A hungry pilot allegedly delayed a flight by more than two hours because he wanted gourmet sandwiches during the flight.
According to The Nation, Pakistan International Airlines' Captain Naushad wasn't happy when he found out that there were only peanuts, chips and biscuits on board flight PK711 from Lahore, Pakistan to New York on Saturday. He demanded sandwiches but the crew told him that they could only get them for a five-star hotel and it could take hours for them arrive. He didn't care.
The pilot's request was sent to the airline's catering department and then to the management office in Karachi. Management told the catering department to meet the pilot's request.
The flight was supposed to depart at 6:45 a.m. but due to the delay, it didn't fly out of Allama Iqbal International Airport at 9:15am. The delay caused several passengers to miss their connecting flights in Manchester and New York.
Sandwiches were taken off the airline's menu starting on November 25 as a way to save money. The "Way Forward Committee" recommended that PIA plan meals to save about $3.6 million. According to Business Recorder, not everyone was happy with the change, so employees may have faked the story about Captain Naushad to fight back.
However according to the Pakistan Airline Pilots' Association and WFC spokesman, the captain summoned a catering department official after the cabin crew complained about the food. The captain took 50 minutes to get to the aircraft and all the other delays were caused by the catering department.
"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," a 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."
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