Thanks, folks - faxed it to them earlier today.

FYI, this one wasn't Rewards Network's fault, Since you guys would probably be intrested, here's the story:

Late last month, I dined at a restaurant that only participates two days per week, with a one-visit-per-month restriction to boot! I charged the actual food/drink to the AA promo; that tab was put through "normally" (you'll see what I mean soon), with the miles posting correctly a few days later. I also bought a $50 gc for August credit towards DL promo at the same visit ...

The waitress brought back the gc, the confirmation from their 3rd-party vendor (Valutec) that the money had been added to the card, two (regular) charge slips (with signature spaces) and one "GC/Tip receipt" with the $50 showing, a blank tip line and a blank net charge line and no signature space . Here is where I got a sinking feeling this purchase was not going to go through OK: I went to take one of the two signed copies and leave the other for the waitress to take away with her, but she emphatically stated "No, no! This is yours!" indicating the unsigned "GC/Tip receipt" and scooping up both signed charge slips.

As of yesterday, not only had the gc purchase credit not posted at RN, but the charge had not gone through to my credit card. I called AMEX. The rep stated that the restaurant had not so much as placed a hold on the $50, let alone put through the final charges. The sympathetic AMEX rep warned me that when they do put the $50 charge through, it will very likely show as a transaction for on the date they get around to actually putting through the charges; in other words, the date I visited is now irrelevant because they never so much as put a hold on the $50. The receipt I was given shows the charges as "pending" rather than authorized. How they managed that without triggering some recognition with the credit card company I do not know. Cyncically, I believe they may be trying to get out of giving miles on gift cards this way, but I'm willing to concede there is another reason peculiar to the restaurant's bookkeeping system.

We'll see ...