Find cheap Pakistan International Airlines flights

Unless you are travelling to some obscure destination in Central Asia or making a pilgrimage for the Haj to Saudi Arabia, the only reason most people fly Pakistan International Airways (PIA) is to get to Pakistan.

As national carriers go, PIA is perfectly serviceable, but it never wows me the way some of its regional competitors do. Its fleet of Boeing 777s and Airbus A320-200s will get you where you need to go with a minimum of fuss, but the lack of frills makes me feel like I’m flying a discount airline.

A special note to travellers who like to enjoy an alcoholic drink or two when they fly, you should know that PIA is a dry airline.

Fare types

When it comes to fare types, Pakistan International Airways keeps it simple with only two options: executive economy and economy.

No business class, you ask? Several years back, PIA rebranded its business class as executive economy likely because the service they offer pales compared to those of competing airlines. The seats do offer more legroom than standard economy and will recline into flatbeds, but the seats have been in service for many years now and to me they seem outdated compared to those found from the glitzy airlines operating from the neighbouring Gulf states.

Purchasing an executive economy ticket will get you access to the airline’s business class lounges in its main hubs in Pakistan, but don’t expect much as their service is pretty bare bones.

While PIA does not belong to any major airline alliances, it does have codeshare agreements with several partners so you can usually get access to their lounges in other countries.

Executive economy also get priority check-in, priority boarding and priority baggage handling, increased baggage allowance and slightly better meal choices onboard your flight.

Economy class is fine, but depending on the type of aircraft you are flying in the PIA fleet, their seats are notably smaller compared to the industry average. You can get slightly more legroom in economy if you book one of the first five to seven rows in the economy section of the plane that sits over the plane’s wing.

As always, try to avoid seats that are in the back of the plane near the lavatory and galley, especially the last row which does not recline. Also avoid the seats in front of exit rows as they don’t recline either.

Baggage allowance

PIA’s baggage allowance varies depending on the type of ticket you purchase and your final destination. The rules get confusing quickly so check the airline’s website to see what the limits are for your flight.

For example, if you’re flying to Pakistan from Toronto, economy passengers can check in two bags that weigh no more than 28 kilograms each while executive economy customers can check in a third bag. For infants travelling that route that are sitting in either class, they can only check in a single bag of no more than 28 kg.

Compare that to flights from Paris to Pakistan where economy passengers can only check in a single bag, but the limit is 40 kg while executive economy passengers are also limited to a single bag, but with a 50 kg limit. Unlike the Toronto flight, there is no distinction for infant passengers and, oddly, the weight limit on the return leg is 10 kg lower for each fare type.

If you’re flying to other European cities with PIA like Copenhagen or Oslo, you’d think that the baggage allowance would be the same as Paris, but it isn’t, so check before you fly. If you end up flying with too many bags, you do have the option of purchasing additional baggage space for a fee, but you have to do it in advance.

At least PIA’s carry-on rules are easy to figure out. Economy passengers can bring a single bag onboard that weighs no more than 7 kilograms while executive economy can bring on a bag that weighs up to 12 kg. Executive economy passengers can carry an additional small briefcase as long as it weighs no more than 5 kg.

Your main carry-on cannot have dimensions greater than 38 cm long, 22 cm wide and 55 cm high.

Loyalty program

Whether you fly frequently for business or pleasure, Pakistan International Airways has several loyalty programs catering to very specific types of travellers.

One of the most innovative options is their Family Program which lets up to nine family members who are related by blood or marriage collect miles as a group and redeem them for rewards. There is also a dedicated points program for children aged 2 to 12. With so many Pakistanis emigrating to Europe and North America, these programs are great for helping them stay connected with family back home.

Members of these programs can redeem their points for free flights, seat upgrades, additional luggage space, priority seat selection and more.

The airline also has a more traditional loyalty program known as A+, but has two versions that distinguish between business travellers and individuals.

The corporate version is similar to the family program in that a company can collectively earn rewards from all employee travel and redeem them for free or discounted flights, seat upgrades, excess baggage vouchers and pre-allocation of seats.

The A+ program for individuals offers three tiers of membership that are labelled as Emerald, Sapphire and Diamond. The more you fly, the higher you climb up the membership scale and the quicker you earn points for free flights and increased baggage allowance. Unfortunately for those travelling to Canada, the baggage allowance bonus is not available for flights to Toronto, the airline’s only North American destination.

Refunds and cancellation

When it comes to ticket changes on international flights, Pakistan International Airways offers one free change of your reservation in either direction. Anything beyond that will incur an additional change fee which varies depending on your destination.

If you are flying economy, you have to make your changes no later than seven days before your flight while executive economy passengers can do it within three days of departure.

If you make your changes beyond that time frame, not only will you pay the change fee, but you will also have to pay any applicable fare differences between your old and your new reservation.

Ticket changes can be made online on the airline website’s My Booking page, through a dedicated customer service phone line or via email.

As for refunds, the airline will give you your money back if they cancel a flight, don’t reasonably meet their flight schedule or have to bump you due to overbooking.

They will offer additional refunds if you don’t use a portion of your flight ticket. For example, if you stop your journey in Karachi, but don’t fly the onward leg to Kabul, your Karachi-Kabul portion will be refunded, although you will be hit with administrative fees.

The only other way you can cancel your reservation and get a refund is if you die or are hospitalized before departure and they require a lot of supporting documentation to prove it. I’d suggest that you buy trip cancellation insurance if you’re flying PIA, otherwise you’ll never see your money again if you have to cancel your trip.

Check-in

The good news is that PIA offers online check-in via their official website. The bad news is that it is only available for domestic flights between Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The worse news is that you can’t check in your luggage online so you’ll still have to go to the check-in counter to get it tagged before you board.

The airline does have a dedicated app for iOS and Android smartphones, but you can only use it to book a flight, keep track of your flight status, consult PIA’s schedule and look at information about your booking. There’s no way to change your reservation or check-in.

My recommendation is to get to the airport early (PIA recommend 1 hours 20 minutes for international flights) and check in the old-fashioned way.

In-flight entertainment and Wi-Fi

Believe it or not, Pakistan International Airlines was actually the first international airline to offer in-flight entertainment way back in 1962 when they regularly offered a scheduled film onboard their flights.

Things are a lot different today. Most of PIA’s international flights have seatback entertainment systems, but they are not very modern and notoriously fickle so prepare yourself for the possibility that they won’t be working.

I was glad I loaded my own music, movies and TV shows on my tablet so I had something to amuse myself on the nearly 16-hour flight from Toronto to Karachi when none of the screens worked on board. I also always bring a physical book or two, just in case my tablet dies and there’s no way to recharge it.

As for Wi-Fi, it’s available on some domestic flights and is used to deliver online content to passengers on their own devices instead of having in-flight screens on board.