Originally Posted by flysurfer
And for European flights in Y (where seats that aren't available until 24h before departure) or longhaul flights with blocked off premium seats, I'm calling LH 23h before departure and request a phone check-in. I really always get exactly the seat I want. When doing phone check-in, my boarding number is usually between 001 and 003, which means that I had free choice of every seat in the cabin.
At a very early point in this 24 hour window the check in system automatically assigns seats to status members. This automatic process should take the profile into account and also assign seats in the first and second row to SENs and HONs. So no need to call. This is the theory.
In real life they say it works most of the time. They obviousely have no clue, why it doesn't work with certain people. A number of people in LH are spending a lot of time with this problem. I was asked several times to report the occasions when it doesn't work as intended. But as it never works for me I gave up.