I’m not sure how this makes the queue figure illegitimate. Those offers just mean that you skip the queue & if you skip the queue then you’ll never be a user that’s counted as a member of the queue in front of other users, right?
I’ve always understood the reason for the queue ending up shorter than expected has always been
think about all the reasons why someone might initially register - a recommendation from a friend, promotion at an event etc. & then be put off - by the requirement to initially fund their account with x amount, by the wait or because they realise that there are other benefits for using their legacy bank’s services.
Those users are all in the queue, ahead of other users but aren’t signing up. So if you also make it to the top of the queue & do activate your account, you end up getting you account before them - that seems fair enough 