after the crash Monday , do you think the major airlines will extend the double mile promo for an extra month or two ?

Or more fare sales ?

I think many of those that were thinking of flying have backed away from going , how will the airlines get them back flying ?

I don't see airlines extending the double miles promotion right now. History shows us that frequent flyer programs go dormant during the holidays and i think you'll find these programs re-grouping and planning on other strategy for the new year. It's my opinion that the 'double miles' promotion has not been that successful - i base that on the speed in which the airlines extended it from one month to two. they did that because it generally didn't require any thinking, planning and implementation since the registration process si so automatic these days. Once the new year arrives, my guess is that you'll find new things to occupy your time as a frequent flyer, things that these frequent flyer programs will have had time to plan and promote.

I vaguely recall a triple miles bonus in the early 1980s. Can anyone remember what prompted the triple-miles promotion?

Yes, the year was 1988, the promotion was with American Express and the Eastern Airlines frequent flyer program that said if you bought an airline ticket with the AmEx card, you earned triple miles. It lasted a few days as other airline then said you could use any credit card, and then a few days after that one of the other airlines said it didn't matter how you paid, thus setting off the great Triple Miles promo of 1988.

Point of reference: most of the programs had 1,000-mile minimums in those days and the flights between Oakland and SFO were packed with mileage fanatics.
In fact, that is when we first started to use the term "mileage run"

I remember a Pan Am flight I took, LAX - NY-London with triple miles , probably late 80s.....

it was basically Fly NoW, Fly Later Free
as the triple miles were enough for a FF roundtrip to Europe...

no wonder they went out of business !

in 85 or so, i remember dfw- germany return w/ triple miles. wife & me bought coach, ug w/mi's, & ended up w/ more aa mi,s than we started with.