dork2you

I need to get 260 AAdvantage miles soon to have a enough points to book a trip before the remaining award seats are gone. Anyone know if it really takes as long as stated for points to post from the dining and shopping bonus programs (45 and 60 days respectively)?

Know of any other ways to get the points within a couple weeks? Would prefer to get the points for free, or through a bonus for buying something that I actually need. I'd rather not pay straight up for the points if I don't have to. Also not looking to sign up for any credit cards. I did sign up for Points.com membership through the AA link, so that should cover 100 of the needed points, but then again I don't know what the time to post will be for that either.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! ^

rbessler

AAdvantage Dining Rewards will generally post within five days, if not less (note: this applies only to the base points; the AAdvantage Dining Promotions that run every now and then take quite a bit longer).

AAdvantage E-Shopping will generally take about the full length of time. This is partly to cover their behinds -- by waiting this long, they can insure that you don't return the product, etc.

dork2you

Thanks for the info. I'll be heading out for dinner tonight then! If anyone else knows a way to get a couple hundred miles real quick I'd love to hear how still.

MollyNYC

I think that if you don't want to buy the miles from AA then the dining deal is your best bet.

Regular members get 3 points per dollar and elite members get 10 points per dollar. I'm elite and all my points show up within a couple of days.

Make sure you check the AA dining website so you don't go to a restaurant on the one day they might not be awarding points!

Good luck!

JDiver

DO check the iDine Forum - I think I recall there is a current iDine / AAdvantage Dining by Rewards Network offer to make all AA elites (Gold and up) iDine elites, so they can earn 10 miles per dollar spent on most dines.

In my experience, the miles earned on ADRN usually take 10 - 14 days or so to post to AA; they first post to iDine, you receive the e-mailed notification later, and it posts to AA during a batch process after that usually. Also be aware you should check the ADRN / iDine listings, including the "details" notes - though a restaurant may accept a specific credit card, that particular card may not be allowed for miles earning (it's usually AMEX, and perhaps fewer than 5-10% of restaurants, but if it happens to you, ouch!) Not to mention, what MollyNYC said... check the days, maximums, etc.

As others have mentioned, bonus miles (e.g. the 250 bonus miles that post if an elite member spends over $150 in one month) post a month - and sometimes two - later; bonus iles awarded for promotions may take longer than that (e.g. the Jan-Feb Megamiles promo have not posted yet, AFAIK.)

Example from an account that earned 71,290 total dine and bonus miles in C/Y 2006:

The January 250 mile elite bonus was earned Jan 1, posted last week on aa.com. Dines from March 1 through March 7 have posted on iDine, show as "Pending" for posting to aa.com, and of course do not show on aa.com. Activity as of March 9 does not show on iDine, and of course not on aa.com.

oldpenny16

I went to the site and can't find any place to sign up for it. I'm in an area with very few IDine choices. I barely got my 12 in for 2007.

Thanks,

majikTib

I'm not sure if iDine is the same as this, but you'll get 3 miles per $1 at participating restaurants in your area.
http://aa.rewardsnetwork.com/

Go out for a nice dinner for two, spend $87, and you'll have 260 points posted within 3-4 days (from my experience). I go eat on Sunday, I receive an e-mail by Tuesday or Wednesday thanking me and showing the points earned.

gemac

If you have not already, you should immediately get a reservation. AA will hold award reservations for 14 days (as opposed to purchased tickets, which can only be reserved for 1 day).

Idine should post within 12 days. They seem to gather a week's worth of miles, and post them once a week, a day or two after the end of their week. I couldn't find any reference to the automatic bonus for AA elites that JDiver discusses, but you should easily be able to get 3 miles per dollar spent. I believe that it is based on the total amount charged, so drinks, tax and tip count. $90 for two people at a reasonably nice restaurant is pretty easy.

acf573

I tried signing up for this last week. It seemed like if you just went to Rewards Network through the link in that post and signed in, you should get upgraded. But I haven't seen any change in status.

oldpenny16

Thanks, I'll try again.

ScreenGuy

IME the meal charges usually show up on the iDine website a day or so after the charge has appeared on my credit card (for my AA Citi card it's usually 3 or so days after transaction date) and then it sometimes takes up to 2 weeks for my idine credit to be posted to my AA account. YMMV but i'm averaging about 7-21 days from date of dine to posting in my AA account.

nako

iDine is the old name for the Rewards Network program, so they are, indeed, one and the same.

Mike

Bostom

I trust no one has waited a month or two and then returned dinner...nor that they wait as long as some of the e-shopping promos took from this past Christmas: some showed up in my account this month.

That said, maybe it's me but the points - even base points - don't seem to be posting as quickly as they once did. Of a dozen dines since the first of the month, only the first four have posted on AA, and those only for the base points: neither the elite bonus or the Bon Appetit (I think they're calling it - 250 points per qualified dine 4/1 - 5/31) bonus. And while ten out of twelve have showed up on the Rewards Network site, only one of those includes the elite bonus and none the BA promo.

Has something changed?

dork2you

Well here's how things panned out. I went to dinner at a participating restaurant right away. I made sure to double check the details to make sure the card and day of week would work. All was good, but a week went by and nothing. I called Rewards Network/iDine and was told that nothing was reported and that the restaurant probably used the wrong terminal. I was also told to expect resolution in a few weeks. Time was running out since there was only 1 week left on my 2 week reservation hold. I went to dinner at a second restaurant and the points posted to my Rewards Network account in 2 days. It was just a matter of waiting for the miles to be posted to my AA account. I called Rewards Network again, and they said that the miles should post on the exact day I needed to ticket or lose my itinerary. Not wanting to chance it, I called AA and spoke with someone at the partner desk. The person I spoke with was very understanding and posted 200 miles to my account "just in case". Good thing! The dining miles posted a few days too late. I give credit to American. Those 200 miles made a huge difference to me. And because of that small gesture, they've gained my loyalty. I used to be Plat with another airline, and even then I don't think they would have helped like American did.

So here's my take-away... Dining points might be posted within 10-14 days. And talking to someone at American helped in a pinch.

rrgg

For what it's worth, if RewardsNetwork doesn't post something, they will tell you to FAX a receipt. They process these by hand right away.