Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has suspended an official for illegally upgrading the seat of a domestic servant of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif from Economy to Business Class on a London-bound flight on Sept 16.
Sabir Hussain, a supervisor of the PIA passenger service, was suspended for three days and banned from entering the airport premises during this period after it was revealed that he had facilitated the seat upgrade of Maryam’s maid Rubina to Business Class on flight PK-757.
A case was also reportedly registered against Sabir Hussain for illegally facilitating the maid, causing financial loss to the national airliner and unjust use of authority.
According to details of the incident that took place on Sept 16, the captain of the London-bound flight PK-757 refused to fly the aircraft until Rubina was sent back to the Economy Class.
The maid’s ticket was purchased for Economy Class but once on board the aircraft, the premier’s daughter had the flight crew bump up her up to Business Class, seating her next to a senior bureaucrat.
The bureaucrat protested, not knowing that the maid worked for the premier’s family, and approached the aircraft’s captain to complain when the cabin crew did not move the woman back to Economy Class. Ironically, the senior bureaucrat himself had been upgraded from Economy to Business.
When the matter reached him, the captain disallowed the move, despite it being the premier’s daughter. Interestingly, the senior bureaucrat was not sent back to Economy Class.