Fear and loathing: Airhostess, where is row number 13?
At least one prominent building in Karachi – the Avari Towers – had no floor number 13 till two years back.
KARACHI:
Many buildings across the world refuse to label number 13 on their floor plans.
Who holds a party on the 13th of a month anyway?
But let’s face it. It’s just a number. Isn’t it okay to let one irrational ritual slip in — let two digits inspire fear, loathing, misery and bad luck?
No, it’s not.
So pervasive is this superstition globally that the fear of the number 13 has been given its very own term, almost like a condition that one could suffer from — ‘triskaidekaphobia’.
And our very own national flag carrier seems to have clung on to this superstition — without really knowing it.
The state-run airline, which operates a mix of 40 Boeing, Airbus and ATR aircraft, removed successive rows numbered 7 to 20 from the seat plan of all their aircraft some eight years back — apparently to bring them in uniformity with other international counterparts.
“I don’t recall any discussion ever taking place specifically on the subject of row 13,” PIA’s Director Corporate Planning Shahnawaz Rehman says.
“We only did it to help the cabin crew who work on different types of aircraft [so that they can be] well versed with the seating layout.”
Most of the aviation industry officials contacted by The Express Tribune expressed amazement at the fact that quite a few airlines do not have a row number 13.
Dubai-based Emirates and German flag carrier Lufthansa are among the airlines that avoid the number on some of their aircraft which are destined on routes mostly used by “superstitious travellers”.
But it is hard to ascertain exactly how many airlines skip the row.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents most of the international carriers, says it does not have record on the matter either. And the best source of information on this topic is from blogs written by frequent fliers and their observations as they pinpoint aircraft and the airlines individually.
But Pakistani private airline Airblue’s sponsor Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says at least 20% airlines around the world do not have row 13. “This is what Airbus told us when we leased a plane from them a couple of years back.”
When Airblue received delivery of A-320, it came without a row 13. Airline officials were in a fix and debated what should be done and finally it was decided not to be superstitious, Abbasi says.
Like many international airlines, passengers of PIA’s economy and economy plus compartments are guided directly to row 21 — which has the bulkhead seats.
“It’s understood that row 21 would have spacious bulkhead seats. The cabin crew on any type of aircraft will know this,” PIA’s Director Rehman claims.
Few passengers ever wonder why the other rows are missing.
Do we really care?
However, Pakistani airline Shaheen Air International says all its planes have the row labelled 13.
Former managing director of the defunct airline Aero Asia Haider Jalal – who also headed the Gerry’s travel agency for a few years – says Pakistanis are least bothered by the number.
“This might be an issue for foreigners but we haven’t seen our customers expressing concerns about it,” he claims. “The fear of this number varies from person to person.”
It is not just the airlines which tend to hide behind the cloak of irrational behaviour.
At least one prominent building in Karachi – the Avari Towers – had no floor number 13 till two years back. “We had a lot of foreigners staying there and so we decided against having it,” says Byram Avari, chairman of Avari Group of Companies.
Some two years back the hotel underwent renovation and the “unlucky number” was added to the floor plan. But it can’t be established if this was done because of a plunge in the number of foreigners coming to the country.
Two prominent architects, Shahid Abdullah and Yawar Jilani, say they don’t recall their clients being particularly against the jinxed number.
The sponsors of Karachi’s tallest building, Ocean Towers, say they will also have floor 13. Regardless, if there is any unassuming number that rests atop unwarranted fear it is 13. (Edited by Musab Memon)
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2012.
If you walk along the aisle of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft, you’ll notice how row number 13 is conspicuously missing in the seat configuration of the plane — in all their planes.
Many buildings across the world refuse to label number 13 on their floor plans.
Who holds a party on the 13th of a month anyway?
But let’s face it. It’s just a number. Isn’t it okay to let one irrational ritual slip in — let two digits inspire fear, loathing, misery and bad luck?
No, it’s not.
So pervasive is this superstition globally that the fear of the number 13 has been given its very own term, almost like a condition that one could suffer from — ‘triskaidekaphobia’.
And our very own national flag carrier seems to have clung on to this superstition — without really knowing it.
The state-run airline, which operates a mix of 40 Boeing, Airbus and ATR aircraft, removed successive rows numbered 7 to 20 from the seat plan of all their aircraft some eight years back — apparently to bring them in uniformity with other international counterparts.
“I don’t recall any discussion ever taking place specifically on the subject of row 13,” PIA’s Director Corporate Planning Shahnawaz Rehman says.
“We only did it to help the cabin crew who work on different types of aircraft [so that they can be] well versed with the seating layout.”
Most of the aviation industry officials contacted by The Express Tribune expressed amazement at the fact that quite a few airlines do not have a row number 13.
Dubai-based Emirates and German flag carrier Lufthansa are among the airlines that avoid the number on some of their aircraft which are destined on routes mostly used by “superstitious travellers”.
But it is hard to ascertain exactly how many airlines skip the row.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents most of the international carriers, says it does not have record on the matter either. And the best source of information on this topic is from blogs written by frequent fliers and their observations as they pinpoint aircraft and the airlines individually.
But Pakistani private airline Airblue’s sponsor Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says at least 20% airlines around the world do not have row 13. “This is what Airbus told us when we leased a plane from them a couple of years back.”
When Airblue received delivery of A-320, it came without a row 13. Airline officials were in a fix and debated what should be done and finally it was decided not to be superstitious, Abbasi says.
Like many international airlines, passengers of PIA’s economy and economy plus compartments are guided directly to row 21 — which has the bulkhead seats.
“It’s understood that row 21 would have spacious bulkhead seats. The cabin crew on any type of aircraft will know this,” PIA’s Director Rehman claims.
Few passengers ever wonder why the other rows are missing.
Do we really care?
However, Pakistani airline Shaheen Air International says all its planes have the row labelled 13.
Former managing director of the defunct airline Aero Asia Haider Jalal – who also headed the Gerry’s travel agency for a few years – says Pakistanis are least bothered by the number.
“This might be an issue for foreigners but we haven’t seen our customers expressing concerns about it,” he claims. “The fear of this number varies from person to person.”
It is not just the airlines which tend to hide behind the cloak of irrational behaviour.
At least one prominent building in Karachi – the Avari Towers – had no floor number 13 till two years back. “We had a lot of foreigners staying there and so we decided against having it,” says Byram Avari, chairman of Avari Group of Companies.
Some two years back the hotel underwent renovation and the “unlucky number” was added to the floor plan. But it can’t be established if this was done because of a plunge in the number of foreigners coming to the country.
Two prominent architects, Shahid Abdullah and Yawar Jilani, say they don’t recall their clients being particularly against the jinxed number.
The sponsors of Karachi’s tallest building, Ocean Towers, say they will also have floor 13. Regardless, if there is any unassuming number that rests atop unwarranted fear it is 13. (Edited by Musab Memon)
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2012.