In an airline blooper that’s hard to top, a Pakistani passenger boarded a flight from Lahore to Karachi — and somehow ended up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — without a passport or visa!
Karachi resident Malik Shah Zain just wanted to head home after a month of work in Lahore. He booked a regular domestic ticket, reached the airport, got his boarding pass, and boarded the plane waiting on the tarmac. But with two aircraft parked side-by-side and poor nighttime visibility, Malik boarded the wrong flight — an international one bound for Jeddah!
He only realized something was off when the flight stretched beyond two hours. “I thought I’d land in Karachi in an hour — why are we still flying?” he asked the crew. The real shock came when they checked his boarding pass and discovered he was on the wrong flight. But by then, the plane had left Pakistani airspace.
He landed in Jeddah, faced some questioning, and was flown back to Lahore the next day — finally reaching Karachi two days later.
The airline called it a “misunderstanding” caused by airport construction, which has forced both international and domestic flights to operate from the same lounge after 10 PM — making it easier for such bloopers to happen.
The Pakistan Airports Authority has taken notice and recommended a fine for the airline. Malik, meanwhile, has earned bragging rights for the most unexpected international trip ever — courtesy of a domestic ticket and a late-night airport mix-up!