For longhauls I also usually called them with a seatmap on my screen and tried to get better seats, as the system usually placed me and my companions in middle seats in the back of the plane, even when I selected a preference for a "window".

But when I last tried to change my assignments for a longhaul flight to LAX in Y they told me that it is not possible anymore to select specific seats in advance, only via OLCI. They only offered to repeat the automatic allocation and see with what the system comes up. I politely declined and didn't care to call them again as the seats were tolerable this time.

Is that really true or was the person I talked to on the hotline just incompetent or lazy?

greetings, tom