea of going through the mall before reaching check in, can be intimidating for some people. Also people who take public transport are often lost at the mall. The complicated labelling of the floors does not help further. The carpark is consist of 5 levels, CP1 to CP5. Gateway is made out of 4 floors, L1, L2, L2M, L3. Arrivals is at L2, Departures is at L3. To get from the carpark I need to get to CP4, walk to L2, take one floor up to L3 etc.
• There are some gates which are hard to get to than the other. For example domestic gates, which are located at the K pier. Takes twice as long to get to compared to the ones in J. Which involves an escalator down, a ramp up, and then another two floors down the escalators before arriving at the gate. Gate K18, K20, K22 are hidden behind a big wall, and can be easily missed.
• A lot of walking yes, but like many big airports in the world. But I'd be less critical of this because it is highly inevitable for an airport this size.
• The scanning machines are not efficiently placed. Often creating massive bottlenecks.
• Most gates at the K/J pier only have around 140 seats, the last time I've counted. Indigo / Cebu Pacific / Scoot / Jetstar / AirAsia has a full load of 180-186 passengers.

While I agree Tony can be a bit whiny at times, to an extent ANNOYING, apart from the SUPERFICIAL stuff here is what he has to deal with as the largest operator there. Remember everything is not about you.

• KLIA2 is built over soft land, the tarmac sinks, and because of that constant resurfacing of the tarmac has been going on since day 1. I lost count of how many times an aircraft has rolled back, jumped over the chocks, causing damage to the nose gear, and also shearing of the towbar. The depressions can be knee length deep.
• The constant resurfacing has caused many closures to taxiways, which results in inefficiencies during taxi.
• Runway 33 seems to be closed more often for ad hoc emergency repairs compared to 32L and 32R.
• Ruptured Fuel Lines
• There are stuff regarding operational crew welfare which I can go on and on, if anyone of you would like to know please buy me a cup of tea.

Klia2 is the destination to learn what not to design or build for airport terminal.

[flee 5]

Thanks for your excellent hard work in summarising the situation, Walter!

 

While many people think Tony Fernandes is whining, just give a thought to those people who have to work with MAHB on a daily basis. Tony is merely trying to be their voice because MAHB could not care two hoots about their operational problems. MAHB just does not listen - they are not interested!

[KK Lee 5]

Thanks for your excellent hard work in summarising the situation, Walter!

 

While many people think Tony Fernandes is whining, just give a thought to those people who have to work with MAHB on a daily basis. Tony is merely trying to be their voice because MAHB could not care two hoots about their operational problems. MAHB just does not listen - they are not interested!

Mahb purposely built klia2 to be inferior to t1.

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

I am not fortunate enough to fly out of KLIA often enough, the peasant in me means I'm at KLIA2 for at least half of the days in a month. Also on some times of the year if I'm lucky enough I get to fly out of KLIA. My humble 2 sens

 

The BAD

 

KLIA2

• The check in area tight, which makes for a inefficient queue management, introduces a lot of bottlenecks which disrupts people flow.
• The idea of going through the mall before reaching check in, can be intimidating for some people. Also people who take public transport are often lost at the mall. The complicated labelling of the floors does not help further. The carpark is consist of 5 levels, CP1 to CP5. Gateway is made out of 4 floors, L1, L2, L2M, L3. Arrivals is at L2, Departures is at L3. To get from the carpark I need to get to CP4, walk to L2, take one floor up to L3 etc.
• Most gates at the K/J pier only have around 140 seats, the last time I've counted. Indigo / Cebu Pacific / Scoot / Jetstar / AirAsia has a full load of 180-186 passengers

 

• Check-in areas are designed tightly because of the notion that LCCs would want to push their customers to do online check-in. The airlines should really work together in order to encourage more pax to check-in online.
• Passengers going through retail outlets help fund airport operation. The more they spend, the more money MAHB earn. PSC alone doesn't pay for the airport operations. As for the confusing floor layout, blame WCT - they do the same thing at Paradigm Mall which they built & operate.
• Again, it's design so that people spend more time elsewhere rather than waiting at the gate for way more than necessary. Airports want to maximize pax spends as much as they can in order to get as much revenue as possible.

 

While many people think Tony Fernandes is whining, just give a thought to those people who have to work with MAHB on a daily basis. Tony is merely trying to be their voice because MAHB could not care two hoots about their operational problems. MAHB just does not listen - they are not interested!

 

Tony only cares about what Tony wants, to be honest. If it's true that MAHB aren't interested in listening to gripes from the airlines, how come everybody else aren't making a big fuss?

[KK Lee 5]

 

• Check-in areas are designed tightly because of the notion that LCCs would want to push their customers to do online check-in. The airlines should really work together in order to encourage more pax to check-in online.
• Passengers going through retail outlets help fund airport operation. The more they spend, the more money MAHB earn. PSC alone doesn't pay for the airport operations. As for the confusing floor layout, blame WCT - they do the same thing at Paradigm Mall which they built & operate.
• Again, it's design so that people spend more time elsewhere rather than waiting at the gate for way more than necessary. Airports want to maximize pax spends as much as they can in order to get as much revenue as possible.

 

Tony only cares about what Tony wants, to be honest. If it's true that MAHB aren't interested in listening to gripes from the airlines, how come everybody else aren't making a big fuss?

Undersized check in area is more likely someone underestimated time needed for bag drop.

 

Klia2 is probably the first and only airport that one needs to pass through shopping mall to reach check in counter. Airport is a transportation hub, convenience should be the priority. Beside with income from the shopping mall, more of reason for klia2 to have cheaper psc.

 

Due to ill position of security check, pax have no choice but to reach gate early else risk off loaded. In other airports, security check is positioned to minimize queuing time but not klia2.

 

Not the other airlines don't complain, just that they don't have a vocal CEO like tf.

Edited February 22, 2019 by KK Lee

[jahur 0]

Believe if other users have more than 10 aircrafts docking. You would see their station managers complaining of the poor turnaround and terminal layout design. The fact is Ak remains the main user of the terminal with more than 30 planes utilizing the gates etc so they'll be the one being the most vocal.

 

I still have to say the terminal is poorly designed. Other airports have most of their shopping outlets secured on the airside past initial security and check-in. But for klia2 its a long walk of stores and once u past security and enter airside there's not much places to hangout. I still remember struggling to find a money changer on the airside using the ak fly thru service from international to domestic and the only outlet accepting card back then was starbucks. Its been 3 years since i flew from klia2 lol.

Edited February 22, 2019 by jahur

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

Undersized check in area is more likely someone underestimated time needed for bag drop.

 

Klia2 is probably the first and only airport that one needs to pass through shopping mall to reach check in counter. Airport is a transportation hub, convenience should be the priority. Beside with income from the shopping mall, more of reason for klia2 to have cheaper psc.

 

• Not the airport operator's fault that the airlines aren't efficient.
• As opposed to passing through a shopping mall after security? Doesn't make it any better to be honest. You do realize that other airports duty free areas etc are just like shopping malls? Besides, I honestly find the complaints about having to go through a shopping mall to be nothing more than whining to be honest - if you're dropped at the departure hall, it's only a short walk from the shopping mall to the check-in desk. Even if you're parked at the parking lot, it's not like you have to walk from one end of One Utama to the other, or one end of Midvalley to the other, to get to the check-in desk. As for the PSC, it's because of the shopping mall that the PSC is not much, much higher. That PSC may have been reasonable for the shed that is the LCC, but it's certainly not suitable for klia2.

 

Believe if other users have more than 10 aircrafts docking. You would see their station managers complaining of the poor turnaround and terminal layout design. The fact is Ak remains the main user of the terminal with more than 30 planes utilizing the gates etc so they'll be the one being the most vocal.

 

If they feel inconvenienced, it doesn't matter if it's 1 aircraft or 10, they will complain.

[Walter Sim 1]

 

• Check-in areas are designed tightly because of the notion that LCCs would want to push their customers to do online check-in. The airlines should really work together in order to encourage more pax to check-in online.
• Passengers going through retail outlets help fund airport operation. The more they spend, the more money MAHB earn. PSC alone doesn't pay for the airport operations. As for the confusing floor layout, blame WCT - they do the same thing at Paradigm Mall which they built & operate.
• Again, it's design so that people spend more time elsewhere rather than waiting at the gate for way more than necessary. Airports want to maximize pax spends as much as they can in order to get as much revenue as possible.

 

Tony only cares about what Tony wants, to be honest. If it's true that MAHB aren't interested in listening to gripes from the airlines, how come everybody else aren't making a big fuss?

Lucky you, I see you dont fly AIRASIA enough

 

- AirAsia are all online / kiosk check in / self bag tagging now. Its the baggage drop thats causing the issue. The fact of the matter is the real estate allocated is nothing compared to whats in KLIA. I guess AirAsia should come out with a way to drop your bags via the internet.

- I guess WCT should be blamed. Just like how AIRBUS is to be blamed for putting so many seats on the A380 that MAB cant make money out of it.

- It works the other way round now, my old folks are reluctant now to spend time shopping as theyre afraid theyll miss their flight reason being there is a layer of security (unpredictable), just before their gates.

 

The other operators have preferential treatment. They get at least 4 check in counters for one departure. Also theyre parked at the nearest International gate most of the time, K1,K3,K5. Never further than that.

Edited February 22, 2019 by Walter Sim

[KK Lee 5]

 

• Not the airport operator's fault that the airlines aren't efficient.
• As opposed to passing through a shopping mall after security? Doesn't make it any better to be honest. You do realize that other airports duty free areas etc are just like shopping malls? Besides, I honestly find the complaints about having to go through a shopping mall to be nothing more than whining to be honest - if you're dropped at the departure hall, it's only a short walk from the shopping mall to the check-in desk. Even if you're parked at the parking lot, it's not like you have to walk from one end of One Utama to the other, or one end of Midvalley to the other, to get to the check-in desk. As for the PSC, it's because of the shopping mall that the PSC is not much, much higher. That PSC may have been reasonable for the shed that is the LCC, but it's certainly not suitable for klia2.

 

 

If they feel inconvenienced, it doesn't matter if it's 1 aircraft or 10, they will complain.

 

Is time taken to bag drop at klia2 longer than t1?

 

Believe only Aussie airports and PNH channel pax thru duty free after immigration but the walking distance is shorter than gateway@klia2 (from train/car park lift to departure hall) and is not a good practice. Why not compare with efficient airport?

Edited February 22, 2019 by KK Lee

[Chris Tan 0]

Believe only Aussie airports and PNH channel pax thru duty free after immigration

Believe me when I say that is far from the truth Edited February 22, 2019 by Chris Tan

[Alif A. F. 0]

I was at ADL in 2014. After clearing immigration, we were routed through inside duty free shop before finally reaching the gate areas.

[flee 5]

Mahb purposely built klia2 to be inferior to t1.

It does not make sense - they spent RM 5bn building it and it is inferior?

 

I shudder to think what it would have been if they had stuck to the original RM 1.7b budget!

Tony only cares about what Tony wants, to be honest. If it's true that MAHB aren't interested in listening to gripes from the airlines, how come everybody else aren't making a big fuss?

 

You sound like you have something personal against Tony.

 

Airasia operates a heck of a lot of flights thru klia2 - so any small problem or improvement would result in a big change to its bottom line. If you operate one or two flights a day, there is no need to make a big fuss - especially as MAHB does not listen anyway...

Lucky you, I see you dont fly AIRASIA enough

 

- AirAsia are all online / kiosk check in / self bag tagging now. Its the baggage drop thats causing the issue. The fact of the matter is the real estate allocated is nothing compared to whats in KLIA. I guess AirAsia should come out with a way to drop your bags via the internet.

- I guess WCT should be blamed. Just like how AIRBUS is to be blamed for putting so many seats on the A380 that MAB cant make money out of it.

- It works the other way round now, my old folks are reluctant now to spend time shopping as theyre afraid theyll miss their flight reason being there is a layer of security (unpredictable), just before their gates.

 

The other operators have preferential treatment. They get at least 4 check in counters for one departure. Also theyre parked at the nearest International gate most of the time, K1,K3,K5. Never further than that.

I flew klia2-Changi T4 two months after it opened (this was the phase when it should have teething problems) - if it is the airline that is at fault for the stupid problems at klia 2, it should also happen at T4.

 

The pax experience at the two airports was totally different, even though the airline is the same one. Go figure!

 

Many will say that we pay more at foreign airports - to me that is not the point. Paying more and getting value for money is OK with me. But getting rotten service and still having to pay sucks!

[Johan Z 0]

I was at ADL in 2014. After clearing immigration, we were routed through inside duty free shop before finally reaching the gate areas.

 

ADL is a nice airport, but it is not so good for international flights. On arrival, you would be forced to walk close to 100 metres along enclosed corridor (it has some nice Australian landscapes) to get to the immigration/custom (don't quite remember which). It used to be very straightforward.