Please explain (no, my surname is not Hanson ) :

KL have one major disadvantage: they are based in a relatively small country and are thus crucially dependent on transfer traffic. This necessarily hampers their ability to compete at the top end of the market, as money-no-object flyers in the large European countries will tend on the whole to prefer direct flights. The sensible thing to do is to target the middle-rank market. Their business class product (decent but lagging behind the competition) and pricing policy (rather lower) are in line with that.

Now, you would expect that the FFP would be in line with their customer base. That is on the whole true of the existing FD programme: a frequent flyer programme that allows access to top elite status for middle-rank frequent flyers. So, why destroy that competitive advantage by making access to top elite status much more difficult?