In a bizarre incident, a private airline mistakenly took a domestic passenger from Lahore to Jeddah without a passport or visa, while he was supposed to travel to Karachi, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) confirmed.
According to the details, the passenger, Malik Shahzain Ahmed, was bound to travel to Karachi, but instead boarded Air Sial’s flight to Jeddah.
Speaking to the media, the passenger said that immigration authorities briefly detained him at Jeddah Airport upon landing. They deported him back to Lahore after clarifying the situation.
The PAA spokesman, Saifullah, said that the authority has taken notice of the negligence and has written letters to the civil aviation regulator and the station manager.
Saifullah said that the civil aviation regulator has been requested to impose a heavy fine on the airline that is guilty of negligence.
Meanwhile, the passenger said that it was not his fault, adding that the airline should now arrange a ticket for my Karachi flight.
Ahmed said he went to Lahore airport to board the Karachi-bound flight on July 8, but he mistakenly sat in the Jeddah-bound flight after collecting his boarding pass for the domestic flight.
The airline administration confirmed that both Karachi and Jeddah flights were scheduled around the same time, and the confusion happened due to an aircraft swap and the ongoing construction work at Lahore Airport, which caused both domestic and international flights to operate from the domestic lounge after 10 pm.
