It has been long due on the part of Pakistan International Airlines to reach out and do some massive publicity and attract people. So many people probably don’t even know that PIA now operates the newest fleet of 777s which were delivered brand spankin’ new to the airline. Besides being the safest aircrafts, they’re considered to be the most comfortable in their class (discounting A380).
But i think PIA is improving, and we can only hope it further improves its international image. Last time i traveled on it, i saw a lot of multinationals on the flight originating from Pakistan inbound to U.S. That is a pleasing sight, it means there is potential and people will travel it, if they’re made aware.
While surfing around youtube, i found this PIA 777 Promo. Looks neat.
What do you think PIA needs to do to refine its image and bring its finances to a point where it can refresh its aging fleet of 747s and 737s?
I say PIA go for A330’s (when feasible). They can serve Europe, while PIA uses 777s for North America, reopen the routes that were restricted or shut down and expand west-ward.
And this one for the memories sake, ah the classic Green!
i wouldnt travel with pia because their service is terrible once they delayed my flight for 12 hours witout any notice. all passengers were waiting on manchester for news and at one stage they got very angry and pia manager came and gave everyone address of pia london for claiming compensation.
when i came back from pakistan i wrote to pia office london and till now now any reply from pia office.
I am very patriotic person so i will use PIA whenever possible, unfortunately there are no services to Australia but i would use PIA whenever it's an option.
In the past, i had good experience with them, food and service was excellent, i think people whinnge for no reason. Qantas has such a bad reputation in Australia, their service is pathetic but people use it because it's Australian, why should we be different??
I would also prefer taking PIA flights because I don't believe the stereotype that necessarily everything out of Pakistan is bad. Personally I prefer PIA to other airlines, but the problem is that they are already sold out 4 months ahead from France. Hope they wake up and either increase the flight frequency or do something about it.
whenever i have travelled on PIA its been a dishhhashterrrrr!!! once me and ma mum were stranded at lahore airport for 24 hours because the flight was "delayed"!! with no food, no accomodation, and no money back. they took the piss that day.
It used to be really good.... the food , the ppl were really nice.... but then PIA started to use the worst of the line aircrafts on middle east sector... That was the time, when I actually ditched using PIA.. not only the planes were horrible, but the fares used to be very high as compared to other middle eastern airlines. The pathetic side was that if a Pakistani is travelling to Karachi from some middle eastern country then the fare used to be more expensive than a Nepali/Bengali/Lanki/Hindi travelling to their countries via Karachi from the same city of Origin.
I never got to undertstand this fact... that I am tavelling from Riyadh-Karachi on higher fare, then a Nepali going from Riyadh-Khi-Kathmandu or a Bengali going from Riyadh-Khi-Dhaka is paying much less than me..
PIA needs to buy planes, and lot of them, there is a huge Pakistani presense all over the world, which wants to travel with PIA for many reasons. But then PIA does not have much planes, once any air craft goes into trouble, the whole schedule gets disturbed.
Also the other factor disturbing PIA was the use of its aircraft as VVIP flights during the Musharaf era. I learned many times that all the passengers were stranded at the airport, cause Mushy uncle needed to visit Bush uncle on urgent basis. This causes a lot of distress to passengers.
PIA needs to bring back the passenger confidence, once this is done the potential is there for a very huge market.
These commercials are awesome… given that PIA’s marketing division is still living in the 1970s.
These commercials fit right in with all the other ****ty Pakistani ads but if you look at what’s happening in the airline industry around the world they simply suck. A bunch of pictures showing a plane doesnt make people want to fly with you. This is what makes people want to fly with you:
Some people prefer the Nostalgic ads of Old PIA, Old is Gold in some cases.
PIA really really needs to do something though. The nepotism has got to go. The VVIP culture that has seeped even into the National Airline is literally eating it from the inside out, soon it’ll be left with a hollow shell.
For those who don’t know, PIA currently operates a total of 9 777s in different variations
On the note of flying experience with PIA: I’m not sure about the others who are dissatisfied, but i was really pleased with their service, schedule, food, and comfort. Had an on-time departure and early arrival both ways.
After many years of ditching PIA, i recently travelled with PIA from London to Lahore,
Planes were new and good. service in the air was quite good, one thing I noticed plane had too much staff on board. ie the hosteses, stewards, and then you have extra staf who deals only dutry free shopping - pathetic business wise. no wonder they have highest staff to plane ration in the world.
all was ok, but hey its PIA , on way back from lahore, while checking in they told me my wife and son flight is cancelled so I need to new ticket or wait for the next flight!!!............ and i has this confirmed printed dates from their website, they said no this is just booking, your ticket has been booked wrong by agent!!!
so had to pay £65 extra to keep my wife and son with me on same flight!! and i wasnt alone.... almost 50% of the flight had this problem, people who changed return dates, they had problems every one had to pay more, my cousin had to pay 330 more...
it looked money making scheme nothing else, they had the booking, had the seats available on plane, even there was problem they should own it and give a proper customer services...
some people saying still fly PIA cause its national airline??? well enough sympathy from Pakistanis. its commercial airline has to compete in international market, its only surviving cause ex patriats prefer to travel with them. otherwise inflated fares compared to Emirates and other who would trvel with them. I will not!
inflight good wasnt good either
inflight entertainment was fine i guess due to plane being new
^^ the main reason could have been cause of the "travel class" booked. In certain travel classes changes are not permitted, or you have to pay something extra...
The concept of Economy,business,First is gone,,, there are now like 10 travel class in Economy, 3/4 in Business and I guess 2 in First..
So the cheaper the ticket, the higher the penalties if you need to change..
Currently almost every airline is giving very good deals,,, like from middle east to Us/Canada is like 600USD,,, but that ticket is actually non-refundable and non-changeable. if you need to change anything, then simply one has to buy a new ticket.
^^^ no it wasnt the class issue, as they were offering next flight without charges. and my cousin has business class ticket, thats why he had to pay hefty 330 for this.
also the change was done in their systems by travel agent on the same day we booked the ticket not on the day and we had this confirmation print outs. no airline would come up with excuse like PIA came,.... they go "yeh booking changed but you ticket didnt :)"
even then why everyone had to go out of the airport, go to sales office and wait for hour or so as only 2 guys were there to deal with this issue. guys are check in counter could do or they should have something inside the building instead of people had to go out comeback pass security checks and customs again!
A bunch of pictures showing a plane doesnt make people want to fly with you.
ditto... I've seen that first ad on TV and it irks me every time that the best we can come up with is a 180 pan view of an aeroplane with some background music to boot.
I mean c'mon... international airlines are the classic definition of "global competition" and if this is the best we can do to compete globally with the likes of Emirates, BA etc., then God help us.
I remember the PIA ads when I was a kid... and things have really not changed much except the picture quality's a little better. I guess we should be thankful for that at least cuz our movie industry still seems to be using equipment from the 60s.
