Get Big Rewards for Dining Out
Tl;dr: Dining programs can net you tons of miles or cash back. Quick links at the bottom of the post.
If Shell’s easy, automatic discount was my original lazypoints hack, the second was probably learning about dining portals. Add your credit card to a dining portal run by one of the airlines, and get extra miles every time you eat at a linked restaurant. You don’t even need to think about it; if you happen dine at a linked restaurant you get the miles, if you never happen to eat at one, you’re no worse off.
While these are still a lazy ideal, after a few months, about $30 in cash back, and thousands of free airline miles, I’ve decided that these dining portals are absolutely worth actively engaging in. Here’s why:
The food is generally great
Set your expectations. The way this works is that restaurants will partner with Rewards Network, which in turn partners with airlines, hotels, and the like (list below) to offer customers rewards in exchange for dining. It’s a win-win-win-win: the consumer gets the rewards, the restaurant gets more traffic and revenue, the airline (or other partner) gets compensated for the reward and also builds brand loyalty, and Rewards Network gets a cut of the action. While this can be a useful setup in many cases, as you can imagine, the best, most popular restaurants don’t need a system like this. So, generally, those popular instagram spots with 2 hour lines won’t be offering you and bonus miles to eat there.
But that’s actually why I really like these dining programs. Here in the Bay Area, there are a lot of great places to eat, but sometimes you don’t want to wait an hour or two to eat. Or maybe you’ve tried all the famous spots and are looking for something new. That’s where these dining programs are great. I’ve tried about 20 different places through the program, and in many cases the food is so good we’ve become regulars. The floor has been, with rare exceptiosn, “very good,” the ceiling has been “I go twice a month now,” and the results overall have been at least as good as trying to poke around Google or Yelp for a good place for dinner. Plus bonus miles. It’s pretty sweet.
You can get a quick boost to your mileage balance.
There are quite a few options for dining programs. Most will offer a welcome offer for signing up. Currently, American, Delta, Southwest, and United are offering 500 bonus miles for a first qualifying dine, although I’ve seen them offer as much as 1500. Hilton is currently offering 500 points, IHG is offering 1,000; Marriott offers 6,000 after 3 qualifying dines. If you’re just a bit short of the miles you need for a free flight or hotel night, a sign up bonus could put you over the top. Pay attention to the specific terms and conditions; you’ll typically need to spend $25-30 within 30 days of signing up and write a review to receive the bonus. Because of these terms, be sure to wait to sign up until you’re able to take advantage of the bonus.
The earning rates are solid and you can often double dip.
Be aware that you’ll need to link your credit card to the program you want to use, and because Rewards Network runs it all, if you add a credit card to one program, it will be disconnected from another. In other words, you can’t earn United, Southwest, and Delta miles all at the same time. But, for some reason, this does not apply to Dosh, so it’s possible to earn cash back (usually 5%) from Dosh, plus the points or miles from another source.
Here are the current earning rates for the various dining programs:
American Airlines AAdvantage Dining
1 mile per $1
3 miles if you sign up for marketing emails
5 miles after dining 11 times in one year
Delta Skymiles Dining
1 mile per $1
3 miles if you sign up for marketing emails
5 miles after dining 11 times in one year
United MileagePlus Dining
1 mile per $1
3 miles if you sign up for marketing emails
5 miles after dining 11 times in one year
Alaska Mileage Plan Dining
1 mile per $1
3 miles if you sign up for marketing emails
5 miles after dining 11 times in one year
Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining
1 mile per $1
3 miles if you sign up for marketing emails
500 bonus points after earning 1500 points
300 bonus points for every subsequent 1000 points earned
JetBlue True Blue Dining
1 mile per $1
3 miles if you sign up for marketing emails
Rakuten (referral link)
5% cash back (or 5 Amex points per $1)
Dosh (referral link)
Not fixed; typically 5% cash back
Marriott Bonvoy Eat Around Town
4 points per $1 (6 for elite members)
1,000 bonus points every 10 dines
Hilton Honors Dining
1 point per $1
5 points if you sign up for marketing emails
8 points after dining 11 times in one year
IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn
1 point per $1
5 points if you sign up for marketing emails
8 points after dining 11 times
Choice Privileges Eat & Earn
5 points per $1
Caesars Rewards Dining
1 Reward Credit per $1
T-Mobile Dining Rewards
5% cash back on phone bill; 10% on Tuesdays
Shell Fuel Rewards
10¢/gal off of a fill-up for every $50 spent. (Equivalent to 2% cash back on a 10-gallon fillup, 4% for the 20-gallon maximum fillup)
I find the 5x Delta miles the most valuable personally, although Southwest’s program is very strong (and doesn’t require frequent dining to earn “VIP” status), and Marriott’s program may be appealing to some, especially elite members. The 5% cash back or 5x Amex points at Rakuten is also very solid.
You can save your points by eating.
While some miles like those from Delta and United never expire, many other loyalty program points do. In many cases, any point-earning activity is sufficient to keep your points valid for another 12-24 months, depending on the program. Even a small number of points can be valuable, but especially if you have a large number of points, dining out can be an easy way to avoid losing them for nothing or wasting them on a poor redemption.
Other tips.
Maximize your bonus. If you need a quick infusion of points or you’re loyal to a particular program, you might want to sign up for a specific program even if the bonus is low, say 500 points or miles. But you might be better off starting with any program with a solid bonus (Marriott’s is pretty consistent) and waiting to sign up when the bonus for your target program is higher.
Pay attention to VIP. Note that several programs offer more points for “VIP” users, a status you can unlock after dining 11 times. While many dining programs are worthwhile, it will usually be most efficient to target only one so that you receive the full 5x bonus on each dine.
Speaking of VIP, while most of the restaurants in the program are typical sit-down restaurants, you can sometimes find coffee shops, ice cream parlors, and similar establishments. These can be an easy way to get a “dine” towards VIP status, at least as long as you were planning on getting coffee or ice cream anyway.
MileagePlusX App. My favorite program is United’s, because United’s MileagePlusX phone app has a convenient map to identify nearby dining program restaurants.
Be careful, though. Although Rewards Network runs the program for all the competing dining programs, rewards are not always available through all programs at the same time. For instance, I recently went to a Japanese restaurant after seeing it on the Choice Privileges dining program website, but paid with cards linked to airline programs, assuming that I could get points from Delta. I later found out that the restaurant only offered points through Choice. While this is rare, it’s worth double checking. While the MileagePlusX app is handy, just because a restaurant is listed as offering United miles there doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily get points with another program.
Concluding thoughts
I highly recommend checking out at least one dining program. If you want to start simple, you can sign up for Rakuten here and get $30 on your first $30+ purchase, and Dosh here and get $1 just for linking a card. You might accidentally get 10% back for eating out. Or you can check the list on the app and see if any of the restaurants appeal to you–you might find a new favorite!
You can also support us by signing up for AAdvantage dining with the link HERE.