Rid our airports of touts

17 May 2023

Malaysia airports including Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has been plagued by touts since it opened on June 27, 1998.

Initially, glass walls allowed people to view the goings-on in the arrival hall from all three sides and there were exits on opposing sides designed to disperse traffic.

But this created a huge problem for visitors who arranged for transport out of the airport.

Drivers assigned to pick them up were given only their flight numbers and names.

They would wait outside the arrival hall and ask exiting passengers whether they were so and so or wave a placard bearing a name.

This method, although universally practised, is not foolproof. And if passengers were to use the exit on the other side, the chances of not meeting them were high.

Many drivers and passengers failed to meet each other in the sea of confusion.

In 2006, I was tasked by the president of a national travel association with investigating complaints that some people wearing lanyards bearing the association’s logo were approaching passengers in the arrival hall.

At KLIA, I spotted a man wearing a jacket, lanyard and name tag in the arrival hall coolly approaching passengers to offer assistance. To unsuspecting visitors, he looked very much like an airport official.

I could see that he was targeting foreign tourists.

The arrival hall was out of bounds to the public, but he managed to enter the area.

Over the years, the Road Transport Department has carried out enforcement operations just outside KLIA. These included checks on taxis leaving the airport.

I drove premier and budget taxis from 2000 to 2010. When I dropped off passengers at KLIA, touts would often ask me whether I wished to send their passengers to the city. I always declined.

Airports are high-security areas, so there are countless closed-circuit television cameras there. But why is it that the airport authority does not seem to be alarmed by the presence of touts, who are harassing arriving passengers?

If touting is captured by the cameras and the images are shown live on a giant screen for all to view, touts would scurry away like rats. Why is this not done?

The homepage of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s website proclaims that “KLIA Moves Up To Be World’s Top 9 Airport In Q1 2021”.

But what is not shown is “Skytrax’s World’s Top 100 Airports for 2023”. The terminal has dropped five spots to 67th place.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport will be among the top airports in the world once touting is addressed.

– Letter by Y.S. Chan, Kuala Lumpur

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