Mr NW is EK Gold.

I have just booked 4 x economy flights to DXB at the end of March returning a week after.

When I try to pre-book seats via Mr NW's Gold account it tells me that "Preseating has been closed for this flight" and won't load the seatmap for me to select seats. It's the same for the return flight.

We are new to Emirates so please could someone tell me if this is normal on EK flights and whether there is any way to secure seat assignments. It makes a bit of a mockery of the gold benefit of complimentary seat selection if they can't in fact be booked. I could understand it if the flights were imminent but we are still 6 weeks out.

Many thanks for your help.