I called ET today to get seat assignments on the long haul segments of 2 award tickets to JRO booked with UA miles. They could not get me seats on the ORD-ADD segment going over, but could on ADD-JRO. They were also able to make seat reservations for JRO-Add and ADD-IAD on the return flights. ET told me to call them when it is closer to the flights, which is late August. For such a long flight ORD-ADD it would be nice to sit next to my husband. Are they likely going to accommodate us or will we get assigned at the gate and be separated?
Strange. I've always been able to select seats online and therefore sitting together wouldn't be an issue as most seats remain open up to the flight (I guess most people don't login online to select seats with ET). Have you tried using their website?