RAHIM YAR KHAN: Passengers of a Lahore-bound Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight protested and allegedly quarrelled with the PIA staff at the Shailch Zayed International Airport on Tuesday as newly introduced bool(ing software continued creating problems for both the staff as well as the passengers.

A similar incident had happened last Tuesday involving the passengers of the Lahore-bound flight but the PIA authorities did not resolve the issue despite the passage of a week.

A passenger, Ehtsham Akram, got ticket (No.2142992184001) for PK-582 on Sept 15, but when he reached the airport on Tuesday, he was told that the flight was going to Islamabad instead of Lahore. Manyother Lahore-bound passengers faced the same situation.

They got frustrated and started quarrelling with the PIA staff. At last, six passengers could get their boarding passes for travelling to Islamabad in 48 seat ATR plane.

A PIA source told this correspondent the PIA had switched to its new booking software `Hitit computer system` two weeks bacl(. Due to the new system, the PIA staff and authorised travel agents were facing many difficulties, he said and asked if there was a flight number for specific destination why the same software was generating tickets of another destination with same flight number. According to him, there were many technical flaws in the switchover from 17-year-old software to `Hitit system`.

A PIA official at the district headquarters confirmed the quarrel between the passengers and the airport staff on Tuesday, saying that he had sent a detailed mail to thePIA headquarters in this regard. He said `Hitit software` was functional since Sept 12, 2018. Five passengers for Lahore were returned from the Rahim Yar Khan airport last Tuesday. However, he had information about only one such passenger today.

PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar told Dawn the main cause of the issue in the new software was lack of training of the PIA staff.

He said the `Hitit software` would be properly functional very soon. The confusion about flights, their destinations and fare would be cleared within a week, he said.

In the initial days, he said, some glitches were expecte d in every new system and it was natural to have some issues due to the huge data transfer and integration.

However, he added, the issues were being resolved and more and more people were being trained.PIA headquarters in this regard. He said `Hitit software` was functional since Sept 12, 2018. Five passengers for Lahore were returned from the Rahim Yar Khan airport last Tuesday. However, he had information about only one such passenger today.

PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar told Dawn the main cause of the issue in the new software was lack of training of the PIA staff.

He said the `Hitit software` would be properly functional very soon. The confusion about flights, their destinations and fare would be cleared within a week, he said.

In the initial days, he said, some glitches were expecte d in every new system and it was natural to have some issues due to the huge data transfer and integration.

However, he added, the issues were being resolved and more and more people were being trained.