Booked for Karachi, landed in Jeddah: Pakistani man sues airline over ‘nightmare’ flight

Engineer demands probe into ‘gross negligence’ as he ends up in Saudi Arabia instead of Karachi — without passport, visa, or explanation

Dubai: In a bizarre and alarming case of airline negligence, a Pakistani engineer who intended to fly from Lahore to Karachi was mistakenly boarded on a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, despite not carrying a passport or visa.

The passenger, Malik Shahzain Ahmed, has now filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, seeking accountability from AirSial, a private Pakistani airline, and airport immigration officials for what he called a “gross security and procedural failure.”

“I was put on an international flight without even holding a passport,” Shahzain said. “This is not just negligence, this could have had far more serious consequences,” he told media in Pakistan.

A shocking mistake

The incident occurred on July 8, when two flights, one to Karachi and another to Jeddah, were scheduled around the same time from Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.

According to Shahzain’s court petition, ongoing construction at the airport had merged both domestic and international passengers into a shared lounge area, creating mass confusion.

Shahzain, who only intended to fly domestically to Karachi, boarded the wrong plane. He claimed that no airport or airline official checked his travel documents. He said he began to suspect something was wrong two hours into the flight.

“I asked myself, ‘Why haven’t we landed in Karachi yet?’ That’s when it hit me. I was on the wrong plane,” Shahzain recalled in a video statement. “It was not my fault. The airline should be held accountable for this madness.”

‘The crew panicked when I asked them why the flight had not landed in Karachi yet,” he recalled.

Detained abroad, humiliated at home

Upon landing in Jeddah without valid travel documents, Shahzain was detained by Saudi immigration authorities, interrogated, and later deported back to Lahore. He described the experience as deeply humiliating and emotionally distressing.

“I was treated like a criminal in a foreign country. The entire ordeal was terrifying and degrading. I had to explain I didn’t even know I was leaving Pakistan,” he added.

Despite the clear mishap, Shahzain alleges that AirSial refused to take responsibility, instead demanding that he should buy a new ticket to Karachi after he had landed in Lahore.

Legal action

Shahzain, through his lawyer Advocate Nawaz Dahri, has filed a lawsuit in the Sindh High Court, demanding an independent Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the matter. The petition argues that the incident exposes not just airline incompetence but also serious flaws in airport immigration and security systems.

“This could easily have been exploited for human trafficking or other illegal activities. How can someone be allowed to fly internationally without a passport?”, his lawyer said.

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) has acknowledged the incident, blaming it on AirSial’s operational failure and recommending a heavy fine against the airline. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is said to be investigating.

PAA spokesperson Saifullah confirmed that senior officials had taken notice and called for stricter passenger verification protocols to prevent such lapses in the future.

What went wrong

AirSial, in a statement, attributed the confusion to an “aircraft swap” and temporary arrangements at Lahore Airport, where both domestic and international flights were being handled from the domestic lounge after 10pm on the day of the incident.