Originally Posted by
sbm12
I don't really think that they should be publishing even more internal data on their sales numbers for every flight online for other companies to see. And knowing WHY you are where you are on the list may make you feel better, but it isn't going to stop the actual problems - the real shenanigans - from happening and messing things up.
In other words, I see very limited up-side for the customer and tremendous down-side for the business. Why would they do that?
Not sure I follow: What exactly is the downside to the business?
CO's competitors likely already have very detailed information on CO's price/fare structure for particular flights (as inventory in buckets is already accessible), percentages of elites, etc. If they don't, they could extrapolate this information to a fairly high degree of specificity from the information already published, in aggregate, with the standby lists.
Any of CO's competitors could probably even personally identify all us, if they wanted, along with our flying and spending patters. We are not just random 4-letter combinations on a list. We are based in specific cities, take some routes much more frequently than others, get cleared off the upgrade standby list at different times based on our status, get cleared at different times further based on the fare class purchased, etc. And most of the true FFers in the bunch have multiple accounts with competing programs and occasionally (or frequently) fly on competitors' metal.
My point: I doubt any of this information isn't a secret today, with technology being what it is; if it is, there's enough published information where a competing airline wouldn't have to go to a lot of effort to get very detailed info--right down to individual FFers and their spending/flying patterns.
So if this info is already available, what's the downside to the business?
The only downside that I see (and maybe I missed the point of your post) to CO's business is only if CO has not been forthright with its presentation of the EUA process. Publishing the status of passengers on the list would expose, for example, if a Gold in a higher non-Y/M bucket clears before a Plat in L. If CO didn't change the published rules of the process, that kind of information getting out would obviously harm CO's business.
Originally Posted by
sbm12
I see very limited up-side for the customer
Again, I'm sure I'm missing something here, but not sure I follow.
SNGs (shenanigans) would be less likely to occur: More transparency = less opportunity to game the system = better experience for customer = increased customer loyalty.
And CO GAs and customer service would get harassed even less regarding upgrade issues, continuing the trend that began with publishing the upgrade standby-list to begin with.
So unless I completely missed your point, I'm still seeing upside/upside or win/win.