this has to be a minor IT issue that'll get fixed... all the press around the selling of these seats was that elites still got them for free at booking.
except....
a sea-smf booking via avios had been in row 6. now no seats assigned and all of the 6/16/17 rows blocked
a smf-sea booking via $ remains in row 6 but now all the rest of the 6/16/17 are blocked
so again... i think an IT thing that'll get fixed. but kinda amateur hour that it happened at all.