Malaysia Airlines and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)

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Malaysia Airlines and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)

Monk decided to fly via KL with Malaysia Airlines mostly because from KL, Malaysia fly on to Siem Reap and back from Saigon with a single airline handling the transit baggage. The alternative of going via Bangkok involves switching to Bangkok Air which Monk thinks is not the best airline at handling transit baggage. Bangkok Air is also very expensive.

The Malaysia Airlines flight was fine - plenty of legroom - food OK and no problems requesting an extra glass of wine or two. However, at the moment KLIA is not a particularly good interchange airport because the aerotrain shuttle between the satellite terminal, where gates C1-C37 are, and the other gates in the main terminal is out of action until March 15th 2011. If you arrive in terminal C you have to trudge all the way to the 'gate' C5 at the very end of the terminal to wait for a bus to the main terminal. The Malaysia Airlines information desk can't be relied upon either. Monk was told by them that he had to go through immigration before catching his onward flight to Cambodia; even when Monk questioned this they still insisted it was necessary. This didn't sound right to Monk so a further check at another airport information desk confirmed that Monk's flight was going from gate G4 and he could stay airside without going through Malaysian immigration. Perhaps the girl at the first desk thought that Siem Reap was about to become part of Malaysia - someone should warn the Kingdom of Cambodia about this - they're having enough trouble fighting off the Thais at the moment as it is!

Monk could find no gate numbers beginning with G on any of the many airport maps scattered throughout the terminals. Then, on one map, gates A1,2,4,6,8 and 10 had been renamed G1,2,4,6,8 and 10 all the other A gates retained their original A letter. Similarly, all the even B gates had been renamed to H but the odd numbered gates stayed as B1-B13. Confusing eh!

Monk had lots of time, but if you have a tight schedule you can do without the 'Mis'Information Desk, the bus transfer delay and then the renamed terminals. Monk's flight to Siem Reap was going from the main terminal but if it had been from terminal C, he could just have stayed put - no need to go to the main arrivals terminal at all.

KLIA has free WiFi with a 2-hour limit - it's a bit slow though. There are free charging stations scattered around for mobile phone charging. Even if the machines could charge a netbook, Monk wouldn't risk frying the netbook's battery with the fast charging the machines offer - not sure he'd risk it on a phone either especially when he noticed the name of the machines - 'Lucky Charger'. Instead he found a power outlet on a wall next to a row of recliner-type seats just behind the red Bank Islam exchange kiosk on the way to gates H2 to H10 (or was it B2 to B10?) - a much better and more comfortable option.

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