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Airline and hotel dining programs generally are register and forget. Occasionally they come up with promos that are worth a closer look.
I received an offer today for AAdvantage Dining to earn 10,000 bonus miles for 10 dines of $40+ by August 15, 2014. I logged into my other dining accounts and had the same offer, but only for 5,000 miles through United MileagePlus Dining.
Delta and US Airways did not have this offer in my account. Other programs, which I don’t think I have ever gotten around to collecting the new member bonus are with Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Hilton and IHG. It looks like you at least need to be registered to see bonuses other than new member. Worth logging into your accounts to see what is there.
The play here, IF there are restaurants you frequent, is to buy 10 $40 gift cards for future use or split large bills into $40 charges, ideally with a credit card that bonuses restaurants such as Chase Sapphire Preferred on 3x First Fridays. Or if the restaurant is really friendly, first make 12 small transactions to get upgraded to VIP Status to earn 5x instead of 3x/1x for online member/general member (see levels here). Then once VIP, go back and make the bigger purchases.
The AA earnings can be something like:
- Register and opt in for marketing to earn 3x
- 12 $1 purchases x 3 miles = 36 miles
- 10 $40 charges x 5 miles = 2,000 miles
- Earn 2,000 new member bonus for $30 dine (if applicable)
- Earn 10,000 bonus
- Dining earnings = 14,036
- Card restaurant category bonus at 3x = 1,236 (there are better and worse cards and methods, but keeping it relatively simple)
Not bad if that fits in with your existing dining patterns. Not all participating restaurants earn miles at all times, so double-check the dining program website.
I have mourned the loss from dining programs of a favorite restaurant for several years. I see that another favorite, Hamilton Inn in Jersey City, just joined. It will take a lot of their Wed $1 oysters to cover $400 but I know my wife is up to the challenge.
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@Scott – sorry, have not found a way to get it to work for people not targeted.
Does anyone have the bonus codes (URL’s) for the United Dining promos? I am MUCH more established w/ AA, and have zero w/ UA right now, but I just signed up for UA Dining & I’d liked to fish around to see if my acct. would turn out to be eligible for a big “10 Dines” bonus.
Went to an IHOP. Bought 2 drinks on 2 different receipts using the same credit card. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about changing the amount and so only 1 registered.
@Vinh – thanks for the report. I have not had a chance to test myself.
Just signed up for AA Dining today for this (I’ve had USAir, Southwest & IHG already, using different cards). Tried the two offer codes listed above, but they both told me I wasn’t eligible. Rats! Have a 2-3 week trip to NV & CA (mainly L.V. area) coming up and could easily have done this. Too bad….
[…] Rapid Travel Chai, you need to log into your account to see what bonuses you’re being […]
Don’t you have to go on different days? Assuming the restaurant allows me do to 12 x $1 offers all in one day, I’ll get VIP by the next day or next purchase?
@Vinh – I have heard mixed reports of this. As with any such arrangement there are times when miles don’t post for various or unknown reasons. Hunting around now I see some people have had issues with multiples of the exact amount treated as duplication, so try 0.99, 1.01, etc. It is not much money at stake if they are part of what you would spend anyway, so if you have a cooperative restaurant, give it a try and please report back.
Would you mind sharing the bonus id? the bonus id is in the web address. For the 5000 it is bonus id A292
@Ash – looks like A801, let me know if it works. My AA had 10k, UA 5k, and others none.
Do you know the bonus ID for 10000? For 5000 it is A292. You can find it in the page link. Please share. Thanks!
What is the bonus offer for the 10,000? for the 5000 I have http://aa.rewardsnetwork.com/bonus.htm?id=A292&detail=y
@jamie – if you have a NYC layover the first dozen is on me.
Wednesday night $1 oysters to earn 10,000 AA points? Sounds like a great idea for a meet up to me. If I lived in the NYC area, I’d be camped out there every wednesday until I earned my 10K points!
[…] Rapid Travel Chai, you can get 10,000 American Airlines miles after eating out 10 times and spending more than $40 […]
Got it on my AA dining account. Thanks!
Great find, Stefan. Thanks.
You could always try buying the gift cards like you suggest, then selling them at giftcardgranny or one of the other gift card selling places.
If you could get say 75% or so (not sure what the going rate it), that would be $100 out of pocket for around 15,000 miles.
Hmm I guess when you put it that way, might as well just MS with Visa Gift cards 😛
@Points With A Crew – I agree, this is mainly worth it for restaurants you would actually want to eat at.
I suppose MS-ers let Office Supply stores pick their restaurants, but I am not going to spend the next year eating at Applebee’s. 🙂
& BTW, nothing on my US account.
OK; rookie question that I think I know the answer to.
How do you guys have multiple accounts? I got screwed out of a bonus when I opened a second and it canceled my other.
I’m guessing one for you (AA) and one for the spouse (US).
But I don’t have a spouse. Set one up for my dog? Oh, wait, I don’t have one of those either.
Set one up for my ___________??
@TravelKane – each dining program you can have one account with no issues. If you mean multiple dining accounts with the same program, then perhaps you could try different info like frequent flyer number and contact info. I have not put much effort into it because the bonuses are rather small and most restaurants I frequent do not participate.
No e-mails or promo link on the AA Dining account page for me..
Correction: Logged in to my AA Dining account to see a promo link in the top left “Great ten for 10,000 bonus” was the name.
I received a 10k email from United today .. around 13:08 CDT. Not sure if maybe these are targeted, but I didn’t get the AA one..iiiiiinteresting..
Nice, thank you! I didn’t receive an email but this was listed on the rewards page of my dining profile.