MY wife and I are elderly citizens and have been travelling for the last 45 years mostly by PIA. We are both suffering from arthritis, more so my wife who is now confined to a wheel chair.

This year I booked our seats in March about two months before flying on May 25 by PK 785 Islamabad to London (Heathrow).

I requested the booking staff at the PIA office at The Mall, Rawalpindi, to allot us seats in row 21 so that we could have more leg space and could stretch our legs according to the advice by our orthopaedic surgeon.

The staff at the counter apologised saying that these seats are blocked and could only be allotted at the travel counter on the day of travel on merit. We were advised to report four hours before travel to make our travel comfortable in row number 21.

We were the first ones to report at the airport and we requested the lady to allot us seats in row 21. She told us that all the seats had been allotted and she was unable to concede to our request. She showed me the asterisk marks on the computer screen showing the non-availability of the desired seats.

PROF (Dr) SABIR HUSSAIN SHAH London