Asking passengers to come five hours early most likely means that these passengers would be stranded for hours
The Pakistan International Airlines recently took to the social media micro-blogging site Twitter to announce that passengers on its international flights should arrive five hours before their departure time to the newly opened Islamabad International Airport. The announcement was being made in light of “the traffic congestion due to strict security checks.”
However, anyone who has frequently travelled with the national carrier would know that the airline rarely takes off on time and is infamous for its numerous delays due to ‘technical issues’ in the airplane. As a result, asking passengers to come five hours early most likely means that these passengers would be stranded in the new airport for hours before they are finally allowed to leave. And to compensate for the long wait, PIA would only perhaps provide them with dry bread sandwiches and a pack of mini biscuits.
On the other hand, this announcement also raises the question as to why does the PIA need five hours for a ‘strict security check’? If state-of-the-art facilities with the appropriate security protocols have been installed in the airport, as has been claimed by the incumbent government, then it shouldn’t take more than half an hour or perhaps two for a ‘strict security check’. A monitoring body should look into this announcement and identify why the said five hours are required to avoid troubling customers unnecessarily.
Noman Chauhan
Rawalpindi
