Originally Posted by calvinshuhfc

Please let me clarify something, I did not mistakenly think that all advance seat selections require payment - it is more like the first case you mentioned when I booked a sort of busy flight sort of last minute-y (well, it was a month before departure, but anyways) so all free aisle/window seats were taken already.

Anyways, I thought I'd update with what happened.

I arrived into the airport early and asked for a change in seat there. I end up sitting in the first row of "normal" economy by the window, so I guess it turned out well.

On the return flight I couldn't do online check in for some reason, so I had to check in at the airport and I was stuck with whatever seat I got in the first place. But that was not unexpected.