Distance-based earning grants currency in proportion to how far a member travels, often with multipliers for cabin class. The accrual rule reads the distance of each segment, applies any class bonus, and credits the miles. For decades this was the default airline model because distance was easy to measure and intuitive to members, who understood that longer trips earned more.
Consider two travelers on a long-haul route. Under distance-based earning, a passenger on a deeply discounted fare can earn nearly the same miles as one who paid full price, because they flew the same distance. That disconnect between earning and revenue is exactly why many carriers moved to revenue-based models, which reward the higher-paying passenger.
For an enterprise operator, distance-based earning is transparent and familiar but economically blunt, since it can reward low-margin behavior as generously as high-margin behavior. Programs that retain it usually pair it with fare-class multipliers and revenue-based tier qualification, so distance drives the currency while spend still governs status.
