Our goal was to give frequent flyers an alternative to taking what is known in the industry as a “status run,” an extra flight taken with the sole purpose of increasing your airline status level (e.g., going from Silver to Gold). From scouring social media we knew there was an appetite for an alternative. The Window Seat Shop was something totally new for Delta and their SkyMiles program. Members were able to get holiday shopping done AND get that much closer to the next SkyMiles status tier.

Last fall, as many frequent flyers were scrambling to take burdensome and expensive flights to reach the next status tier by year’s end, Delta Air Lines did something different. Coming up on the holiday season, Delta introduced the Window Seat Shop. Located at JFK and online, the store was filled with one-of-a-kind travel experiences, plus sustainable and limited-edition items sourced by small businesses from destinations Delta flies to around the world.

The Window Seat Shop was created as a physical store in JFK and microsite online for Delta SkyMiles Members to reward them for their membership.

As Delta SkyMiles expands into a lifestyle membership, data plays an influential role in ensuring consumers are responding well to the benefits. We monitored website traffic, buying patterns, product performance, and foot traffic in-store in order to best serve Members in creating a positive experience, even when many products sold out.

Our call-to-action was two-fold: In the teaser phase, we encouraged Members to learn more about the store, guiding them to a landing page with information. Once the store opened, the CTA was for consumers to shop and earn toward their status, being guided to the online store through paid social and to the JFK store by geotargeting and a JFK OOH takeover.

At JFK, the Window Seat Shop was constructed in a central location that was impossible to miss for holiday travelers. As you can probably infer from the name, it took design inspiration from the best seat on the plane: the window seat. Windows throughout the store displayed different products. The store was open during the time period when people typically go on status runs.

Within one day of opening, the online store sold out of all inventory, and at JFK a line wrapped through Terminal 4. In total, we sold $190,840 worth of items online, $26,057 worth of items in-store, gained 34.8MM unique impressions, reached over 4.8MM accounts on Instagram, had 30.6K engagements, and 19.9MM video views.