Originally Posted by JayCey

Dear Forum-Folk,

I'm flying DXB to PEK in business class on Air China 942 in late November. Purchased the ticket as part of an open jaw with PEK-EWR on United, from the UA desk. UA suggested I book my seats on Air China online, and gave me my AirChina confirmation code. That didn't work (no place to enter confirmation code on Air China site). I then called Air China (who confirmed that the website couldn't do that) and asked the agent to lock in a particular seat. She claimed that she had no access to the seat map (7 weeks before departure) and that this was standard with flights out of DXB, because they control the seat map in the airport.

She suggested I call Dubai (from the US) to see if they would chose a seat for me.

I've never heard of anything like this and would like your (all) advice. Do I wait until I get to Dubai in early November (but I don't want to risk an aisle seat)? Spend the money to call Dubai? Or is there something missing here??

thanks

JayCey