First impressions count, but it is pointless having the arrivals lounge at the Malta International Airport full of lovely pictures of the country, and then having a service that is not up to standard.

Passengers arriving in driving rain on the Brussels flight to Malta last Sunday night were not amused with the pictures. The coach that went to pick them up as they stepped off the plane, stopped some five metres away from the stairs – meaning that people had to run the distance with their hand luggage; in the rain, of course.

A van with workmen waiting to clean the aircraft after the passengers disembarked was parked next to the aircraft stairs, which is possibly what forced the coach driver to park that far from them.

But worse was yet to come. When the same passengers collected their luggage, they found out that most of their cases were dripping wet. It was a nuisance for the Maltese travellers who had their luggage made of fabric and returned home to find that the water had seeped in to wet their belongings.

It was perhaps a worse inconvenience for foreigners who had just arrived for their holiday and had the same problem.

They definitely didn’t have a good start to their holiday.