I am trying to make my first award booking on Flying Blue. This involves a fairly large transfer of credit card points, so I want to be sure I have my ducks in a row before I begin.

Every award redemption I see on my itinerary (all classes of travel, all layovers, all airlines) has the same warning "No free seat selection before check-in".

Is this really correct? Can I select seats immediately after booking, or do they really mean random seat assignment at checkin?

Note I have no status with Flying Blue, so maybe that's it? The particular itinerary I'm interested in happens to be on Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy, so if that affects the answer please let me know, but note I see the same warning on all itineraries, including Air France and KLM First/Business class too?