Maybe, but most of the major airlines offer this service for free. Even AF does ….

Over the past few years, I have flown with airlines including Korean Air, China Eastern, Thai Airways, KLM and EVA Air, and some have provided me with a seat of my choice at the time of booking, whilst others have been only too willing to assign a specific seat to me when I have called them – and at no additional cost. This is what I expect from full fare airlines.

Desperate times for British Airways calls for desperate measures.