Pakistan Pilot Refuses to Fly Plane After Work Hours, Stranded Passengers Protest

Working post our working hours is something most of us would not indulge in unless you are a workaholic. However, not many of us have the audacity to point-blank refuse to work after our timings are over if the need ever arises. Most of us would do the needful unwillingly while grumbling under our breath. However, there are those who are defiant and will not hesitate to say ‘no’ to any job assigned to them after duty hours are over. Such cases are not unheard of in the corporate sector but what if a pilot, who has the responsibility of flying hundreds of passengers to their destination does the same? This is not a hypothetical situation as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) indeed refused to fly his passengers to their destination since his shift was over.

This happened on Sunday when the pilot was asked to fly the plane from Dammam in Saudi Arabia to Islamabad. A Tribune report says that the PK-9754 was scheduled to fly from Riyadh to Islamabad and had taken off accordingly but faced bad weather in transit. The plane was then forced to land at Dammam. However, later the captain refused to fly the plane from Dammam to Islamabad, saying that the timings of his duty had ended. His refusal and the subsequent delay irked the restless passengers who protested by refusing to de-board and change flights. The situation escalated to the extent that the airport security personnel had to be called in to bring the situation under control.