blueferrari

immigration entry queue in KLIA/KLIA2 is getting longer, I agree. While the Asean line usually took me 20 mins to clear in KLIA, I had to wait for nearly 2 hrs in KLIA2 last April, it was Sunday morning. There's not enough space for queue in KLIA2, all lines looked equally bad.

immigration exit in KLIA always a breeze for me, but in KLIA2 it's always long regardless time of the day.

wolf72

That's bad and dangerous.

ATD

This thread is very relevant to me.

We fly PER-KUL on Malindo this Friday, reaching 10:55 pm. Then on Srilankan to CMB at 09:20 am next day. My plan was:

1. Book the Samasama airside room for the family
2. I clear immigration and put our checked bags in storage facility (Malindo won't check them through to CMB)
3. Go back through immigration to reach the transit guest room for the night (should already have UL boarding pass via online checkin)
4. Sleep some hours, then all of us exit through immigration etc and check in for UL flight.

Given the discussion here, is this feasible? Just thought it would be easier on the kids with the former plan.

Other options are:

1. All of us stay airside for the night, Malindo hopefully puts our luggage at lost and found, and we claim them in the morning before checking in

2. We all clear immigration, get bags, stay at an outside hotel, and check in together next morning as usual

Any thoughts?

wolf72

My suggestion is to go through immigration, collect your bags, clear customs and stay at the Sama Sama Hotel (not the one within the departure area at the Sat terminal).

Get up early, check in at the Malindo check in desk, and drop your bags and proceed through immigration, customs's security check and head to your gate.

Would suggest doing this early as it's the morning flights and crowds who have a tough time getting through immigration counters with long wait times.

ATD

Yes, thanks for the reply. Just that the outside Sama costs twice as much as inside, and even with the bag storage fee we would still save $50.

Are there any specific issues you see with our original plan?

--ATD

wolf72

Guess not.

lcpteck

So far the ASEAN Lane is pretty okay for departure or arrivals at KLIA. I think I've only encountered a long queue once or twice.

ATD

So to report, we got to KL on time, there was absolutely no queue in immigration, bags did take a while esp. as we had to pick up a pram from the farthest belt. In the end we decided to keep it simple and go to the external Samasama Hotel, buggy was great, hotel was fine for a few hours sleep, and all was pretty straightforward the next morning en route to Colombo too.

--ATD

wolf72

Glad to hear all went well and you were not caught in the crazy immigration wait line. Sama2 hotel outside is quite comfortable though a little bit overpriced.

mcdullhk88

Any update on whether this is still an issue at KLIA?

How about fast track lanes - any better?

puchong

KLIA is a mess [redacted by mod to conform to FT rule 12.2]. VIP lanes or First/Business Class lanes are useless since nobody bothers to check who stands in those queues and turn back those ineligible. The immigration clerks are inefficient and could not be bothered in the least about passengers waiting in lines after long flights. [redacted by mod]

Brett McGhee

immigration exit in KLIA always a breeze for me, but in KLIA2 it's always long regardless time of the day.

clubeurope

I second this.

Was flying the KUL-CGK shuttle on MH the other day... gate security check mixed with Dhaka... only 2 x-ray scanners open. Had an incredibly long snaking queue, lots of people told to repeat their belonging's scan, and many attempted to bring bottled water on board (someone brought 4 larger tumblers of water for herself?!)... seemed like there were a lot of first time flyers.

A big mess... when we got through boarding for the last group has started, no point in having priority boarding for J...

jpdx

KLIA immigration has been bad this year. The arrival process with fingerprint etc is extremely slow, BUT for some reason, not all agents follow this process. When getting in any immigration queue, I'm always on the lookout for a few things -- for instance, is this line served by one or several agents? Is it adjacent to a diplomat/disabled/whatever line, and when no diplomats/disabled/whatevers are around, does the agent wave people over from the regular line? At KLIA, these things matter relatively little (most agents are extremely unmotivated and waving over isn't likely to happen), BUT you should look out for lines where fingerprinting is omitted. A few weeks ago, I moved from a line with 3 agents (full process, so super slow moving) to a line that only had one agent, but it was an agent who took passports, stamped them, and waved you through.

mcgahat

Good info, I will be arriving in a couple of weeks and hope this helps reduce wait time.