Originally Posted by
Firstboss
Another rule to remember: long domestic (intra-country) flights earn almost nothing on FB: 2 XP’s in Main.
So, if you have a long domestic connection or you plan significant number of domestic flights in the future those will barely contribute to FB status.
if your flights are mostly international, it is faster to earn Flying Blue status
Length doesn't matter any more for the FB/SkyMiles status earn comparison. It's all about MQD/segment and class: expensive nonstops earn more in DL, cheap connections earn more in FB.
Using Gold as the equivalent statuses, that's a naive conversion of 55.6 MQD per XP (rollover and soft landings arguably push that up a bit). So domestically, 111 MQD per Basic/Main/C+ segment (note that E fares on DL earn 2 XP) and 333 MQD per F/D1 segment (and 222 MQD per PS segment) is the absolute minimum where you get more from DL.
A 1200 MQD roundtrip in F with a connection each way earns more elite credit in FB than in SkyMiles: 8 of those per year is good for FB Gold (with rollover getting you a Platinum year every decade).