Originally Posted by respectable_man
Calling NW does not officially help; the best they can do is to put a note in the file for preference, but there is no guarantee you'll get what you asked for. Alternatively, removing any seating preference from your WP profile can provide better seating as this removes constraints when seats are assigned.
After I called the seat assignment showed up in my NW online profile & I got the exact seats I asked for when boarding. All of the KLM flights were full (perhaps 1 empty seat per flight) and I put in the requests 90 days ahead of time. I'm sure the seats were reserved for me & were not just held as courtesy.