13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

Society Travel & Tourism
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13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers
By Asma Ali Zain

7 August 2005

DUBAI — Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) faced the wrath of passengers for the second time within a week when a flight to Karachi got delayed by 13 hours.

Passengers booked by flight PK 214 to Karachi told Khaleej Times that they had been waiting for more than 13 hours to fly to Karachi.

“The flight was due to take off at 9am, but we were told by the station manager that the flight would take off at 12noon. We re-checked with them subsequently and were told that the flight would take off at 5pm, and now we have been told that it would take off by 10.15pm ‘hopefully’,” said Bilal Hassan, whose mother and sister are to travel by the flight.

“They checked us in, took our baggage and even issued us boarding passes, but did not inform us the exact time the flight would take off,” said Hassan, who brought his mother and sister back home following the rescheduling. “I wish they had let us know in advance because we could have changed the flight as we have an emergency to attend to in Karachi,” he said.

Hassan’s mother and sister will now fly Emirates. “I am not sure if I will get a refund,” he added.

PIA attributed the delay to a closed runway at Peshawar Airport.

“PIA cannot help the delay in this case as a runway in Peshawar has been closed for reasons not known. The flight due for Dubai was diverted from Lahore to Islamabad to pick up the Peshawar passengers, therefore the flight has been delayed,” said a PIA official.

Meanwhile, Khaleej Times sources confirmed that the Peshawar airport was indeed closed since yesterday when the burst tyre of an aircraft damaged part of the tarmac, and repair works had been taken up.

Officials from Pakistan’s private carrier Aero Asia said there was no change in their flight to Peshawar which was due to take off at 11.55pm.

“Our aircraft are not affected as they are small, but maybe bigger aircraft are not allowed to land,” he said.

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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

its all part of life...

PIA has really good service overall. If a flight gets delayed once in a while it shouldnt trigger off a RAGE.

PIA should have re-scheduled the flight to Islamabad and from there should have taken the passengers to Peshawar by road. It would have been a lot better than delaying the flight.

I am sure the passengers would have accepted that second option once they were expalined the real problem and would have appreciated the concern shown by the airline.

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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

^^ As I see it, the reason for the rage was not the 13-hour delay per se, but the fact that wrong information was given to the passengers. Those who really had to go to Karachi urgently could have chosen other flight options then.

I’d be pissed too, if the airline tells me the flight is 3 hours delayed when in fact it is 13 hours delayed. :eek:

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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

i won't mind a 13hrs delay if problem is genuine. some things are not in their hands to deal with.

stop
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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

PIA usually is full of crap anyways.. they once actually told us that they DONT know where the aircraft is which was suppose to leave NY !!! Imagine the level of lame excuses.. I have heard they do that to avoid the hotel and meal charges they will have to incur because of delays and constantly lie to the travellers by telling them that the flight will be leaving in a couple of hours.. who knows !!!

Gupshup Khabarnama
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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

A friend of ours was on that flight, he said the passengers were treated so badly by airport staff - like they were all bomb suspects or something and interviewed each passenger seperately - really bad experience.

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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

Knowing you cat-woman, i'd say the suspicions were well justified. :p

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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

PIA doesn't score very high when it comes to good customer services anyway. Most staff are rude, unhelpful and stuck up.

They could take a good few lessons from BA and Emirates staff in manners.

Koi un say bolay
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Re: 13 hours delay triggers wrath of PIA passengers

and to think that PIA actually helped start Emirates.. and now we are at the bottom pit where as Emirates being the Airline of the year for many years now.. :slight_smile: