No, absolutely no mistake, 24 hours before flight and it gave no option to proceed without paying for seat allocation, or allocate seat within 48 hours, which throwed you out without check-in... but the flight was in 24 hours. Could have been an error on their website, but what do you do? Elderly dad getting frustrated, easiest option to pay for seat allocation and get on with it.
On top of this he has booked car hire through them, then discovered they want a credit card deposit on car collection...he doesn't have a credit card only debit card. He has spent all last week ringing the car hire helpline...the number is never answered, check it myself too, just rings never answered.
So when he arrives tomorrow night, he doesn't know whether they will let him have the hire car.