Airport chaos disrupts holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of Australians

Technical issues, wet weather, school holidays and staff shortages blamed for long queues

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As airport queues stretched out the door on Saturday wreaking havoc on the holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of travellers, Sydney airport said people arriving too far in advance for their flight was exacerbating problems caused by wet weather, school holidays and continuing staff shortages.

In Sydney, Guardian Australia understands there were technical issues with luggage check-in systems across several domestic airlines on Friday and Saturday, which have contributed to long queues at baggage drops.