1) A passenger on a PIA flight posted a photo on Facebook showing stale bread served to her daughter, which sparked an internal investigation by PIA and aviation authorities. 2) PIA's social media manager insulted the passenger on Twitter and denied her claims, despite an ongoing investigation. 3) A parliamentary committee took notice of the incident and numerous complaints of substandard food on PIA flights, ordering an inquiry into poor quality supplies and treatment of passengers.

1. Course
Business Ethics
ASSIGNMENT NO: 1
Topic: Unethical Behavior of
PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE
Submitted to
Ms. Shaista Tariq
Submitted by
Ayesha Siddiqui - 10825
Hafsa Abbasi - 10823

2. Date: 7th Oct'15
CONTENT
- INTRODUCTION TO PIA
- CASE STUDY
• FB Upload
• Pro-bono Employee
• Internal Investigation
-CASE TOOK INTO NOTICE BY COMMITTEE
-CONCLUSION
Introduction to PIA:

3. - PIA, The Flag Carrier Airline of Pakistan which is based in Karachi was formed in 1955
- It is the 16th largest airline in Asia, operating schedule services to 73 destinations as well as an
extensive domestic network linking 24 destinations.
- The airline is owned by Government of Pakistan (87%) and other share holders (13%).
- It is under the administration of Ministry of Defense.
A case of stale bread
According to Express Tribune, Published on 30th April 2015
Sara Zafar Malik travelling to Birmingham from Islamabad with her two young kids and husband,
which was departed on the afternoon of April 26th.
When lunch was served she unwrapped bread which was given to her 2 years old daughter, was
STALE, It has green fungus all over it.

4. She took pictures of that bread and returned the meal tray without registering any complain
with the crew and posted that picture on social website "FaceBook". In order to create
awareness among her friend circle.

5. The incident came to the notice of Islamabad-based Aviation Division and PIA. A man named
Jawad Nazir contacted Sara on Facebook. “He asked me if I could be compensated in any way
and I asked for three free tickets.”
The official, however, said that they could not compensate her with the tickets. Later, another
official Wasif Mehmood approached her and apologized. She thought that was the end of it.
Nazir, a student who manages the Twitter account named CAA Pakistan, also leaked the
conversation he had with her and tweeted about her demands and insulted her.
“Ok, this lady who was fed by #PIA with fungus cookies (sic) wants to travel back on PIA flight as
in compensation. What a moronic mohtarma!” one of his tweets read.
Meanwhile, PIA spokesperson Aamir Memon insists that an internal investigation has revealed
that no such incident occurred during the flight.
“We have spoken to not one, but three crew members and all of them testified that nothing of
the sort happened. As a matter of fact, the bun was not even served in the part of the plane
where the lady was sitting.”
He also alleged that the pictures were fake. “We, the PIA employees have been greatly hurt by
this.”
Other aviation authorities say they have not come to any conclusion about the quality of food
that was served to Malik and the matter is being investigated.

6. Sher Ali, an aviation division’s spokesperson, was at pains to explain why PIA used its official
Facebook account to malign a passenger when the matter was still being investigated.
He further said "You must understand that we were getting alot of muck on facebook and since
PIA has stricted QC procedures so the person responsible would be taken to task."
Further, Ali said, Nazir operates CAA Pakistan’s account on a “pro-bono basis and he quit and
left for higher studies abroad just yesterday.” But this particular account has continuously been
used for official purposes.
“Our social media accounts are open for public. We cannot be held accountable for what people
say there,” Sher said, when he was told about the type of comments being made against Sara.

7. Case took into notice by Committee
When Sara posted those pictures, other people also commented for such acts that they have
been provided stale food and treated abusively by the Airline Crew Members.
So, the National Assembly standing committee on Cabinet Secretariat expressed displeasure,
September 4th 2015, and took serious notice over the substandard food and other facilities
being provided by the National Flag Carrier- PIA.
Many officials attended the meeting that was held at PIA Building, Member National Assembly
[MNA] Praveen Masood Bhatti presided over the meeting, during the meeting Mariam
Aurangzeb, an official of CAA, revealed before the committee that the PIA served the leftover
and substandard food of hotels among the passengers during the trip which was returned by
80% of the passengers.
The popularity of PIA was going down with every passing day due to the negligence of its
management, she said and requested the committee to raise this issue with the administration
of the PIA and bring the culprits to book and submit the report to committee in this regard.
The committee also ordered the CAA to submit the report to it in next meeting. Since now the
case has not been resolved.
Conclusion:

8. -Whatever the outcome of the inquiry, this is not the first time something like this has happened
with the National Flag Carrier.
-With rampant corruption in its purchase department, low quality supplies often make their way
into a flight.
-A senior Airline official said “Even if it's just a matter of a piece of bread, management should
have just apologized instead of going on the offensive."
-Sara, though, continuous to receive rude messages. “It’s really sad but I am talking to my
solicitor on how I have been harassed."