Pakistan's national carrier learnt a lesson just how seriously airline meals are taken, following a backlash after its latest advert, bearing a photo of a cheese omelette, sausages and beans, promised that the airline's breakfast will "serve you a taste of home".
Though not known to be the tastiest of meals, flyers still take these on board platters to heart, the Dawn reported.
The PIA ad said: "Just when you start missing it, we serve you a taste of home! A dash of salt and little bit of pepper, we tantalize your taste buds with our delicious meal to welcome the glorious morning! #PIA #BreakfastWithPIA."
Just when you start missing it, we serve you a taste of home! A dash of salt and little bit of pepper, we tantalize your taste buds with our delicious meal to welcome the glorious morning! #PIA #BreakfastWithPIA pic.twitter.com/UXLamu398f
— PIA (@Official_PIA) May 1, 2019
The backlash was immediate with people pointing out that the meal wasn't even a little bit Pakistani: "You guys really need to sort yourselves out.....'taste of home'? Come on whom did sausages and beans sound like a traditional Pakistani breakfast. Obviously you guys need some cultural training.....", were the kind of response that flooded Pakistan International Airlines twitter handle.
"Correcting your definition of home. Check pic: Aisa anda paratha chahye, woh bhi slightly crispy. Anda with a runny egg yolk so that I can dip my paratha in it. That's the taste of home," said one user. While another said: "That's more British then you can get. No Halwa Puri ?"
User after user rubbished it saying the platter was "a pathetic attempt at English breakfast". "Looks even worse than it tastes and thats saying a lot for the PIA creative team," a frequent flyer was quoted by Dawn as saying, as another pointed out: "The cheese is normally inside the omelette.