hmm.. i flew jfk-cdg about a month ago on an air france 747.. i arrived at the airport about 5 hours before flight time due to dinner finishing up way before i thought it would.. checked in and tried to obtain an exit row but was told they were already assigned.. got to the gate about four hours before the flight.. sat there for two hours and then asked someone when a gate agent finally arrived if it was possible to have an exit row.. she told me that they could only assign them at check in and sent me back through security to the check in.. when i got there they sent me to a supervisor who took one look at the delta/air france code share pin that i was wearing (he had the same one on his lapel) and opened an exit row and booked me into it.. it was the first row between business and coach and had the exit in addition to it.. so we had about six feet of legroom in front of us..

on my return flight i called three days in advance to air france in italy (i had to connect to cdg from flr) and was assigned an exit row.. too bad i sat on the runway for eight hours during the air traffic controller strike in march and missed my connection.. plus all additional flights that day.. had to spend the night in an airport hotel at cdg only to wait six hours the next day because of a mechanical delay to fly back on a 777 in a window seat.. nonbulkhead and non-exit row.. not fun..