Originally Posted by
emcampbe
Decided to call, waited 45 minutes (only because it was after midnight) for an agent to tell me it’s because I was assigned the seats for free (which also does not explain why it needs to be worst seats on the plane instead of the multiple rows ahead of this that are empty), then told me if I wanted to select before online checkin to select and pay for online - which again, I can’t because the website is erring out.
I suspect this is the reason. From the airline's perspective you aren't willing to pay for seat selection but they have decided that the ill-will and bad publicity generated when parents and kids are separated isn't worth it, so they will assign you seats for free. That doesn't mean they need to give you free reign to choose the seats you want. They are fulfilling their obligation of seating you together - period. If you want your choice of seats, they want you to pay for it. Not sure I can blame them.
At T-24 hours do OLCI and there's a good chance you will be able to get a pair of seats further forward.