At my airline only the exp desk has access to the aircraft number and we generally don't give it out because it can change midstream and then we have an irate passenger that tells us where the plane is supposed to be coming form. Ex. plane number 311 coming dfw/ord at arrival 830a due to go ord/lga at 915a..plane delayed..in dfw. we also have plane number 422 coming Bos/Ord due 930a due to depart to dfw at 1130a under a different flight number...the decision is made to use plane number 422 to go Ord/Lga to try to keep somewhere close to teh ontime and then when plane number 311 arrives we'll use it as a turnaround on the Ord/Dfw route. So using plane numbers is only going to muddy the waters even more, make us once again into liars and create more irate passengers. The business is a minute to minute decision in a lot of instances and that kind of information that is definitely subject to change is only going to make our FF's (you guys) even madder. The rule 240 has another thread going right now and AA still calls it 240 not 120.01 or whatever.