Miri Non-International Airport

Ever realized that you can never actually LEGALLY park in the yellow line at the airport terminal lane? It doesn't state that it is a waiting zone, nor is there a time limit imposed. And anyone knows the purpose of a yellow line - you're not supposed to park there. So that means the road leading to the front of the terminal is for taxis and VIPs only?

Effectively, the only legal way to stop at the Terminal is to park the car in the parking compound. Fair enough - but considering that you have walk over to the terminal, pickup your friends / relatives from the airport, get a bag trolley, WALK all the way back into the car, then drive out and PAY for the parking you just did. Did I mention that the baggage trolleys can't go further than the terminal? They just won't allow you to.

If you get into the parking area, but drive past the road leading to the outer parking spaces and discover that there isn't a space in the compound, there is no way to go back to the beginning of the parking: you'd then have to drive OUT of the compound, get onto the MAIN ROAD, make one round, DRIVE BACK into the parking compound, and TRY AGAIN. And if you do get into the inner parking lots, there is no way for you to drive back to the Terminal, except by going exiting and going back to the MAIN ROAD. Ridiculous.

It's things like these that people sometimes had no choice but break the law and drive the wrong way back around because the design is so stupid and going against practical common senses. Why not let people go around in the parking lots instead of forcing them to go out and make a round back in again? It's illogical. You sometimes think that the engineers drew this up over lunch. On a paper napkin.

Outside of the Terminal, they used to have several rows of seats for passengers that just arrived to wait outside for their cars, but for some unfathomable reason they decided to remove the seats recently, so if anyone arrived they have to sit INSIDE the terminal. Or STAND outside. This means anyone going to pickup can't see those inside sitting, those inside sitting can't see the people who's there to pick them up as well. Why in Zeus' name would they remove the seats on the outside? Why?

Incidentally, the signs on the lane outside of the terminal states that it's for VIPs only. I thought VIPs are supposed to have THEIR OWN terminal, why do they have to share it with us, disrupting OUR flow? You don't see VIP lanes sharing with common terminals in big airports like LAX or JFK, otherwise any VIPs come along they're gonna disrupt a lot of people! There was a few instances when the Chief Minister had come to Miri and they basically shut down the whole of Miri Non-International Airport for him! This is so utterly counter-productive and awkward. What if Miri Non-International Airport handles 2000 people per hour? Do we stop their flights and shun them to one side when any P that is VI arrives?

The flight scheduling monitors in the old terminal used to be on the outside so that it is easy to spot and read which flights schedule from the car lane at a glance as they drive past the terminal - so we can then decide to find a parking space, or wait. Now, in the new KLIA-esque Miri Non-International Airport, you have to get out of the car, and run INTO the building to read the monitors. And when you come out, you'd have probably noticed a summon on your windshield. Or, you could park in parking lots first, and only to realize that your passengers have already arrived and you'd have to drive to the terminal again because they're carrying a huge load. And remember that the trolleys don't go into the parking lots.

By the way, there are four main doors at the airport, but only 2 are open, and the other 2 are locked and blocked by potted plants. What's the point of having a door if you're not gonna use it? I can imagine it now, a sign put up at the useless doors:

"In case of emergency break door glass with potted plant."

Arrivals upon stepping off the plane also pose a problem. Why didn't they build the building to have an arrival door at the ground floor alone? With some flights, you step off the plane, have to climb a flight of stairs with your bags, walk through half the terminal, and then - lo and behold - go downstairs again for the luggage pickup. That's just plain stupid. Tough luck if you're with someone with a wheelchair. Speaking of wheelchairs, the airport also isn't disabled-friendly enough.

And departure? There's no way to watch your beloved ones take off as there isn't any lookout point. If you want to watch the planes takeoff, you'd have to run outside to the grassy knoll. The old terminal had this, and you can dine while at it!

And talks about making the Airport an International one has been ongoing since so long ago I don't really remember. Perhaps "Non-International" is a longer name and sounds much more impressive.

One more thing - in Kuching Interntional Airport, the Taxi Coupon Counter is exactly that - a COUNTER. In the Miri Non-International Airport, it's a small office desk outside with a printed piece of paper clipped on post saying "TAXI COUPON". I'm sure that'd make a real good first impression for people visiting Miri!

Miri Non-International Airport then, is a spectacular failure in my book. It's pretty, but the improvements brought by it is next to useless. Let's face it, it's over-promised, and under-delivered. It's also a step backwards from the old Terminal in many ways, and a real hassle for the disabled. You wonder why they wouldn't just build a second terminal and keep the old one, increasing the capacity by 100%, but instead they chose to "fix" something not broken by demolishing the old one to build a new Terminal over it that improves capacity by maybe only 30%.

I should stop. The disappointment is killing me. There are so many things I dislike about the Miri Non-International Airport, I'd clog the whole internet tube about it.