Side- effect (Come fly with us)

Source: The News

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=197860

Side-effect

Come fly with us Friday, September 11, 2009 Harris Khalique Food was awesome. The aircraft was clean and well-kept with a comfortable interior. Flight attendants were courteous and efficient. We were travelling from Rawalpindi to Karachi. I was nine. My younger brother sat with my mother and I got a seat separately across the gangway. Sensing that I was nervous, an airhostess helped me fasten the seatbelt and brought me sweets and airline souvenirs just before we took off. I would never forget the warm and juicy gulab jamuns served as dessert after a generous helping of spicy biryani with succulent pieces of mutton, fresh salad and rich raita. Then I saw a time when on a flight from Karachi to Sukkur, I asked a flight attendant for a newspaper. She rudely asked me to go to the rear section of the aircraft and get it for myself. Once, while travelling from Lahore to Delhi, neither my seat would adjust to a stationary position nor my meal table would stay in its place and keep falling down into my lap. PIA's rating plummeted from one of the finest airlines to one of the most unpredictable and sloppy. Still, I preferred PIA over other airlines even while travelling abroad. I would love to see an aircraft land on a foreign airport with the name of my country written over its hull or even just the initials of the national flag carrier inscribed on its tail. It has come to take me back home. Then I saw too many bearded men as stewards, some of them middle-aged. Occasionally, one of them would start preaching the virtues of a pious life. One of them said that if people like me concentrated only on what was written and said in our religion, I wouldn't need to read anything else. My fault was that I turned back to him and said that this was not what the religion taught. Ethics and values can't replace art, science and technology. The attention I received after that was a unique sociological experience. I must say that there was improvement witnessed some years ago. PIA got itself new aircrafts, upgraded its fleet and became more punctual. Both food and service got a little better. Due to my work engagements in the past few years, I started travelling a lot within the country and got myself a frequent flyer registration. I undertook some international travel on PIA as well. I carry a mixed bag of experience. Some people continue to be nice and decent, generally the flight attendants. They are the least paid of the lot. But the airlines is again deteriorating at a fast pace.  Only a few weeks back, some of the international and domestic flights were being deliberately delayed for hours, perhaps as a part of the tactics employed by the pilots to negotiate better remuneration with the management. Then it was the turn of the engineers to add their bit. PIA is again seen as unpredictable when it comes to operating by announced schedules. The aircraft have unkempt interiors. I know some service, engineering and flying staff. Nobody is happy. Another thing that one fails to understand is why the corporation always shows deficit. Even now, the flights are mostly full, cargo section seems to be thriving and Hajj flights are an additional revenue-earner every year. Most of our institutions are marred by a lack of vision, absence of management skills and unscrupulous practices. Not just the aircraft but PIA itself needs an overhaul. The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk .org