Originally Posted by sdsearch
... Meanwhile, I don't understand why you're so interested in a random restaurant's gift certificates (unless you're going to find a way to use them somehow). Even with, say, a "double miles" promo (for an elite/tier 1), you're paying 5c a mile (at 20 miles/$ spent). That's a pretty horrid rate to pay for miles, if you're not also getting the value of a meal out of it.
Plenty of reasons:
1. Easy mileage credit to keep a FF account alive.
2. Many of the iDine bonus promos are X dines = bonus miles.
3. Airline promos often give credit for dines, regardless of amount, as a "qualifying activity".
4. Easy way to get the 12 dines neeeded for elite status.
5. Not everybody lives or works near a participating iDine restaurant (or has the time to get to one).