Shop ’til you drop for double Delta miles

One of the overarching trends in mileage program promotions over the past two decades has been targeting. Targeting takes many forms, from offering more miles exclusively to past customers who have flown on a particular route to the now common practice of requiring customers to register in order to receive bonus miles for completing a specified activity.

From the airlines’ standpoint, targeting is just financially responsible marketing.

But consumers have inevitably been losers. In particular, we’re rarely if ever treated to those juicy offers of old, which promised double miles for all flights during a given period.

So I was heartened to discover a new Delta promotion offering double miles for purchases at every retailer in its SkyMilesShopping.com mileage mall between February 1 and March 10.

Even during the Christmas shopping season, the mileage mall bonus offers were limited to a handful of participating merchants. So this promotion is an attention-getter.

Is this a new trend back in the direction of network-wide promotions? No. Which is all the more reason to take advantage of the double miles before the offer expires.