PIA Economy Passengers Storm First Class

[Valkyrie]

PIA should have taken the passengers out of the plane at ISB. I mean i think they kept the passengers in temperatures of over 40 degrees for over 4 hours!

Yup, idiots on both sides.

[Abbas Ali]

Alhamdulillah, just wanted to share this info with all forum members: Flight International's website has mentioned our forum in its article about PIA first class 'mutiny' incident. I would like to thank all forum members for their valuable participation in forum discussions and for making forum recognized among international aviation circles.

Here's the article by Sean Andrews

PIA first class 'mutiny' flight delayed due to VVIP flight in Islamabad

By Sean Andrews in London

Further details have emerged of an incident last week when several economy class passengers stormed the first class cabin of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Boeing 747 as a protest of a long delay.

Arrests were made after the captain of flight PK701 from Islamabad to Manchester reported several disgruntled passengers upgraded themselves mid-flight. When the aircraft landed it was met by police officers and Greater Manchester Police confirmed that “several passengers were involved”. Fourteen arrests were made for “endangering the aircraft while in flight”.

The passengers reportedly ignored crew requests to return to the economy cabin, for which they had tickets, and stayed in the near-empty forward first class cabin.

The passengers staging the mutiny are understood to have been displeased due to an earlier delay. The 747-300 (AP-BGG) was on the tarmac for almost 4h in temperatures of around 40°C (100°F). The aircraft was scheduled to have departed on 4 May from Islamabad at 09:30 and arrived in Manchester at 14:00.

PIA declines to comment on the incident, but Pakistani aviation internet forums claim the positioning of a government flight caused an initial delay of 1h 15min. However during this time the surface temperatures had risen, causing a payload restriction for take-off. Cargo was offloaded to comply and aircraft fuel removed. Passengers were not offloaded. The additional delay was around 1h 40min. A final factor causing delay was that both vertical speed indicators (VSI) became blank, causing a further 40min delay.

The flight carried 328 in economy, 60 in business class and only 15 in the first class cabin. PIA is understood to have asked all the passengers involved in the protest to pay the full difference between the economy fare and higher class.

Police had also been called to a Manchester-Karachi PIA aircraft earlier this month after passengers caused a disturbance while waiting on board during a long delay, but no arrests were made.

Manchester police have confirmed that the 14 arrested have been bailed until June pending further enquiries.

Link to the article: Flight International

[smarties]

wow! They even included my find about the other karachi flight delay as well in the last paragraph!!

However, in the article PIA does not have 3 classes, and certainly does not have first class. They are probably thinking that the eco+ is business class, as eco+ has 60 seats on upper deck.

[SalamPaks]

head office has asked that the full difference of fare between yand c be charged from all those involved in the protest.

I'm curious to know if the crew actually served the Business Plus infiltrators. It's quite comical to imagine that they might have been provided with an amenity kit, hot lemon soaked napkins, a table cloth carefully placed on their fold out table, choice of entree's, breads and deserts.

Perhaps an administrative fine far in excess of the fare difference should be charged, since the latter almost legitimizes the actions of the passengers, turning what they did into a cabin upgrade.

[SN30952]

very good - they should pay the difference for a service they recieved and did not pay for.

Did they recieve any service at all?
It looks to me that conditions as mentioned are only possible in a sauna.
These passengers did definitely not book a sauna!
One might consider keeping people in a confined space at >40c a cruelty.
474 people on about 200sqm... at >40c, imagine that for about 4 consecutive hours...
Not the passengers should be sued, but the captain and the airline.
Overheating passengers should be punisable.

The british authorities in court will also have checked the captain's log: how many hours was he on duty? Was that inside the limit?

And do the EU rules apply for delays on flights in and out of EU, in the UK?

[SN30952]

EU regulations:
Air passengers who are unable to board their flights because of overbooking, cancellations or flight delays can now demand greater compensation.
As per: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4271197.stm
The new rules will apply to all scheduled and charter flights, including budget airlines. (Note: this is not directional...)

Delay = 3+ hours
Compensation = Euros 400

Flight length = 3,500+ km Delay = 4+ hours
Compensation = Euros 600

How much is 600 x 474?

(From To Distance Time
ISB (33°37'00"N 73°05'57"E) MAN (53°21'13"N 02°16'30"W) 6159 km 7:00)
Friday, May 26, 2006
284,400 Euro = 21,808,252 Pakistan Rupee
If your claim for compensation is rejected then contact the Air Transport Users Council in writing or by telephone at:

45-59 Kingsway, London, WC2B 6TE Telephone No. 0207 240 6061

[SN30952]

If you were looking for the EU regulation, you can find it here:
http://www.airclaim.nl/

Note: submitter is not involved with mentioned website.

[PakN'US]

Does any one one know the aftermath of the whole incident? Any follow up with what happened to those pax that stormed the Business+?
Regards