One wonders whether they could steal a march on rivals by being very transparent with availability. I realise that they want to sell every seat on every plane, but having a highly regarded FFP also has a value. Guarantee 2xF, 4xC, 4xW and 8Y on every flight (or similar depending on aircraft/route) with high cancellation fees. Sometimes they will loose a seat they could have sold (although will still get the YQ), but the value of an Avios will increase rapidly as people know where they stand, meaning that they can also charge more for them to Amex, Chase, Tesco etc....