Airline Doesn’t Know Where Many Of Its Passengers Are Right Now

We know airline customer service representatives are trained to field calls about missing baggage, or even lost pets. But what happens when an airline misplaces all of its passengers?

Pakistan International Airlines has no idea where many of its passengers are right now, while it’s in the midst of a serious strike by workers who are against privatization plans, reports Bloomberg. The carrier has had to cancel 200 flights or so thus far while employees have been refusing to work over the last week.

“We have no data available on how many and where passengers with confirmed PIA tickets are waiting, because the entire system is shut, servers are down and no booking is being done,” a spokesman told Bloomberg.

Pakistan’s largest airline said it has some idea about 2,500 passengers stranded in Europe and North America, but there are a whole lot more it can’t quite account for at the moment.

The airline is working on tracking down its stranded passengers: it’s got a deal with Etihad Airways and is talking with Turkish Airlines to fly passengers stranded in Europe, the U.S., and Canada, a spokesman said. Saudi Arabia Airlines is also pitching in to fly back 2,000 passengers from the kingdom.

Bookings have dropped as the news of the stranded passengers has spread, the airline said.

World’s Most Overstaffed Airline Can’t Find Stranded Passengers [Bloomberg]

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