Before even boarding my plane to take off to a tradeshow last week, I was in a dangerous mood of wanting to smack someone.

It was 4 a.m., tasking in of itself, and US Airways failed to boast boarding pass self-kiosks outside of its check-in line, forcing me to muster up the coffeeless energy to endure standing in an additional long line. But what heightened my frustration — and what matters to Bank Innovation readers — occurred within the air: marketing loans gone overboard.

On flight to the Net.Finance conference in the Phoenix area, an attendant heralded the perks of the airline’s US Airways MasterCard credit card, which include an eventual free flight, on its PA system and trailed the commercial with its flight attendants parading down the aisle to ask every single flyer whether they wished to apply for the credit card that promises them future free travels.

As I and my fellow passengers were hostage to a credit card pitch, it got me wondering this: will my dentist soon dish on his affinity card while drilling for my cavity? Will a New York City subway loudspeaker pitch me on a prepaid MetroCard while I ride uptown? Will a dressing room in Bloomingdale’s play subliminal music to possess me to apply for its credit card?

In all seriousness, though, the “trapped” credit card marketing tactic points to how issuers have been cranking up their strategies to score more business, including upselling the perks associated with their loans. (Bank Innovation first wrote about this trend in January.) The short of the credit card push is this: as these are somewhat desperate economic times, issuers are pushing out their credit cards in more in-your-face ways, hungry for new customers. Still, I suggest the entrapment method won’t have the marketing results hoped for by issuers.

I also believe there’s a lesson in here for marketing future payment innovations, too. In a digital wallet America, consumers will find themselves as bigger targets of ads, albeit, highly targeted ones. I just hope that “hungry” financial services players can avoid overdoing the sales pitch. Consumers do not want to be overwhelmed by ways they can crank up their debt levels, especially if they can’t “opt-out” of hearing the message on flights to Arizona.