This is not an encouraging development, especially if considered in terms of the rollover cap etc. They would start by adding additional XP to all Flex tickets as a first move if this were anything more than enhancements. I believe that flex Y is one of the most lucrative segments, but why on earth flex J do not get extra XP is very hard to understand.

If you only get XP by buying more expensive tickets, then they could just cut out the nonsense here and sell the status as a separate product, which is what it becomes as it is decoupled from actual flying. Someone might fly long-haul J every week and never earn any XP. In some ways this is arguably more extreme than the BA spend-only model.