picking seat before paying
 

so I just signed up for emirites because I fly from lax to india quite a bit. I'm normally a delta captive but I'm a million miler and perpetual diamond so the miles dont mean that much. I went to book Emirates in business and couldn't see the seat situation before it required me to pay. Is this normal or am I just missing some hidden link?

No, you are not missing anything, in the EK booking process you only see the seat map after completing the booking. There is however another way to se the seat map: a free Expert Flyer subscription allows this (although a limited number of views).
Be aware that when you book a business ‘special’ fare, you don’t get seat selection at all (and no lounge access and chauffeur drive either).

For others reading, you can now see and select Economy Class seats as part of the booking process. Also if doing a dummy booking through cheapoair.

For all classes, if you don't want the full Expert Flyer experience, they have an app called Seat Alert which lets you see the map for any class.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b5444eab60.jpg

Thanks for the information, I actually went with KLM for the trip instead. Spending $12k without being able to know what seat I might get is just not something I'm willing to do.

Surely there were plenty of options of accessing the seat map prior to ticketing

Indeed, see my post #2 above. But if it was a business special (H fare), there would have been no seat selection possible (although the seat map can show which seats you will NOT be getting).
Is there actually paid seat selection during booking possible on such a fare? Never had a chance to book one so have not been that interested in it.

I had this issue with the recent business class ticket I purchased.

Easy to fix - call Emirates up and ask them if the seats you want are available.

This worked for me.

Like you, I will not pay for a ticket before knowing seat availability. They should let you check business class seat availability earlier in their process.

Looking on their site and asking here I was told there were none. So I went with KLM. I really want to do Emirates biz class but I refuse to spend that much without knowing before I hit purchase, which seat I will get.

A simple call would have solved it...although, I do agree it should be available online for all bookings.

You can also easily see seat maps by booking (or dummy booking) on expedia, for example.

et voilà:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2c6f9449b5.png

Yes, and the free Expert Flyer account option also gives access to seat maps.