“Thank you for calling PIA,” says an American (his accent is unmistakable) on the other side of the phone line followed by music. “Your call will be answered momentarily.” A few minutes later, the same voice rolls on, “We invite you to the land of majestic mountains, 5,000 year old rich heritage and culture. Assistance is only moments away.” More minutes pass and message #3 comes on “We know you’re holding and we’ve not forgotten about you. A representative will be with you shortly.” Soon the tape runs out and the caller is kicked back to square one. The recorded message starts all over again! In the end you’re told to leave a message for the station manager at New York.

I’m a ‘frequent flyer’ crossing the Atlantic twice a year. Never have I seen a gora on our national carrier. It’s just us Pakistanis traveling back and forth. So why is PIA wasting its breath on enticing foreigners to visit the “land of majestic mountains”? Better it would be if it concentrated on assisting people like us who give the airline business despite the step-motherly treatment we get from their end — be it Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore or New York.

“Getting through to you is like asking for the moon,” I tell station manager Ali Uddean Ahmad when I see him at the PIA counter at JFK airport. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you and must have left a ‘zillion’ messages, even wrote an email hoping you’d respond, but you’re rare as a white tiger!” Ali has recently been posted to the most difficult job of his career — dealing daily with Pakistani travellers like myself with all kinds of requests, some bizarre, some doable. I’ve been chasing him for weeks requesting for a bulk head seat in the cramped economy class as I return home! My journey from New York to Islamabad is sending butterflies in my stomach already. Why? First I cover 14 hours of direct flying from JFK to Lahore. Take my baggage and pray to God that PIA puts me up in a decent place for the night. The manager at Lahore Syed Zulfiqar Ali Naqvi or Rizvi (he refuses to give me his card) is holed up in his cabin somewhere at the airport. He refuses to entertain my request for sending me to a ‘decent’ hotel even if I pay the difference from my pocket. “No that’s not possible.” So off I’m sent to a place reserved for economy class layovers.

If only PIA cared enough.

Six hours later, we’re being ferried to the airport to catch a morning flight to Islamabad. Lahore’s fog is thick as a thief. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. What if I can’t reach my final destination for another few days? I do manage to reach in one piece but the journey takes its toll. It’s simply ridiculous, horrendous, and preposterous for PIA to plan this route. Why can’t we travel direct to Islamabad — darn, it’s the capital of the country, not Timbuktu!

The airline can yet come out of the red by making smart changes. Pakistanis no matter of which country will always prefer to travel PIA. Get this. So give us direct routes; give us good ground and air service; be more caring of our little needs; don’t discriminate between us and the VIPs – seats must be allocated on first come first served basis; don’t fritter away money on cheap gifts for the business class passengers like watches and Rexene cases (some PIA biggie must make thousands in mark up prices); improve the quality of food and last but not the least be good to your own employees who deserve recognition.

Ali, my hard-to-reach contact, is an example of professionalism. The man is always at JFK at the time of PIA’s arrival and departure flights. He’s hands down making sure his ground staff is equally expeditious. But do get him some secretarial help — someone who picks up his phone and passes the message on, for God’s sake! Mirvat Omar works at the sales office in Manhattan. At the second ring, she picks up her phone. She’s efficient but wants to quit. Why? “I’ve been a ticketing agent ever since 1986. I moved over to PIA 23 years ago. They will not promote me nor will they sack me. I’m tired, frustrated and very angry, but if I resign today, I lose everything but if they fire me, PIA will have to pay all my dues!” She gets paid a minimum wage of $2,000 a month. Most of it goes in her long commute out of New Jersey. “I’m a single mom and need to work to run the home.”

This is most unfair. It’s gender discrimination. The woman, an Egyptian by birth who joined PIA only because she could say her prayers at her workplace, has no backing or support from a power horse at the headquarters in Karachi. Mirvat has sat at the same seat and done the same work every day of the year without any promotion. She holds an MA in archaeology and a degree in management and tourism.

Mirvat knows all the top bosses who have come and gone, some of them rotten to the core. Once a black American colleague of her’s was warned not to demand her rights because her Pakistani boss could “fix her real good!” The company, that’s what she calls PIA, has spent millions of dollars in fighting class action lawsuits filed against them by their lowly paid employees. “Instead of paying the lawyers such hefty fees, they could have rectified the situation by paying us more than the minimum wages that they pay.”

Is help on its way for Mirvat? Probably not. If only PIA cared enough!

www.anjumniaz.com