SEPANG: Long queues and massive delays resulted in hundreds of passengers missing their flights on Friday night and early Saturday morning at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2).
Passengers described the scene as pure chaos, with shouting matches and tempers flaring, as many missed their flights.
Civil servant Qistan Harith Nasution, 38, said he was supposed to go to Sibu for a family member's wedding today.
"We arrived at KLIA2 at 7am, a good three hours ahead of our flight, which was supposed to depart around 10.30am.
"We queued up and waited for hours to check in our luggage, and it was as though the waiting never ended.
"The queues were backed up so much that we missed our flight," he said.
He said some of his family members managed to make it to their flight, but he was one of the unlucky ones.
"We decided to go to KLIA to try and get on another flight, so we could make it to the event in Sibu.
"The scene at KLIA2 was a disappointing mess. It was chaotic there, with people shouting," he said, adding that he hoped he would be given a refund for the flight he missed.
Meanwhile, a housewife who only wanted to be known as Julie, 24, said her mother, father, younger sister, and her child, were visiting her from Sandakan.
"They were all supposed to board a flight back at 6.55pm on Friday, but they all missed their flight due to the disruption.
"We all waited at the airport until almost 11pm on Friday but did not receive any word on when they would get a replacement flight," she said, adding that they only received an email from the airline after they left the airport.
She said they arrived at the airport at 7am on Saturday and managed to check in all their bags, and were now waiting to board their flight to Sandakan at 4pm.
It was reported that KLIA2 descended into chaos as thousands of passengers endured long queues at the check-in counters due to a global IT outage.
The outage reportedly caused major travel disruptions across airports in Europe, the United States, and Australia, impacting operations of several local airlines based at KLIA2.
The outage reportedly affected passenger, and luggage check-in systems, forcing staff to conduct manual check-ins for each traveller.
Yesterday, AirAsia admitted to experiencing an in-house system outage but confirmed that there were no flight cancellations.