Originally Posted by orbitmic

I suspect that they don't work for seat alert because they are free already anyway, just not available to all customers.

There have been conflicting reports in recent past - some people say available to everyone at t-72, others available to everyone at t-24, and some people have reported having seen them remain blocked throughout the check in process despite them being empty in the cabin (and I have had a case where I was in 1K and clearly 1A had been "blocked" and other people have experienced the same).

So I guess you should just try on the 3 day mark, the 1 day mark, and again as you OLCI. They sure won't be available to non-gold before that in any case.