Nonsense or not, I don't think it's realistic to expect full transparency on availability as every airlines have different computer system, IT, and network synergies, etc. I think every airlines will try their best to accommodating your booking but if it doesn't automatically confirm your booking, the best we can hope for is their willingness for their agent to communicating the LIVE availability with the Alaska agent to arriving to a workable itinerary. We will need to be patient as they sort things out.
Jiburi