yeah sorry OP! it is a rather abhorrent practice to charge for premium seats period. let alone when you qualify for waiver of fees if you had put the whole family on the same reservation...i learned this the hard way too a few years back and had to suck it up to pay for my neice's CW seat reservation when i was taking her to LHR as a graduation gift and she had never flown longhaul before so the only way to ensure she had the seat next to mine was to pay up (i used avios for her booking and cash for mine)!