A Good Way To Dine For Free Miles

AA has announced a 1,000 point bonus for your first dine as a member of their dining network.

The link is behaving a bit wonky right now, so you might have to use this one.

This is an easy 1,000 miles if you haven’t signed up for AA’s dining platform yet.  Even if you’re a member of a different airline’s program that’s managed by Rewards Network (the company most of the airlines use for this program), you should still be eligible for this bonus.

I don’t earn a ton of miles every year off these programs, but they really don’t take a lot of work.  You sign up and register some credit cards.  Then, when you dine at an eligible restaurant, as long as you pay with one of the registered cards, you earn miles.

You’ll earn 1 mile for every dollar spent at participating restaurants (this is in addition to anything you would already earn from a mileage-earning credit card).  If you dine 12 times in a calendar year, you’ll bump that up to 5 miles per dollar.

Some areas of the country are VERY weak on good restaurants.  But, every once in a while you’ll also get a surprise restaurant you didn’t know was part of the program.  My family and I ate at Stage Deli in Manhattan recently.  The line at Stage can sometimes be significantly shorter than the more popular Carnegie right up the street.  But, IMO, the food is just as good.  So, imagine my surprise when 443 miles showed up in my account a few weeks later for eating at a restaurant we didn’t even know was part of the program.

ETA:  View From the Wing has some great additional information on AA’s dining program.