Earn Some Easy AA Miles by Dining Out
Tl;dr: Earn 150 miles per OpenTable reservation
I have written before about dining programs, which offer you rewards for dining at certain restaurants participating in the program. Combining one of those programs with credit card points, merchant offers, restaurant rewards, and other opportunities could net you 10%+ of your bill back in rewards. I have had pretty good luck finding excellent restaurants through these programs, but what I love about these programs is you can just link your card and get the rewards if you happen to visit one of these places, even if you don’t know that it’s in the program.
So I highly encourage you to sign up for at least one dining program. If you don’t know where to start, consider American Airlines’ AAdvantage Dining. What’s great about the AA program is that you can now earn 150 miles when you make a reservation at one of the participating restaurants using OpenTable via the dining program site. That’s like getting $1.50+ towards your next flight just for ensuring that a table will be waiting for you when you go to eat. It’s not a lot of money but it’s incredible value. (Do be careful of any cancellation policies that might entail penalties.)
You can also earn 150 IHG points via a similar process, but IHG points are far less valuable than AA miles. United also offers miles for reservations, although I have only seen them offer 50 miles in my area. So if you’re looking to score easy miles via restaurant reservations, AA is the way to go.
If you’d like to get started earning, consider signing up for AAdvantage Dining via our referral link HERE.