I've Taken Hundreds Of PIA Flights But Here's Why This One, In Particular, Pleasantly Surprised Me

By Haadia Paracha | 22 Jan, 2017

So, I’m a frequent flyer and it’s safe to say that I’ve been on way too many flights, traveling via PIA and other airlines.

This PIA flight was different. And I’ll tell you why.

The day was stressful as it is, I got the 10 pm flight which meant I’d reach past midnight and probably get to bed by 3 am which is fine every other day of the week but tomorrow was a long day, just packed with meetings and yada yada yada.

Then, my Careem driver messed up and ended up costing me extra and also getting me late in the process. When I reached the airport, the flight from umrah had just landed which meant not only was the airport carpeted by rose petals, swarming with those who had arrived and their khaandans who had come to pick them up, oozing with an air of piety and full of ogling men who sized me up in my torn jeans and a black sweater.

 

Once that was over and done, I went to the coffee shop and they wouldn’t accept card payments.

The bus that was supposed to take us to the aircraft was full which meant a longer wait in the freezing cold. When we reached the aircraft, the queue was humongous and the man there told us to make a separate line which was protested quite heavily.

As you can see, that’s just a series of unfortunate events right there.

 

That’s when I saw her.

Khushboo
Source: dawn.com

I swear the sight of her alone made me so happy, I almost caught myself wishing we get seated next to each other. Not because a transgender person was a quaint little alien thing but because I really just wanted to have a chat with her and get to know her life story. By the time we actually went up the stairs, the air hostess asked for our boarding pass numbers. I was a 54C and she was a 52-something.

 

Aap iss taraf aajayein“, said the air hostess, directing the lady towards business class.

Five seconds later, she told me to go down the aisle.  I was aware of that, I’m smack in the back in economy. But I was taken aback for a second. How smoothly they removed her from there and assisted her to the front made my heart swell up a little. The only rationale that flashed through my head was that this was done in order to ensure the person’s safety and to have her avoid any uncomfortable situation with the jaahil Pakistani awaam. After all, we’ve seen the life of one given less precedent than the assumed gender biases we all harbor.

 

Was PIA informed earlier on? How was this done so swiftly and effortlessly and without any protests from the rest of the passengers?

inside-pia
Source: Ammar Butt Via: YouTube

I was curious but I had to tread very carefully in order to not intimidate the staff. Speaking of the staff, this one was from the books. They were courteous, cordial and all the while, cracking jokes. Might I remind you that this was the late-night flight? I’m in awe of this route also because they served me banana bread. Not the best banana bread I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t half bad.

When I finally decided to ask the said staff person, she never gave me a non-satisfactory response. Perhaps because she was trying to avoid the unnecessary hassle that comes along with such questions. The airline has been a source of one too many scandals, of late.

 

But whoever made the call, whether it was the flight control that asked the flight crew to be mindful, the agent who pulled strings, the kind soul at the check-in desk that gave her the boarding pass with something extra.

Maybe one day something like this would be completely unthinkable, unimaginable and downright unnecessary but until then, whoever it was. Thank you.

 


Cover image via: dragonnman

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