Hi all,

Firstly, if this question is considered off topic or it duplicates previous discussion, my apologies, and mods please feel free to remove it.

Whilst I can understand not giving out status matches like water at a marathon at all level, I do not 'get' the business logic of denying top tier members at any level.

I'm (nearly) a Companion pass holder at Southwest, the bulk of my balance being EQMs, yet if I went to UA (for example, and as my home airport is SAN it is a good example!) they would- AS A MATTER OF POLICY- refuse to status match.

An AA newbie gold member though- welcome to premier execdom.

Likewise, Southwest would laugh inn the face of any presidential plat on CO who asked for an A-list card. Sure, I can understand them not matching CP, as this could be abused like crazy for a year by a family flier who then never used WN again, but A-list membership? It costs nothing, and there are not enough top tier elites who would even consider WN to make this something that would upset 'earned' A-listers...

Likewise the hotels: I offered Hyatt the chance to take all my business from BW a year ago: "Sorry, we don't consider BW a competitor so no can do". "But I can prove I stay well over 100 nights/year EVERY YEAR!" "Sorry Mr. XXX, Computer says no."

Am I alone in failing to appreciate the business logic of wilfully throwing away the chance to poach top spenders from business rivals for comparatively little real initial outlay? It just seems like madness to me.

Paul.