No wonder the airlines are posting below-expectations earnings. They are dedicating legions of people to lurking the 100s of aviation-related bulletin boards, websites, chat rooms, etc. on the Internet! And think about how long it takes them to properly cultivate a mole or two with credibility in a given aviation community. After all, they need to be on "The List" to get the *good* intel. Geez, we must be talking about a dedicated department of a couple hundred employees at each airline! Probably more for UAL and AMR!
Perhaps you are unaware that some FT forums now openly have an employee paid to do just that. And clearly it wouldn't take but one person to monitor relevant forums for items of interest to their own firm, then forward each to the appropriate department for action or further research. Search engines are remarkable in that ability, and with the use of 'bots' and other tools it can be a simple matter.
And there are, and have been since even before the internet, "clipping services" that do exactly what you are talking about, for a subscription fee.
Last July at the FT FAQ in Montreal, several AC Forum FTers were invited to meet with 2 Air Canada vice presidents as a result of FlyerTalk. Let there be no doubt, airlines watch what's going on here very closely.