Immigration, customs and other support services currently making the move to the new KLIA2 budget terminal might be moving a bit too fast – the Low Cost Carrier Terminal they’re leaving is still operating, and their absence caused long queues and basic utilities at the old terminal going on the blink yesterday.
The Star Online reports that passengers disembarking at the LCCT had to contend with hours-long waiting periods to get through immigration gates and to pick up their luggage.
There were only three immigration counters open yesterday, despite the massive influx of travellers into the terminal late in the evening.
“There seemed to be no immigration officer when I landed at about 4pm. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on,” said Tharishni Arumugam, 27, who had returned from Bangkok. She said the line finally began to move at 4.30pm when more immigration officers were posted to the gates. She also mentioned the escalators were out of order and air-conditioning was barely working.
“Even elderly people had to carry their bags,” she claimed, describing the situation as “absolute chaos”.
She claimed that people could be heard shouting due to frayed nerves.
“I figured it was because some were cutting the queue,” she said.
Due to the delays with immigration checks, luggage collection also devolved into a nightmare, with some passengers taking more than an hour to pass through the airport.
AirAsia, AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia, Thai AirAsia and AirAsia Zest will begin operations from KLIA2 on Friday.
Bernama quoted Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd senior general manager (operations division) Datuk Azmi Murad as saying that the Immigration Department opened 17 counters at the LCCT yesterday.
