I made a reservation over the weekend using Avios points and forgot to assign seats at the time. When I go to Manage My Booking it shows that I can select seats, but when I click on the red button an error message immediately pops-up and says, "Please confirm that you have the consent of the passenger(s) to use this service". So, I called BA to have a reservation agent assign the seats I prefer and was told to wait 30 days prior to our flight. I'm new to BA and have never heard such a statement from a domestic US airline, so I called again and another agent said they prefer to wait to assign seats 30 days before the flight.

First, is this really normal for BA? Second, any recos on how I can get my preferred seats assigned for me and my family now? We're booked in First on a 777 and I fear being spread out in the cabin if I wait to assign our seats later.