Where's Windows 8.1 gone on Latitudes?

Just been through the rather painful process of trying to buy an E5540 with Windows 8.1 Pro

For some unknown reason, these are only being sold with a Windows 7 licence. I don't care what's installed as it'll just get deleted immediately anyway, but to sell with only the Win 7 licence seems a little shortsighted as the cost of a Win 8.1 upgrade has massively increased since the initial Win 8 launch.

Very frustrating!