EVERY one has suffered the consequences of delayed departures by our national carrier. On March 26, I had an experience with PIA which was a first for me.

After a hectic day at the office on Monday I and a colleague had to catch a 23:40 hour flight to Faisalabad. We were to conduct a training session starting at 9am the following morning in Faisalabad, which made the flight perfect.

We reached the airport at 22:45 and were shocked as the guards at the domestic departure entrance stopped us from entering, saying the flight had left at 22:30 hours. I spoke to the staff at the boarding pass counter who insisted that PIA had contacted all passengers to inform them of the flight’s early departure.

On my showing them the call log and SMS record of me and my colleague’s cell phones, they apologised and issued tickets for an 08:00 hour flight to Lahore the next morning. We were left with no choice but go home and return early the next morning to catch the Lahore flight.

Naturally, the change of plans affected our training schedule with the additional Lahore-to-Faisalabad bus journey, and never mind the tongue-lashing my boss gave me for no fault of mine.

The airline really needs to get its act together.

M Haris Zohaib Akbani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2018