Air New Zealand Air Points - Seat Selection

Just booked LAX-AKL return in Premium Economy for next March. I did seat selection using live customer service, and had hoped to get the exit rows (I'm 6'5"). I was told they weren't available, which I suspect was due to my not having any status with Air NZ. Does my Star Alliance gold confer any advantages in this situation? Can anyone suggest an alternative means of checking whether the exit row is in fact open and/or changing seat assignments?

damsel

Probably they have already been selected. Funnily enough they are rather popular and many (probably most) premium economy passengers on this route will have *G status.

Your best bet is to check in late and see if anyone was deemed unsuitable for exit row when they checked in.