For the first time in years we've not been able to select seats in the forward Economy cabin for our LHR-DXB flight, or the return. We've had to choose seats in the next cabin further back.

With only a few weeks to go before the flight, is it worth checking regularly to see if any seats in the forward Economy cabin become available or is it a waste of time?

With BA I am often able to get a better seat shortly before departure day but I've never had this issue with EK before where almost all of the forward cabin Economy seats are 'Unavailable'.

Aircraft is an A380-800.