Weere so far passengers entering into P.I.A without boards cards?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Thousands of Pakistanis gone to perform Ummrah recently suffered in Jeddah as they could not get PIA flights for coming back. Most people did not have money their due to this overstay. Saudi newspapers printed articles and photographs of Pakistanis sitting on roads, outside PIA offic eand Jeddah Airport. Knowing children women and elderly were hungry Saudi government arranged charity meals for this people. A lot has been said by P.I.A about this both by writers, people and PIA. In return by this performance forcing thousands of respected peoples to have charity meals abroad P.I.A chairman has been awarded extension in service. On 16.12.2004 newspapers a statement from Chairman P.I.A Ahmed Saeed has appeared over which surprisingly no has spoken. Ahmed Saeed in his statement said that in future no one will go for Umrah for Haj with out a confirmed ticket and a board card. I have so far an understanding that no passenger world over can enter into a plane unless he had a board card and that board card is only given if one has confirmed ticket. According to Ahmed Saeed, the P.I.A will ensure this now. Does it mean so far in P.I.A plane people were entering without any board cards and without any confirmed tickets.

Why we do not have any shame what we speak or do we think listeners are *******s and fools.

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:eek:

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source please?

PIA is probably the worst airlines I have ever traveled with, so I am not surprised... Saudi government should impose heavy fines on PIA for this shameful act.... No country that I am aware of issues a visa on Pakistani passport without a return confirmed ticket.. Saudi embassy will not even entertain your application for Umra or Hajj until you have confirmed reservations for the airline as well as stay in Makkah/Madinah so I am not sure what is Ahmed Saeed ranting about.

PIA should be a 100% private business run like a business competing with other airlines in the region. A decade ago it used to be among the top 5 airlines in the region if I recall it correctly.

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do we fully understand what the issue here is. how much of it is PIAs fault and how much is travellers fault

1) you can buy a round trip ticket without having confirmed seats
2) most visas requirements are that you have a round trip ticket, whether or not you have confirmed seats on a particular flight
3) if i travel, i need to make sure that I have confirmed my seats for the dates that I want to travel.

That being said, PIA..like other airlines, has over booked flights on many occassions and people have to be bumped off teh flight because it is oversold.

It appears that the PIA chairman is saying that in future you have to have a confirmed seat and even a boarding card for your return flight so you are not stuck somewhere because either PIA screwed up, or in yoir josh o kharosh of going to hajj or umra, you did not do your homework.

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[quote]
do we fully understand what the issue here is. how much of it is PIAs fault and how much is travellers fault
[/quote]

Probably not

[quote]

1) you can buy a round trip ticket without having confirmed seats
2) most visas requirements are that you have a round trip ticket, whether or not you have confirmed seats on a particular flight
3) if i travel, i need to make sure that I have confirmed my seats for the dates that I want to travel.
[/quote]

You could be right but as far as I know Saudi Consulates has stringent requirements about confirmed reservations due to the nature of visit (short and targeted), i.e. Umra and Hajj.

[quote]
That being said, PIA..like other airlines, has over booked flights on many occassions and people have to be bumped off teh flight because it is oversold.
[/quote]

This phenomena seems to be more common with PIA than any other international airlines.

[quote]
It appears that the PIA chairman is saying that in future you have to have a confirmed seat and even a boarding card for your return flight so you are not stuck somewhere because either PIA screwed up, or in yoir josh o kharosh of going to hajj or umra, you did not do your homework.
[/quote]

Boarding pass issued 15 or 20 days ahead of time? That is a disaster waiting to happen, imagine lost boarding passes, security issues etc. How will that solve the issue of overbooking? Knowing PIA they will issue the same boarding pass to five different people, first come first serve or sifarshi first serve.

PIA on its route to Saudi Arabia caters to large desi community that is not aware of travel laws and rules. There is no effort to bring about the awareness of these rules and regulation either. Most of the people traveling on PIA on that route are poor villagers who can’t even read and write. So if PIA wants to run a good successful business they would keep their clients in mind and design a scheme catering to them. Knowing your customer base is the key to your success.

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*Originally posted by ChaChoo: *

You could be right but as far as I know Saudi Consulates has stringent requirements about confirmed reservations due to the nature of visit (short and targeted), i.e. Umra and Hajj.

and PIA has rules about reconfirming, actually many airlines do but not all of them really bother with them now.

This phenomena seems to be more common with PIA than any other international airlines.

not quite, I refuse to fly gulf because they have managed to mess up my reservations on so many occassions, and then you have companies like USAir due to which i have spent countless hours stuck in cities that suck.

*Boarding pass issued 15 or 20 days ahead of time? That is a disaster waiting to happen, imagine lost boarding passes, security issues etc. How will that solve the issue of overbooking? Knowing PIA they will issue the same boarding pass to five different people, first come first serve or sifarshi first serve. *

losing a boarding card is as likely to happen as losing a ticket. the whole world is not on e-tickets :)

the rest of the issues with sifaraish and all can stay there, but seats need to be confirmed period, whether or not a physical boarding pass is issued or not. The whoel overbooking for business reasons that statistically x% of travellers will not show up does not apply to situations like these and the einsteins at PIA need to understand that. but personal responsibility has to factor in as well. I have refused to buy gulf or PIA tickets when they could not get me a confirmed seat for my dates of travel.

*PIA on its route to Saudi Arabia caters to large desi community that is not aware of travel laws and rules. There is no effort to bring about the awareness of these rules and regulation either. Most of the people traveling on PIA on that route are poor villagers who can’t even read and write. So if PIA wants to run a good successful business they would keep their clients in mind and design a scheme catering to them. Knowing your customer base is the key to your success. *

yeah I am quite familiar with the challenge airlines face, some of these include teaching such travellers to use the damn airplane toilet properly or how to stow their baggage.

I am still a strong proponent of personal responsibility, PIA as well as relevant govt entities need to do something, whether it is literature, whether it is mandatory viewing of documentatries on dos and donts. But people need to take more personal responsibility too. Whenthey can seek out info on the rituals of Hajj and all they can also do the same for logistics.