The challenge, as always with so-called loyalty programmes for airlines, is how to motivate behaviour to get the results the airline seeks.
If passengers are already flying on paid F tickets (especially if they have paid for them themselves, not by their place of work) then the marginal/benefit cost of frequent flyer benefits can be small or zero. Giving them more status points or miles is no doubt welcome, but may achieve nothing for the airline.
Contrast to those who regularly fly on cheap economy tickets - they are more likely to appreciate the benefits as they don't get e.g. lounge access/extra baggage etc. included in their ticket. On competitive routes, when you squeeze low-yield, high-frequency passengers even slightly with programme changes, you risk them shifting their business. CX's product remains competitive but pushing economy class pax to try other carriers can lead them to find that some of those other carriers are at least as good and move their business. BA will find this out in coming years I reckon and it's pretty much what we've seen at AA over the past decade (which it is now starting to pedal back on to some extent).
In the good times, management doesn't care. But one way of seeing a loyalty programme is that it builds long-term goodwill to help protect passenger demand when, inevitably, the next demand slump rolls around.