Delta’s credit-card customers are still hungry for airline miles

Even with the pandemic hindering travel for much of the year, Delta’s credit-card customers are still eager to earn airline miles. Spending with the co-branded card has been “very close” to what it should have been during the pandemic, even as overall travel on Delta’s planes plummeted, Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. In November, for instance, spending on the card was 22% higher than it was in the same period before the pandemic. Even with the pandemic hindering travel for much of the year, Delta Air Lines Inc.’s credit-card customers are still eager to earn airline miles. Spending with the co-branded card has been “very close” to what it should have been during the pandemic, even as overall travel on Delta’s planes plummeted, Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. In November, for instance, spending on the card was 22% higher than it was in the same period before the pandemic. “We’ve got a long-term relationship -- our deal runs all the way out probably beyond our tenures, which is great,” Squeri said. “We look at the medium to long term. How do we integrate this into the e-commerce path? How do we put more value on it? How do we go after more small businesses? I think that’s going to be really important to growing this portfolio.” <br/>