Pakistani airline blunder: A peculiar case has come to light in Pakistan, where a passenger going from Lahore to Karachi was accidentally sent to Saudi Arabia. The incident occurred on 7 July, when an electrical engineer named Malik Shahzain booked a ticket to return to Karachi from Air Seal.

Was returning home due to sick son
Malik Shahzain, who hails from Karachi, went to Lahore for office work. At the same time, he received information about his son’s health deteriorating, after which he immediately decided to return to Karachi from Lahore. After reaching the airport on time, he showed the boarding pass already booked and then sent to the lounge and gate.

Two aircraft, wrong checking and mistake international flying
At that time, two Air Sial aircraft were standing on the runway, one was going to Karachi and the other was Jeddah. According to Malik Shahzain, ‘Staff made me sit on a plane going to Jeddah without investigating. Two hours after flying, when the aircraft did not land, I was suspicious. By the time he realized the truth, he had reached Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Inquiries in Jeddah, goods reached Karachi
On reaching Jeddah, he was questioned by immigration officials for hours. When it was clear to the officials that this mistake was not of the passenger but the airline, then he instructed Air Sial to send Shahzain back to Pakistan. Meanwhile, Shahzain’s goods had reached Karachi, while he himself was stuck at Jeddah Airport.

Sent back to Lahore, asked to buy Karachi ticket himself
Instead of sending him directly to Karachi, the airline first sent him back to Lahore, and then it was said that now Karachi will have to buy tickets himself. Shahzain said, “I was returning to meet my ailing son, but I had to face 15 hours of trouble and had to face inquiries.”

Pardon or clarification has not been received yet
Shahzain said that the airline staff accepted their mistake, but so far no formal apology or clarification has been given. He said, ‘No cleanliness or apology was received from Air Seal. I am still waiting for the answer. Air Seal is a private Pakistani airline, headquartered in Sialkot.

Investigation started, such a mistake was not seen before
An official of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the investigation of this unusual incident has been started. The official said, “Sometimes passengers accidentally climb on the wrong flight, but this is the first time that a domestic passenger has gone into international flight.”