PIA must conduct itself responsibly

Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, flight number PK306 from Karachi to Lahore begins the push back at 7 pm and the Prophet's (PBUH) prayer before travel is played on the video screens of the aircraft. Then the stewardess makes the announcement to introduce Captain S. Mumtaz and that the flight would be going to Lahore via Faisalabad.
Two passengers from the Economy section walk up to the Business Class section to call the Senior Flight Purser to register their protest. Their claim was a simple one. We have paid for a direct flight to Lahore from Karachi. Secondly, why were we not informed prior to boarding the flight?
Meanwhile, the aircraft continued its journey to the runway, till a passenger informed the Senior Flight Purser to inform the Captain that he cannot take-off unless all passengers are seated else the Captain will be in violation of IATA Safety Rules. Sure enough a few minutes later the Captain made the announcement that a PIA aircraft was stranded in Faisalabad and this flight was carrying the part, and it would take us five minutes at Faisalabad and that we would be on our way to Lahore. A few minutes later the Captain made a second announcement stating that he is returning to the terminal so that the passengers not willing to travel via Faisalabad would be off-loaded. All this can be verified from the flight recorder of the aircraft. Any frequent airline traveller knows that a minimum stay-over for a wide-body aircraft after touch down is 45 minutes. Why did the Captain lie to the passengers? Who gave the authority to the Captain to off-load passengers who were only asking for their basic right of a direct flight to Lahore?
First the PIA traffic staff boarded the aircraft as it docked at Gate No 16. The passengers explained their viewpoint to the staff. After almost half an hour of each side trying to convince the other, the debate was joined by PIA's security staff. The passengers agreed to go to Faisalabad, provided the Captain apologised for his statement to off-load the passengers. The PIA security staff then took one of the passengers with them to the Captain inside the cockpit. The passenger could be heard clearly apologising to the Captain for the situation and requested him to either take the flight directly to Lahore or apologise for making the announcement of off-loading the passengers not willing to travel to Lahore via Faisalabad and that the flight would travel via Faisalabad. The Captain refused to budge from his position. It must be mentioned here categorically, throughout this episode, no passenger touched the cockpit door. In fact, not a single passenger stepped in the corridor leading to the cockpit. The Captain's written statement (shared by some ASF officials) that he was threatened is a blatant lie.
Shortly the ASF staff entered the aircraft. The man in command Major Jalali was most amiable and pacifying, both to the PIA staff and the passengers. Later the Station Manager PIA also arrived. A short while later an announcement was made requesting passengers to move to the transit lounge. Some passengers left the aircraft, while around thirty passengers remained on the aircraft. This announcement was repeated four times. Next, the remaining passengers on the aircraft demanded that a replacement Captain be brought to the aircraft, even if the flight had to route itself via Faisalabad. At around 11pm, the Captain walked out of the cockpit. He had earned his non-taxable flying allowance and completed his prescribed duty hours. And then the worst happened.
A Major Hidayatullah of ASF entered the aircraft and physically manhandled the passengers threatening them with charges of hijacking. He had no decency of conduct for an officer in uni form. Even the females were subjected to his verbal onslaught. He went to the extent of kicking passengers' baggage (mostly trolley bags), pushed a foreign traveller of Far East origin. Disrespect was his obvious demeanour.
Once in the transit lounge, PIA made repeated announcement stating that passengers willing to travel to Lahore via Faisalabad were advised to remain in the lounge, and all others were advised to contact the PIA staff at Gate No 17. Ironically, after fifteen (15) minutes, another PIA announcement was aired. PIA flight PK306 would now directly go to Lahore. Boarding was started around 12:05 am. All passengers boarded except six. A person named Nasir in civilian clothes carrying a wireless set stopped us in the corridor between the ramp and the departure lounge. He took away our boarding card stubs. The humiliation extended by this person was unbearable. And it did not end here. At the end of the day, all these six passengers were offloaded. And the flight took off for Lahore, without a stopover at Faisalabad.
The ordeal was not over yet. The official spokesperson of PIA, Mr Sultan Hasan or Sultan Azam, lodged the names of the off-loaded passengers to the electronic media. As if these were criminals. The PIA spokesman's statement as reported in a daily newspaper, is absolutely false.
Let it be very clear, not a single passenger was detained or arrested, no PIA official offered a refund for our tickets, never were the passengers informed before boarding the aircraft that the flight has been diverted via Faisalabad. It is also untrue that only three passengers were protesting.
More than 100 passengers were protesting. Even the respected Dr Hafeez Pasha, a former Federal Minister, was not spared the wrath of PIA and ASF. Not a single Business Class passenger left the aircraft till the ASF officer dragged them from their seats. The spokesman relied on secondary and tertiary information whereas this submission is from one of the passenger who witnessed the entire episode live.
The PIA must conduct itself responsibly. This was a clear case of miscommunication. The PIA should have informed the passengers before they boarded the aircraft, displayed the sign on the television screen near the boarding gate. A simple apology from the Captain would have settled the matter very early. But then who can contain the egos of our national airline captains and their cartel.
Even Dr Pasha's phone calls to the MD, PIA went unanswered. Do decent citizens of Pakistan deserve such humiliation at the audacity of PIA and ASF? Does PIA even understand what customer service means? Don't we know that PIA flights do get delayed for hours, a simple diversion of 45 minutes would have been taken in stride by passengers, but for the Captain and his egocentric approach.
It must be mentioned that throughout the five-hour ordeal, not a single abuse was hurled by any passenger, no harsh language was used, no tempers were flared, no damage to property was indulged. The overall atmosphere was whilst being spirited, a sense of humour still prevailed despite the odds. And yet the Station Manager, PIA apparently filed a written report accusing the passengers of hijacking. What a blasphemy.
And now for PIA, to answer some questions. Whatever happened to the aircraft stranded at Faisalabad airport for which the part was being flown, which this flight was being diverted? Did PIA manage to deliver the part from another source? Did PIA manage to repair the existing part and make that aircraft operational? If either of this is true, then why was it not done first instead of diverting flight PK306 to Faisalabad on May 16, 2010.
After all, PK306 never went to Faisalabad at all and neither did that part. Why was the arrivals board at Lahore airport displaying 10pm arrival time even before the flight took off from Karachi, and the boarding passengers were never informed before boarding the aircraft? One does not expect a fair response from the airline which has misled the public in this entire episode by making false statements and humiliated the passengers - its valuable customers where some of us carry hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles collected for our loyalty to our national airline.
A new Columbia Business School study titled, "People with Power are Better Liars," finds there may be some truth behind the cliché. "People in power are able to lie better," said Dana Carney, a management professor at Columbia Business School and one of the co-authors of the study. "It just doesn't hurt them as much to do it."
All passengers deserve an apology from PIA and ASF. Specifically, PIA must issue a written apology to the six passengers who were humiliated in the electronic and print media. And this apology must be released to the electronic media and the print media at the earliest. The passengers were only demanding their basic civic right. Is it a crime in Pakistan to seek one's fundamental right? Are PIA and ASF above the law of the country?
The Federal Interior Minister and the Federal Minister for Defence should take cognisance of the ruthless conduct towards respectable citizens of Pakistan. Let these powers call the passengers, PIA and ASF staff, to render justice. Only if these powers act, will such incidents not be repeated by these national agencies. If they chose to ignore, then the people will remain at the mercy and ruthlessness of the authorities.