iDine/Rewards Network - AA - Double Helpings Bonus (10/1~11/30)

May not be helpful to all, but if you go out and eat with your friends, family, and co-workers you can get 15 miles / $1 until end of November.


Double Helpings Bonus
Earn double AAdvantage® miles on dines of $50 or more

Help yourself to seconds...get double miles every time you spend at least $50 at a participating restaurant. And then return for more, because there's no limit to the AAdvantage® bonus miles you can earn. Go ahead - count the miles, not the calories. And help yourself to another portion of miles!

It's as easy as 1-2-3.


1. Register for the Double Helpings Bonus*.
2. Dine out at any participating restaurant by November 30, 2008 and spend $50 or more.
3. Earn twice as many American Airlines AAdvantage® miles on every dine ... 6 miles per dollar for Online Members and 10 miles per dollar for VIP Members!



Double Helpings Bonus Terms and Conditions
NOTE: This bonus is open to Online and VIP members only. You must opt in to receive emails in order to qualify; so make sure you have elected to receive emails from the AAdvantage DiningSM program and that you have provided us with a valid, deliverable email address when you register.
*To qualify a dine must be of $50 USD or more (including tax or tip) at a participating restaurant, bar or club after your advance online registration in the Double Helpings Bonus via the link on this page above and by November 30, 2008 during a valid benefit period and which is paid for with a credit or debit card registered in the AAdvantage DiningSM program. Advance online registration required to participate in the Double Helpings Bonus. There is no limit to how many miles you may earn during this bonus. Offer is combinable with the VIP Rate Your Dine bonus but otherwise not combinable with other AAdvantage DiningSM bonuses. All account inquiries related to this bonus must be received by January 30, 2009. Please allow 6-8 weeks for any bonus miles to post to your AAdvantage® account.

Other limitations may apply. Some restaurants offer mileage awards only on certain days of the week, times of the day or up to a maximum spending amount per month. For complete program Terms and Conditions, guidelines and restrictions, and the latest benefit schedules, visit aa.rewardsnetwork.com.

Excellent, thanks! Breaking $50 is not too hard for Mrs. dstan and me in NYC, although it may require an extra taco or two at our favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant! :)

Excellent, thanks! Breaking $50 is not too hard for Mrs. dstan and me in NYC, although it may require an extra taco or two at our favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant! :)
Just remember, the easiest way to spend more money at a restaurant is to order more drinks. :D

Thanks OP! Read your post just before I went out for dinner, so made sure I gave an extra generous tip to round up to $50!

Just got over my last $100 interval for the last promo (right on 9/30!) - now onto the next one! :)

As my Aussie friends say, "buggah!" We were out all day yesterday and spent $145 iDining last night. Ah, well, on to more dines, now earning 15 miles and 5 HHonors points per dollar spent, as well as 100 - 1,00 Open Table points on a few of those. ^ Thanks for posting, kebosabi!

Just remember, the easiest way to spend more money at a restaurant is to order more drinks. :D
I don't quite see how that helps at inexpensive restaurants. Please explain how one person dining alone, or even two people dining together, get to $50 at a restaurant which charges under or about $10 for a meal. There are plenty such budget RN restaurants around here, and at many of them it's hard enough to get to $15, very difficult to get to $25 when that's the minimum dine spend threshold, and basically impossible to get to $50 with one or two diners.

And, perhaps because of the economy, that's a growing number of RN restaurants, at least here in SoCal. Gone are many sit-down eateries with $20 main courses, popping up aplenty are fast food Mexican places like chains La Salsa and Baja Fresh, low end pizza/pasta places, snack-only restaurants, etc, etc. Unless they have gift cards (chains like La Salsa and Baja Fresh do, but many indie tiny budget restaruants either don't, or they're not likely to still be in business by the time you use up the gift card), I don't see how you get to $50 very often if that's where you're mostly doing RN dines.

And if you only get to $50 occasionally, given that it's only a 250 mile bonus on a $50 dine, it's not going to get you that much in the way of bonus miles over the bonus period. (Whereas for AA elites, you'll still get 500 mile bonus for each month you do $150 no matter how little for each dine.)

If it were real "double" (as in double of 5+5=10, and thus net 20), it would be a bit more interesting. But as it's only double of the 5, and thus only 1.5x the normal dine earning, I'm finidng it hard to get very excited.

(It seems mostly like a trick to get you to overspend for little payoff, given how so many people here are talking about buying extra drinks or paying extra tips!)

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I don't quite see how that helps at inexpensive restaurants. Please explain how one person dining alone, or even two people dining together, get to $50 at a restaurant which charges under or about $10 for a meal.....I don't see how you get to $50 very often if that's where you're mostly doing RN dines.As a single person with no family members living in my local area and who generally doesn't drink alcohol, these $50+ minimums are almost impossible for me to take advantage of. RN should realize that there are a good number of single miles/aware travellers (on FT and elsewhere) who would take greater advantage of their offers if the offers addressed our needs.

One possibility: A gift-card-only promotion (for gift cards that can be used nationally, iirespective of whether the local location does or does not participate in RN).

As a single person with no family members living in my local area and who generally doesn't drink alcohol, these $50+ minimums are almost impossible for me to take advantage of. RN should realize that there are a good number of single miles/aware travellers (on FT and elsewhere) who would take greater advantage of their offers if the offers addressed our needs.

One possibility: A gift-card-only promotion (for gift cards that can be used nationally, iirespective of whether the local location does or does not participate in RN).


Many small non-chain restaurants offer gift card and/or certificates and these can be bought in $50 or less increments to be drawn down upon so I do not understand the problem that you or SDSsearch have with this promotion.

There is an IDINE restaurant in my locality that requires a minimum of $5.00 for use of credit card (yes, I know that they are technically barred from doing so, but so what) and they offer a gift card in any amount. I bought a $300 one from them and have been drawing upon it for some time.

You should inquire if the samll less expensive restaurants that you patronize offer a gift card and buy one to take advantage of this promotion. 'Nuff said.

Order more food than you need and take home ... Eat later or freeze. I often do that.

I do not understand the problem that you or SDSsearch have with this promotion.
But too many of the small RN restaruarnts that I've eaten at have gone out of business with little advance notice (other than the fact that they were with RN! :) ), so I'm wary of getting a gift card that'll take me a year to use up. And worse is a gift certificate where each must be used up at one time.

That, combined with the fact that I won't earn that much anyway. I mean look at it this way:

Last promo was spend $500 get 5000 bonus miles. This promo gives me 250 miles for every $50, and thus 2500 bonus miles for $500. Last promo required very little work, didn't require me to spend money now to use later, and didn't matter if the restaurant I dined with went out of business a week later. This promo requires much more work, does require me to spend money now to use later, and backfires if I buy any gift certs/cards from restaurants that go out of business before I can use up same cert/card.

I bought such a set of gift cards from one restaurant during a bonus last year. Then I just happened to use them up right before the restaurant cut back the days/hours it was open to the point where I had fairly little use for it any more (because the times it was now closed were the times I was most often in that area).

And of course of national RN fame there was Bennigan's, though I never bought gift cards for that one myself...

I don't have anything necessarily against cift cards, but I'm not sure this is the right bonus into which to invest heavily in them (if you can't afford to stock up on gift cards during every bonus).

sdsearch--

Good point about gift certs, I had not thought about that and assumed that they worked like gift cards, and although some may, others likely do not.

On the other hand, I am not suggesting that ou purchase a $300 gift card, especially since your local restaurant experience has been different from my own. However, a $50 gift card which will satisfy the threshold for the AA bonus (as well as the Priority Club bonus that I am first going to complete before moving onto the AA bonus) is not so onerous, for if the worst happens, and the restaurant goes out of business, you will not be out of much money, assuming you buy a $50 gift card on an as your need basis.

Furthermore, you could have an argument with your credit card company that inasmuch as you purchased the gift card with their credit card and you did not receive full value for it - whatever the amount is left on it after the demise of the restaurant -- that they are obligated to refund you that amount. I believe this argument would be similar to one involving the purchase of an airline tix with a credit card and the carrier goes out of business.

In any event, if you buy a $50 gift card on an as your needs dictate basis, you should be fine whatever may come. :)

I think I am reading this wrong.... At first glance, it seemed that you needed to have 'one' $50 dine, then earn double miles after that. But given the comments in this thread, it is interpreted that EVERY dine has to be $50 to earn double miles. Yes? :(

Yes. You register, and then every dine >= $50.00 earns double points for the remainder of the eligibility period.

That's 15 points per dollar, as the Rate Your Dine bonus has been extended through 2008, as well as any other bonii (e.g. AA, elite renders 500 miles after the first $150 spent any month, hotel points, Open Table points and anything else that might qualify.)


I think I am reading this wrong.... At first glance, it seemed that you needed to have 'one' $50 dine, then earn double miles after that. But given the comments in this thread, it is interpreted that EVERY dine has to be $50 to earn double miles. Yes? :(

AA, elite renders 500 miles after the first $150 spent any month, hotel points, Open Table points and anything else that might qualify.)Thanks -- was unaware of that ^ We probably don't spend enough monthly to have gotten it!