Hoping this fits in this topic:
After booking a transatlantic trip at a low fare, we decided to spring for XL seats on the overnight segment, the first of the four on the round trip. I did it on the June starting date of a credit card billing period, and there was an error message after I entered the credit card information (I forget the nature of the message). I took it as a signal that I might as well wait to try again in the July billing period, with the trip still a couple of months away and the seat map wide open.
When the July date came, I called up our reservation and it showed the XL seat numbers on that flight, and the credit card hadn't been charged. When we click on those flights, we don't get the seat map; it skips to the map for the next segment. I used the email contact form to ask if we had seat assignments for that flight, and got a reply saying "After checking your reservation I can confirm you that there are no seat-assignments yet. If you wish to assign some seats here are some information for you:" and going over the types of seats and fees, information already known to me.
I replied with a screen shot showing the seat assignments and saying we hadn't been charged. After three days, I've had no reply. So what's your best conclusion of what the situation is?
A. We have XL seats, and have gotten away with not being charged for them.
B. We have the seats, and the charge posts at the time of the flight.
C. I need to call and be prepared for a long hold, but I'll try it during German business hours. Do I mention again that the card hasn't been charged, to be sure it's confirmed, leaving aside the ethics of the situation?
I also see the odd thing here about not being able to select seats for the return if baggage was checked on the outbound, so for the TATL return I'm inclined to go for side seats before we take the outbound.