Check-IN was quick although staff un-accommadating on seat change from 45C to 26A (Row 26 has a window missing). Supervisor (with Dnata badge) asked the check-in staff on adjacent desk to allow extra seats for his friends traveling with family.
Gate announced at 16:30. I went through at 16:50. Passengers are checked by a sniffer dog. Cabin and cockpit crew went through to the aircraft 777-300 AP-BHV at around 17:05. From the pre-departure lounge there was no view of the aircraft and so no possibility of getting a photo.
Boarding announced at 17:25. My section 41-85 was announced at 17:40., 10 min before departure, Passengers were welcomed with Salaams and directed to their seats. The cabin did not smell too pleasant! The inbound was delayed but they could have sprayed some air freshner! Instrumental music was playing which was a nice touch.
I was very disappointed that my view was curtailed on 26C. However the lady on 26A said she is moving to sit with her sister so I landed (no pun on intended) on 26A. The flight deck announced ground staff to vacate at around18:00. This took another 5-10 minutes.
Finnair A321 withj Sharklets
[/url]"Prepare for departure / cross check" announced at 18:05 followed by safety video and prayer. These were very loud and clear! A few minutes later as I had suspected Captain Elias Najmi announced that we had missed our slot (as the airport was very busy) and we would be delayed by 30 minutes. Water was served. Cabin was getting darker however cabin/ seat lights could not be switched on. Individual seat / reading lights were not functional throughout the journey (i did not see anyone use it in our cabin at least).
Push back finally at 19:00.
A Virgin 787-800
View through my hazy windows just as we startted to move onto the active runway 27R.
I noticed as we took off that there was a PIA 772 parked on another stand, priobably the 786 flight for Islamabad.
IEF on our row 45 did not work throughout the flight. My neighbour, others asked the stewardess as well as the pruser ( Mr Nasir (Mehboob)). They took the seat numbers but it was not re-booted. Even the flight tracker that was working ceased to work . A child in my row wanted to return his ear phones (handed 45 minutes into the flight) as they were of no use. The purser did not accept them.
Only mood lighting was working throughout (after they decided to switch it on 30 minutes after take off), and it seemed no one bothered to check if the main cabin lights were working or inform us what the problem was. People were talking about load shedding!
Dinner served 2 hours into the flight by which time I was starving. Similar food was served as my last flight a few months back.
Chiken boti masala; fried rice; sabzi bhujia; sala, bread roll; firni (rice pudding); tea served with powdered milk ,/ creamer not milk.
[/URL]The rice was dry and needed raita/yoghurt on the side.
Pillow requested numerous times was not brought , in the end I went up and asked but they had run out.
An interesting read while waiting for our departure. This was in the newspaper Independent.
About 1 hour and 45 minutes before landing we were served breakfast/snack.
Our decent into a cloudy Karachi
We landed at 6.50 am about 1 hour and 15 minutes behind. Flight time 7 hours 15 minutes.
PIA A320 being towed for a rest.
PIA A320 AP BLT bacon lettuce tomato?
[/URL]Qatar Airways A320 in One World livery - waiting for its Mango freight.
On this flight a number were pasengers were getting a connecting flight to the north of the country, including Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad. The passenger next to me was travelling to Lahore. He had missed his 7 am connection. he had been informed in London that the 8 am Lahore flight had been cancelled for some reason. The next flight was at 15:00 (3 pm). I was surprised at the fact the PIA's schedule to a major domestic destination is so poor. The 7 am flight was via Sukkur. So there was no direct flight to Lahore with PIA till 3 pm that day! With the new A320 they should increase the frequencies between the domestic destinations and so imprive connectivity for transferring pasengers.
I asked for a feedback form from the cabin crew to wrte to PIA about my complain about IFE and the lighting.
[/URL]The Immigration queue was slow and as people had excessive luggage ( my ticket allowed 50 Kg- to be honest i did not know how i would fill my bag - I had 20 kg) the conveyer belt at Karachi could not take the load. It stoped a few times so some of the luggage could be taken off the belt.
I remember people complained about the queues for check in at Heathrow. But this was primarily becuase they had so much luggage to check in that it was taking a long time.
My luggage took about 45 miutes (after landing) to arive and I made my way swiftly out of the airport.
