Book QR816 (on redemption from another Oneworld partner airline) from DOH to HKG for October and turns out the aircraft is a leased 777 from Cathay Pacific in a 4-class configuration. So seats in the Premium Economy cabin (referred to as Comfort+) are available. One of us is Oneworld Sapphire and theoretically we can select seats in this cabin for free. Via the web, we can put in the selection, but somehow when trying to finalize the selection, the system says it cannot be completed and it reads "contact us". Called to make the seat assignments which are then confirmed. Hours later when I went back into the system to try to print the e ticket, the seat assignments are gone ! Then tried to rebook the seats online, the same error shows up, called Reservations, and Reservations says that the seat assignments are there !

Is there something specific to the assignment of Comfort+ seats where somehow the system keeps kicking people out, particularly with non-revenue tickets ? A few weeks ago when I looked at this flight, it was supposed to be serviced by a 787; so I also wonder if the system is trying to not have people get these seats in the event they do an aircraft swap (but then they should block out the entire Comfort+ section anyway.....)