Allah Kareem

Hi guys. I was so busy over the week, I forgot to write about something important about my last trip through Kuwait Airport. I hope one day this airport will change and we will have a new one. But please, until the new one is ready, can’t you maintain the existing one that we are using? Firstly, can I ask if there is a maintenance department at the airport? I have no idea. Whoever is in charge of maintenance, can I please bring to his attention the problem with the escalator that brings passengers from the gates downstairs to the immigration hall?

Since last August - if my memory is still as sharp this escalator has been out of order. Of course there is is another one adjacent and in between proper stairs, but imagine you have your briefcase and bags and everyone is using one escalator, or have to suffer climbing down the stairs. It’s OK if you are young and carrying nothing. But imagine an old man with a cane, and twice I’ve helped mothers struggling with their strollers, baby bags and babies, trying to get them all safely to the floor below. How much does it cost the airport maintenance department to fix one broken escalator? It’s not as long as the Oxford Circus underground in London, which has hundreds of steps. And if they don’t have budgets, we would be glad to publish a campaign to raise donations to fix the escalator.

After the escalator trouble, you pass through immigration. I want to just thank the Interior Ministry for all the positive improvements. I have to say immigration is now more efficient, fast and very organized, and we have started seeing smiling faces.

But then another horror - waiting for your luggage at the baggage carousel. The only plane that landed that morning was our flight from London, and we still had to wait not less than 50 minutes for our bags. It was unbelievable. I felt sorry for the captain and his crew who were also waiting with us for their luggage. Why such a delay? It was 6 am and we were the only flight arriving at that time. There was no other action on the conveyor belts. Is it to do with a lack of workers?

I started to get edgy and grumbly - that’s the nature of journalists anyway. Then a woman standing near me noticed and told me, “Relax, Allah Kareem (keep the faith in God)! They are building a new airport and I hope things will be better and faster and we will at least become as modern and updated as our brothers in the Gulf.”

Well let’s pray that she’s right. But still this does not excuse the broken escalator.