Originally Posted by
irishguy28
Be that as it may - and there are many FFPs that give elite qualifying miles/points for ALL of their discount products - there is no FFP (that I know of) that grants qualification miles/points for award travel. So to assume this means FB would give XPs for award travel is neither supported by your comparison, nor anticipated by general FFP standards.
But don't forget that XPs are a "compromise" between the two former qualifying routes. You are thinking solely in terms of "Level Miles", but there was a qualification mechanism - Level Segments - that counted the most expensive full-fare La Première sector that you could buy exactly equally as the cheapest Economy Light fare you could find on a short or domestic sector. 1 Level Segment was awarded for each sector flown, regardless of the cost of the ticket, or the cabin in which you flew.
With the former level miles, I would requalify for platinum with just 2 round trips in La Première with enough rollover miles to only need one round trip the following year. Now it will be more difficult to maintain platinum and I may just drop out of FB with this change since I am only about halfway to lifetime. I do not know how many others there are like me, but I predict the number of elites will go down.