Recently booked OSL-EWR-BOS on Continental, and called the Oslo rep to reserve a good seat as I'm 6ft3 and like to have some legroom.

However, the lady told me they do not allow people to pre-assign until 3 hours before departure, and even then I had to meet up at the gate to do it!

Is this standard procedure with this carrier, or is she selling me short? Seems rather ridiculous to me. The flight isn't until the end of June, so I doubt it's fully assigned or even booked.

(This is my first flight with CO so I'm only a regular OnePass member at this point, however she didn't even ask if I was a member or what level, so I doubt that has anything to do with it).