Just want to say a massive "thanks" to those who chipped in with their suggestions.

I have just completed a tour of ONE WORLD airline sites and the end result is that i am showing 37K on my BA online record now.

Qatar Airlines allowed me to see all the seats but did not recognise my saphire status that would allow me to book the emergency exit rows ahead of OCI. So I changed to another seat at the back and then went back into BA. Magically the back of the plane was reunited with the front (!) with my new seat number. But BA still did not allow me to select an emergency exit row.

So Quantas did the final bit for me...