Lost luggage, delayed flights hamper holiday travel 

AMMAN — Lost luggage and delayed flights have slowed holiday air travel during Eid Al Adha, according to passengers who recently travelled through Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA). 

The flight disruptions have come amid a spike in the demand for summer travel among Jordanians, many of whom had their previous vacation plans disrupted due to the pandemic.  

“The airport was chaotic,” said Hiba Shahout, who recently departed from QAIA. 

Another passenger, Nahla Mola, told The Jordan Times that she was not informed of the “significant changes” in flight time. 

Mola noted that her flight from Amman to Istanbul was delayed “without a notice” from the airline, adding that when she got to the airport, she was informed the flight had been delayed for three hours. 

Diala Essam, a Jordanian national arriving from Qatar, said that her luggage was lost during the airport “hustle”, describing QAIA as “packed with people”. 

She said that she waited near the inspection unit at the airport for over two hours, adding that she could not leave the airport without her luggage because she could not lose the belongings for her six-month-old twins. 

QAIA representative Reema Khaled told The Jordan Times that the airport management company is not in charge of informing passengers about their delayed flights, as it is the “airline’s responsibility”. 

Gigi Bahjat, who flew from Canada to spend the eid holiday with her mother, told The Jordan Times that her luggage was lost in London.

Royal Jordanian (RJ) airlines said that the flight delays were a result of heavy passenger traffic and staff shortages at airports and international ground handling companies, as reported by the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

In a statement on Sunday, RJ apologised to passengers for any flights delays, stating that the spread of the Omicron variant resulted in several positive cases among crewmembers, exacerbating the staff shortage. 

Despite several attempts by The Jordan Times, officials at the luggage control unit at QAIA were not available for comment.