Yes its's been weird for a while. The two letters and then no more search is annoying, but even worse for me is when I enter a location and then try to select one of the ones offered it returns me to the previously entered information (names, dates, locations, etc). I find that the only way to fix it is to go back in, enter the names and dates, remove the current location, perform the search I don't want with a blank location and then go in again and enter the locatioon into the now blank space. Then it works. Until the next time.
It's been driving me mad for several weeks, but I doubt it will ever get fixed.