Dubai fines PIA for allowing female passenger to travel on male passport

LAHORE/DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) immigration authorities in Dubai have fined the national carrier Pakistan International Airlines AED 5000 for allowing a female passenger to travel on a male passport.

According to sources, a female passenger Ms. Siddique (first name withheld) traveled on PIA’s flight PK203 to Dubai on the 16th of December using a British Passport.

Authorities in the UAE sent the passenger back to Pakistan via the very next flight after it was discovered she had traveled on someone else’s passport.

Sources claim the passenger herself is a British Passport holder and accidentally had her son’s passport when she arrived at the Allama Iqbal Airport for her flight to UAE accompanying her husband.

It raises the question how immigration authorities in Lahore allowed a female to travel on male passport and an internal inquiry has been launched against PIA staff for issuing a boarding card to the female passenger when she did not have the required travel documents.