Sharm el Sheikh

Tourists are being brought home without their luggage. I think this sort of suggests that the staff at the airport might be dodgy?

I think it's always been a dangerous country to visit; I'd always heard of tourists being shot at and that did happen to someone I knew [she wasn't hurt].

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3305681/KATIE-HOPKINS-Hey-Sharm-sun-seekers-s-reason-holidays-Egypt-cheap-stop-moaning-stuck-grateful-coming-back.html

I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with Katie Hopkins....

I always wanted to go to Egypt, more Cairo and the Valley of The Kings, rather than Sharm El Sheikh, but that seems highly unlikely now. I'm not sure why, given the current climate, anyone in their right mind would contemplate Egypt as a destination at the moment, I have been wondering if some holidaymakers are oblivious to world news!

I have read several reports to say that airport security was very, very lax at Sharm and it's quite alarming that a potential terrorist target didn't have super tight attitude to potential danger. I went to Israel 30 years ago and they didn't leave anything to chance and went through everyone's bags with a fine tooth comb, I have never experienced such a stringent approach either before or since.

I have been operated on by an Egyptian surgeon-there's good and bad everywhere.

We went to Sharm 5 times - it was great for a winter holiday, warm, fabulous hotels, clean, good food, friendly staff. I loved it. We were there when Mubarek was deposed, and again when Morsi fell from power (I think we must be like Jonah and bring bad luck!). All through those years, Sharm felt safe, with good security at the airport, and the resorts quite inaccessible overland from the rest of Egypt, we stopped going because the situation seemed to deteriorate, and the numbers of visitors dwindled so it was less enjoyable. It's a real shame for the people who work in the tourist industry, who worked so hard to give visitors a good holiday. Interestingly, when we first visited, there was hardly any locally resident population, the staff were all based elsewhere in Egypt who were in Sharm for a few months at a time with periods back home, and there were only men. The last time we went, there were more people living locally, more women and children visible, and local shops and schools, not just stuff for tourists. So real communities had started to develop. I don't know what will happen now

We have visited Hurghada on 4 occasions and found Egyptians to be charming and very security conscious there. The major hotels operate a kind of complex, where security operates on the gated compounds. In 2010 we travelled from Hurghada to Luxor, and were amazed at the number of police check points on the road. There were Tourist Police around the major antiquities, as well as hundreds of tourists.
We went back again doing the same trip in February of this year. The people were still the same, the security was not quite as obvious, but the tourists were about half the number. So the obvious reaction of people is not to go to the country. That I can understand, but I do feel sorry for the people who have been involved in the tourist industry, who are now mostly without jobs.
I cannot understand why planes cannot be re-routed to avoid the area of North Sinai. Planes are still flying to Hurghada, and Sharm is just across the Red Sea from there. Surely that would be the most obvious (and easy) solution?

Difficult to know the truth of all this.It would no doubt suit Russia to say it was a bomb planted by ISIS or others, rather than admit the plane was at fault, and no doubt suits ISIS as well to allow them to claim they can do this( it will be a first, if it is them.) Everone says the airport is incredibly lax, nobody checking baggage etc.Not somewhere to go to, if you can help it.

I think I heard that this particular plane had hit the runway tail first, a year or two ago, and had been repaired.
Egypt is not a country I would visit and most of my friends, who have been to Sharm, would not return.

It was on the news when the crash first happened that this plane had been hired out from Aercap, which is the largest plane leasing company in the world. It has a very good safety record. I think this particular plane was maintained in Ireland. The engines come from America and the French have also sent a team over to investigate the wreckage but I am not sure if they built any of the parts. If you look up Aercap you will find a lot of information re the company.
I do feel desperately sorry for the people in Egypt, both stranded and trying to make living. Hopefully, it will prove to be a technical fault and not a bomb.

Me neither - I would not want to be anywhere in the region. Why would anyone choose to go there?

Perhaps we will know more today about what this evidence the security people have come up with.

To be honest, I cannot understand anyone going near that region at the moment. There was a mother on the Today Programme this morning saying she has a young baby and a five year old out there. Why??? Crazy.

No sympathy here for the Egyptions. Had the holiday from hell there ( not In Sharm )
But at least my Godson is happy. He is there, but not on a package trip, no need to rush home, he's just going to sit it out until all is safe.

We loved Egypt when we went there in 2003 (but not to Sharm). The country relies so much on tourism. A tragedy on so many levels.

I always thought Sharm el Sheikh was like a fortress; not the sort of place that I'd like to go for a holiday but incredibly safe.

Of course merlotgran, that goes without saying, and all the tourists in Sharm right now, waiting to be brought back to the UK or to other countries.

I feel for the poor buggers on the plane.

I heard on the news yesterday that Russian planes have been involved in more accidents than average. I haven't googled/checked that out though. A friend told me she'd heard on the news that the air craft had previously been involved in some kind of accident and repaired. Who knows, I feel for the hard working people in Sharm and Tunisia, who are losing their livelihoods.

It's too early to speculate. There is no further information from the experts as to why it came down. It could well have been a fault in the aircraft. Hasn't it had problems in the past. How good are the Russians at maintaining their planes?

The older I get, the more I take a long term view of life.
Egypt has never been stable has it? It just has periods/a few decades when it is better than at other times.

And non violent people in that country suffer.

I agree though that it would be wonderful if the country could be stable for longer.

It's a bit worrying, DBH's cousin lives there, she is married to an Egyptian.