A foodie pilot allegedly delayed a New York-bound flight by two-and-a-half hours – for gourmet sandwiches.
Pakistan International Airlines’ Captain Naushad reportedly demanded the hoagies after finding out there were only peanuts, chips and biscuits on board flight PK711 from Lahore, Pakistan on Saturday.
When crew told him sandwiches could only be ordered from a five-star hotel which could take hours to arrive, he insisted he needed his lunch at any cost.
The Nation reported that crew sent the pilot’s request to the national carrier’s catering department and then to PIA’s management office in Karachi. Management ‘directed the catering department to meet (the pilot’s) demand.’
The flight, scheduled to leave at 6.45am, ended up flying out of Allama Iqbal International Airport at 9.15am. Dozens of passengers reportedly missed their connecting flights at Manchester and New York due to the delay.
The airline’s culinary woes reportedly began on November 25 when sandwiches were stripped from the long-haul flight menu to save money.
The airline’s ‘Way Forward Committee’ recommended the change to transform PIA ‘from a failed airline to a flourishing carrier’, saving a possible 391 million rupees ($3.6 million) by efficiently planning meals.
However, Business Recorder reported not everyone at the airline was happy with the cost-saving measures, and ‘concocted’ the story about Captain Naushad to discredit the carrier.
A Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association and WFC spokesman said the captain had summoned a catering department official following complaints from cabin crew about the food.
He said the official took 50 minutes to reach the aircraft. He also said other delays were caused by the catering department, not the captain. Some pilots are part of the WFC.
‘It was not only concocted, baseless, and contrary to facts in which some very respectable names of PIA were mentioned in a rather disgraceful manner,’ the spokesman said.
‘It is, however, strange that a story totally fabricated and against the facts made it even more embarrassing for the airline by mentioning the initiatives of Way Forward Committee.’
Read more: Daily Mail
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