Lessons to learn from chaos at KLIA

I HAD the misfortune of being caught up in the chaos caused by the technical glitch to the KLIA Total Airport Management System last Thursday.

I have read some positive feedback on the way staff of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) handled the situation and kudos to them. However, my experience was a bit different. I found out about the problem at KLIA by chance through a report in The Star online. There was no notice from my airline and I also couldn’t check via KLIA’s website because it was down. My travelling companions and I arrived at the airport about four hours before our flight to Perth and saw a long queue ahead of us. It was chaotic as no clear instructions were given on where travellers should be queuing.

We joined one queue, hoping that it was the right one and thankfully it was. There were many travellers who looked lost. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we were told the queue for our flight had been changed, and off we went to join another line. We waited there for 20 minutes before someone from MAHB came to tell us we were in the wrong queue.

She repeatedly blamed Malaysia Airlines for the mix-up and said MAHB was only responsible for arranging the check-in desk. Arguments were flying about, causing an ugly scene. It was clear that there was lack of communication between the airlines and MAHB.

We finally managed to check our luggage in after queuing for another two hours. Looking at the way the bags were tagged, I was convinced they would be delayed. This proved to be true as they arrived a day late.

We passed through immigration and waited at the specified boarding gate. We were then told that the gate number had been changed 40 minutes before our flight was due to depart. Our flight was delayed by about an hour.

My observations are:

1. It looked like MAHB has not done a business continuity plan (BCP) simulation in recent times;

2. The system failure lasted for a few days, which begs the question: “Where was the backup system?”;

3. There was lack of communication between MAHB and the airlines. Communication is key during crises such as this. Placing the blame on another party is not necessary because passengers don’t really care about such things; and

4. Staff need to trained on crisis management to diffuse tense situations.

I hope MAHB will learn from this experience and improve and, hopefully, this problem will never happen again.

RELUCTANT TRAVELLER

Petaling Jaya