Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Iirc, you should be able to sign up on AAdvantage Dining / AA iDine and get elite status as an AA elite - I don't know if you have CO status and if the program offers "instant" elite status for CO elites, but it's certainly worth a look at each respective website - that would mean 10 miles per dollar, instead of a measly three.
You must create an account first, and register the credit card(s) you want for each airline - you can only register one airline for each credit card you wish to use, but... if you have a Hilton HHonors AMEX, you can get 10 miles and 5 points per dine. ^
As others have mentioned, it is worth checking the resto list online, and check the details. Make sure your intended resto takes your intended card (some accept AMEX but do not award miles on it, for example,) that it offers miles the day you intend to dive (some block popular days like Friday adn Saturday, others may block a specific holiday or day they want to block awards from.) Most restos allow up to $600 monthly, but as Points Scrounger says, be sure you can make more than one visit per month (for most, you can,) before you use the same card in the same month.