Photo: @zelmabrezinska via Twenty20
Up until about March 2020, I was a typical software industry road warrior, possibly a bit of an overachiever — logging some 250,000 miles per year on American Airlines — and spending more time with Marriott than my family.
This past year, all my travel was, well … zooming around, with zero miles and nights used. While my kids traditionally did an admirable job of using up all my airline and hotel points, I still had around 750,000 banked miles, which I was recently notified were in danger of expiry due to no activity in my account.
Fortunately, American told me about a number of ways I could log some activity, including just buying stuff I barely needed through the American Airlines Mall. With 750,000 miles at stake, the cost benefit of doing a little shopping was overwhelmingly in favor of buying some stuff or, more to the point, enlisting my daughters’ expert shopping help in keeping my account active.
What transpired was a series of overlapping loyalty benefits that leaves me wondering if today's loyalty offers are really on target and questioning if the unlucky retailer made even a few cents on the transactions.
Here's a breakdown:
- $100 purchased, 200 miles awarded, value $4 = four percent discounted
- Paid by Visa, three percent cash back plus two percent extra special and loyal preferred customer = five percent discounted
- Free shipping — say, a $6 value = 6 percent discounted
- Bypassed the “get another 10 percent off” offer by not giving up my email = 10 percent discounted
- Skipped joining the retailer loyalty program = two percent discounted
- Total “loyalty discounts taken” = 15 percent; discounts bypassed = another 12 percent