It can happen to any passenger who flies occasionally. He or she can make costly mistakes due to ignorance. That is what happened in the Pakistan International Airways flight from Manchester to Islamabad. The 400 passengers had occupied their seats. The take-off formalities had also started when the mishap occurred. A woman passenger wanted to go to the toilet. She mistook the emergency exit for the toilet door. She was startled at the events that followed. This was because activating the wrong door led to launching of the emergency evacuation slide. The result was a delay of nearly eight hours before the flight finally took off. There was consequential delays in departure of other flights. Officials of the airline and Manchester airport confirmed the details. In the opinion of Pakistan officials, it happened due to a shortage of airline staff. They must rectify this.
After effects of the mix-up
The delayed flight finally landed in Islamabad seven hours late. It had been able to make up some time during the journey. However, the misery of the passengers did not end there. This was because 38 passengers had to disembark to make up for the reduced evacuation capacity. They volunteered to vacate. Pakistan International Airways assured that their baggage would follow by next flight. Unfortunately, that also did not happen.
It was not too-happy ending
On arrival in Islamabad, they discovered that some portion of their luggage was still at Manchester airport. A PIA spokesman regretted the inconvenience caused to its passengers. It went on to clarify that all of them were provided dinner. In addition, they received transportation and hotel accommodation. They were assured of seats on the next available flight. In order to avoid such embarrassments, the aircrew must pay attention to the passengers. They must be able to preempt incidents of this nature. They must take special care for women who might need assistance of sorts.
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