I WAS recently denied service at the boarding counter during peak hours at the airport in Karachi. Staff members of a private airline on duty appeared to attend selectively to passengers and, despite intervention by a supervisor, refused to serve me altogether. More troubling, however, was the complete lack of response to a formal complaint lodged with the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA). Despite the passage of nearly two months and follow-ups through official as well as personal channels, the complaint has remained unattended to date.

As a serving senior public official, I had the means to pursue the matter through personal contacts within the ministry concerned, but even that yielded no result. One is then compelled to wonder that if such avenues fail, what recourse remains there for an ordinary citizen.

This apparent absence of accountability perhaps explains beyond doubt why such behaviour persists at the operational level in Pakistan. Unless complaints are addressed promptly and transparently, passenger confidence in airlines and regulatory authorities will continue to erode.

Name withheld on request
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2026