Agreed - don't think it's intentional. Of course I don't think poor service is intentional either, but that's another story.

I'm a fairly retentive/OCD person, and checked repeatedly over the course of an hour, lining up the flight #, date, and time with my printed e-receipt.
Just strange for 5 NF to disappear only when the system is 'challenged' with a request. The seat map hasn't changed either when I look with a dummy booking, so it's not people swooping in within a second of my last bucket check. The seat map is now 15/34 on this domestic 763 (I know, I should be chastised for spending miles on this).

The ticket was purchased 3 month ago. I've been watching NF, and first segment has been NF5 all this time, while second (LAX-IAD) has been NF0. Yesterday was the first time that it's avail, so I made sure to wait an hour in case it's a mistake.

Just checked ITA and the outbound now priced at 300 dollars, so I'll be paying 200 dollars in fare diff if I downgrade the confirmed segment to cancel upgrade. Guess I'll just wait it out; it's just nerves, as 2P I'm stuck on PB list until PA list is cleared right? Flying this trunk route there must be a boatload of GS/1K also ..

Thanks everyone for listening and being understanding.

LAX-IAD is on Aug 11, flight #82