Annoying touts at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) will soon be a thing of past when new initiatives are introduced to solve a long-running problem.
For years, foreign visitors landing at the Sepang facility have complained about encountering aggressive selling tactics when searching for a ride to the KL Sentral transport hub or to their hotels. The drive into the city takes about 45 minutes.
Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said the KLIA management would shortly relocate service counters for taxis, travel agents and hotels from the public area to the restricted section of the arrival hall. This was to lessen harassment of newly arrived travellers. Currently, only the counter for KLIA Ekspres (airport train) tickets is operating near the baggage belts.
Another enhancement passengers can look forward to in KLIA is faster baggage delivery of between 15 and 30 minutes – the current system has been known to take up to 45 minutes to complete. This mainly refers to the baggage transported from the satellite building to the main airport terminal via a 1.5km-long conveyor.
Datuk Ong said Malaysia Airport Holdings would redesign the carriage from the dock to the baggage carousels. The objective is to get the first bag out in 15 minutes and the last bag out in 30 minutes. Faster processing, KLIA officials believed would minimise cases of baggage pilferage.
For more details, visit www.klia.com.my
Gigi Onag
