Case Study

MBA Program - Business English

Case Study No. 1

What Happened to My Luggage?

In June 2007, Ali and Sara Khan flew from Karachi to Islamabad, where they were to catch a connecting flight to Gilgit. Once they arrived at Gilgit, they planned to rent a car and drive 150 kilometers to an isolated northwestern logging town to attend Ali’s sister’s wedding.

In the luggage hold of the aircraft were not only their clothes but also wedding presents and the bridal dress, which Ali’s mother had worn at her own wedding. Approximately ten minutes before the flight was due to land, Shahnawaz, a flight steward, notices wisps of smoke coming through the floor in the rear gallery.

Having been informed of the problem, the captain asked all passengers to leave the plane when it landed because a minor technical problem had to be corrected. Ali and Sara left the plane and waited the scheduled three hours in the terminal for their flight to Gilgit. What they did not know was that the entire luggage in the hold was either destroyed or severely damaged by a flash fire that had erupted in the luggage hold during the flight.

When Ali and Sara landed in Gilgit, their luggage and that of 40 other passengers failed to appear on the conveyor belt. When Ali and Sara explained their dilemma to the airport manager, they were told to report their luggage lost. The Gilgit airport had not been informed about the fire in Islamabad. Consequently, Ali and Sara had to leave for the wedding without their luggage, the gifts, or the bridal dress. They did not find out about the destruction of their belongings for six days after the incident.

Case Questions

1. Should the passengers have been told about the fire while the plane was in the air? Explain your answer.

2. Should the passengers whose luggage was destroyed in the fire have been told about it while they waited in the airport for their connecting flights?

3. Should the Islamabad airport have informed the...