JDiver

Eleven! Jailer gets the "Iron Stomach" medal with chicory leaf clusters and an anchovy! I have done a few of these, and they have ranged all over the spectrum from amazingly bad - worst excuse for a resto I have been to in ages - to fairly good to the most recent, a faux Mexican place that had faux food.

For now, I will be out of it - no RN in Istanbul and Athens, and maybe no gasoline in the latter either. OTOH, plenty of Mediterranean food.

sdsearch

I may be getting close to having dined at that many that should qualify, but most haven't posted the bonus yet.

But about half of those were simply new-to-me restaurants in places I was visiting on weekend trips (like Sunset Grilll, the only participating restaurant in Moab UT, Star of India in Salt Lake City on the way back to SLC airport, Sweetwater Grill, the only participating restaurant in Oakhurst CA outside Yosemite, plus Thai Palms Restaurant and Five Restaurant in Fresno CA on the way to Yosemite and back). Of those areas, only in the Fresno area had I eaten at any participating restaurants previously, and it so happens both of the ones I had eaten at before are inexpensive and I couldn't have gotten to $25 by myself there anyway.

So if your travels take you to US/Canadian cities where you haven't been before (or at least not in two years), then of course any place that participates in those cities will be "new to you" (as NBC would say).

Points Scrounger

The bonus should appear with the initial dine.

KhalilSheikh

Mine have posted significantly later after the initial dine activity.

sdsearch

I don't see how that could always be the case. The bonus requires that you post a review, and I can't post a review until the dine has posted. By the time they process the fact that my review has posted, it's at least a day or two after the initial dine posted. For certain days of the week, that means it gets paid a full week later, since they only send miles to AA once a week.

And it so happens that many of my dines where I earn the 500 mile bonus have been in that part of the week that just barely makes it into the once-a-week transfer to AA, but just misses the review-triggered bonus making it in the same once-a-week transfer.

(And if you are not super timely about doing the reviews, the separation of the original miles and the bonus miles will happen even more often!)

Anyway, what I meant by "most haven't posted the bonus yet" was that some hadn't posted the bonus because I have to wait an extra for it, but others the basic dine hadn't even posted yet (but had already occurred and thus should post within days).

Kremmen

I received no bonus on one of my AA meals, so I asked why. RN replied that I had earned AS miles there early this year.

The T&C I'd read, including the registration confirmation email, said "where you have not yet earned AAdvantage® miles". It said nothing about earning other miles in the past. Seems like they're making it up as they go along.

ZeppoX

You should throw that T&C quotation right back at them.

Jailer

RN was kind enough to extend my favorite promo of the year until the end of Sept (it was slated to end 8/31).

There's no limit on how many AAdvantage® bonus miles you can earn with this offer—but there is a deadline! You've already registered for the Restaurant Hopping Bonus, so you can earn 500 AAdvantage® bonus miles every time you dine somewhere new to you through September 30th then complete a survey within 30 days.

Points Scrounger

Bingo -- we have a winner!

I just got my AA 500 miles at a joint where I'd dined on another program very recently.

Open Jaw

I was just wondering if someone could earn bonus miles as part of the Restaurant Hopping promo at the same restaurant in different FF programs?

There is a new restaurant near my home and I ate there to earn the 500 bonus miles with AA. Now I would like to return and earn bonus with US Restaurant Hopping promo as well. Is this possible?

Thanks.

margarita girl

See posts #44, 51 and 54. Sounds like YMMV.

Splittin' Aces

I've got a similar, but slightly more complicated example of no bonus miles being awarded. Like many of you, I've got some cards that I need to do spending on (SPG, AMEX MR, CitiAA) to get some sign up bonuses. Also, I've got cards that earn more miles at restaurants, so I tend to switch all of these cards around based on what program I need to earn miles in at a given time and what the bonuses are out there with RN.

- I ate at "Joe's Deli" (a participating restaurant) under the United Mileage Plus Dining Program with credit card -1234, early this year.
- When the Restaurant Hopping bonus came around, my wife registered for the bonus, and we registered card -1234 to my wife's AA Dining account.
- My wife went to "Joe's Deli" for the first time and spent the required $25. She expected the 500 mile bonus. No dice.

Bonus was denied because I (not my wife) had spent money on card -1234 at "Joe's Dele" earlier in the year under the MP Plus dining program.

So, Mrs. Aces has a reconsideration letter in to them stating that:
- She has never earned AAdvantage Miles at "Joe's Deli"
- and -
- Card -1234 has never been used in the AAdvantage Dining program at "Joe's Deli" by either of us until her first dine.

Not going to sweat 500 points, but wanted to send out a caution to anyone else who may be switching cards between programs. Even if you've never earned AAdvantage Miles at a restaurant, if your credit card has ever earned Any RN miles at the restaurant (regardless of program or user), then you may not get the bonus.

Kremmen

The really silly part for me is that I was dining with others who have cards on RN. If RN had just been truthful about their rules, we'd have charged it on someone else's card.

Splittin' Aces

Mrs. Aces letter worked - 500 courtesy bonus miles coming her way. I'm sure this is a one-off and their systems/process remains the same, so I think caution about which card you use is still warranted.

JDiver

As Jailer posted previously, AAdvantage Dining members have until the end of September to earn all the Restaurant Hopping bonus miles they can get. "All dines must occur by September 30, 2010" is the current statement in the T&Cs.

It has worked well for me - some places I will never, never return to, a few I might possibly, and a couple of places I have visited turned out to be (for me) hidden gems I did not know about and I will return to - including a Thai restaurant 4 miles from home (Thai Chili in Roseville, CA).