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* Chaos and anxiety as tourists grow impatient
* Some flights cancelled
* Crash is a blow to tourism
By Ahmed Aboulenein
SHARM AL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A holidaymakerstranded in Egypt's Sharm al-Sheikh airport was wearing at-shirt with the slogan "take what you need" -- summing up thegrowing desperation and chaos at the resort following the crashof a Russian passenger plane.
Hundreds of people, mostly Russians and Britons, were toldby officials that their check-in luggage would not be making thetrip back with them, one week after the Airbus A321slammed into the Sinai Peninsula.
It is just one obstacle tourists face and there may be moreas Western countries raise the possibility that a bomb plantedby Islamist militants knocked the plane out of the sky.
Outside the terminal were a dozen parked buses, all carryingmore visitors wondering when they will finally head home.
Policemen wearing bullet proof vests carried assault riflesand an army van brought in troops for reinforcements.
The mayhem piled more pressure on Egyptian authorities, whodepend heavily on tourism for revenue, to show they areproviding adequate security for impatient foreigners.
"They've gone from one extreme to another. It went all theway from insecure to very secure," said Alexander McFadzean, 55,a transport manager eager to get back to Yorkshire.
He was initially meant to travel on Thursday.
Western governments have said the crash which killed all 224passengers and crew may have been caused by a bomb and severalcountries have suspended flights to Sharm al-Sheikh resort, fromwhere the Russian plane took off.
Egypt has said it has not ruled out any scenarios butstressed the investigation should take its course. Somepassengers are drawing their own conclusions.
"If they had the same level of security they have now beforethis happened, it wouldn't have happened," McFadzean said.
Airport security was lax when he first landed, two weeksbefore the disaster, he said.
"Airport staff offered to fast-track me if I paid 50(British) pounds. They were going to let me jump the queue."
Reuters could not immediately confirm that.
A spokesman for Egypt's civil aviation ministry said Sharmal-Sheikh airport followed all international security proceduresand had been inspected by several international delegations,including a British, one weeks ago.
GOODBYE BAGGAGE
As the terminal filled up with hundreds of tourists hopingto leave after a tense week, a group of easyJet officials tried to convince a customer to leave his bag behindwhile he argued he needed its contents with him on the plane.
A pile of bags lay abandoned in a corner.
"They said that we shouldn't take any baggage with us onboard, so we have to keep it somewhere, I don't know where, putour addresses and then they will somehow transport it toRussia," said Julia Suvrova, 33.
"How, who will do it, I don't know. I will say goodbye to mybaggage," she said.
McFadzean blamed both the Egyptian and British governmentfor the disorder and said Prime Minister David Cameron had not"thought about the consequences" of suspending flights.
NO COMMUNICATION
Many British tourists interviewed said their government wasnot doing enough to communicate vital information to them.
Several that were standing at a queue yelled "nocommunication" in unison when a Reuters reporter asked one abouther concerns.
"We found out from our Thomas Cook representative that ourflight was cancelled. We were meant to fly out on Thursday,"said young holidaymaker Sheila Smith.
Her family was told to come to the airport on Friday butthen that flight was also cancelled.
"She's meant to be at school," her mother said.
A British official said the government was coordinating withoperators to provide more information and that officials werenow visiting hotels to communicate with nationals.
Many tourists said they did not feel unsafe because securityhad been obviously strengthened since the crash.
If it turned out the Islamic State group, which has militantallies in the Sinai, had in fact brought the plane down as itclaimed, they would reconsider coming back.
Outside the airport two policemen rode a single beach buggy,patrolling the perimeter.
A large sign behind them greeted visitors to Sharm al-Sheikhwith the words: "Welcome to the city of peace."
(Editing by Michael Georgy and Angus MacSwan)
