A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane arrives at the Benazir International airport in Islamabad, Pakistan, in this December 2, 2015 file photo.

The PIA flight (PK732), which was scheduled to leave Jeddah at 3 a.m. on Friday for Karachi, was delayed by almost a day, leaving passengers stranded at the King Abdul Aziz International airport till Saturday.

Passengers said that the PIA failed to inform them on time about the flight delay, due to which they not only suffered physically, but also mentally.

Faisal Saleem, a relative of one of the passengers, told Arab News that even on Saturday, the flight departure was not confirmed despite making several calls to the airline.

“My sister was supposed to travel in this flight. The departure time of the flight changed several times. The PIA staff did inform the passengers. Every time I called them, they gave me different departure schedules. Even on Saturday, first they said the flight would leave in the evening and later said it will leave at night,” said Saleem.

Saleem said the PIA authorities confirmed that the flight delay was due to some technical problem.

Another passenger, Mohammed Rafique, said: “The airline didn’t care for the passengers and failed to inform them properly. The passengers suffered due to the rescheduling of the flight several times. Many didn’t get a hotel and were stranded at the airport because a lot of passengers had come from outside Jeddah.

Imtiyaz Ahmed Bhutto, the country manager of PIA, said that the flight, which was supposed to arrive on Friday and scheduled to return, didn’t arrive due to some technical problems in Pakistan.

He said the flight was not grounded but delayed from Karachi. He said that hotel was provided to all the passengers, even those from Jeddah. Those who didn’t get hotel probably did not get proper information, he said.

“Many passengers who are based in Jeddah refused to go to the hotel and preferred to go back home in Jeddah. All the other passengers were immediately provided hotel facility,” said Bhutto.

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