I've been using iDine for a while now. But I wonder how it "works".

1. I give my Visa credit card number and my frequent flyer number to iDine when I register.

2. I eat at an iDine restaurant and pay with the registered Visa credit card.

3. A few days later I get miles posted in my frequent flyer account.

What happens between 2 and 3? Are *all* credit card numbers sent to iDine to match with registered credit cards? Those that match get the miles earned? If that is the case, it seems there are some privacy issues (for those who are not enrolled).

Credit card use is for payment, not for frequent flyer miles if the user hasn't agreed to it.

Please note that I'm playing devil's advocate; I enjoy earning miles through iDine, but I really don't know how it works.

I had a problem with iDine (now resolved) during the UAL December promotion.

It was explained to me at that time that the "matching" is done during the authorization process at Visa.

When the restaurant electronically sends your account and total bill to Visa for authorization, it flags the account to forward a message to iDine to credit your account. iDine is just one of many such incentive programs that Visa (and other credit cards) acts for as an intermediary. *All credit card numbers would not be sent to iDine!*

If my understanding of the explanation is wrong, someone please chime in!

My take is that iDine opts-in for a database match with VISA/MC, supplying them with the CC #'s of registered users. When a match pops up, iDine gets a message from VISA. I would surmise that the CC# would drive the inquiry, with the matched restaurant being secondary. A possible ancilliary benefit for iDine would be, if restaurant info resides with them only, it might be possible to mine the data and use it for soliciting prospective restaurants to join the program, based on the membership's dining patterns.

Next time we have a VISA class, I'll ask our processor rep how they handle it. You've got me curious now.

FWIW, just handing the server your CC flies a lot of privacy out the window. I would worry more about that than what's going on between iDine and VISA processors, who operate in a pretty tightly controlled environment. Most processors have limited scope to share personal information for the purposes of marketing and quality assurance so, whether one iDine's or UAL mall shop's, our info is out there, IMO.

Then there's we folks who grant credit. That's a whole other can of worms....

Pat

Here is a discussion on how Idine works.

From the archives

Why don't restaurants publicize iDine membership?

Hope this helps

Along the same lines, how much does is cost a restaurant for an iDine transaction at 10 miles per dollar? For an example, if I spend $25 for 250 AA miles, how much of the $25 must the restaurant fork over to iDine?
I'm starting to find the restaurant selection getting worse in my area, with some restaurants dropping out. Others have cut their award amounts to 5 miles per dollar, and then a bit later leave iDine. A new place I just discovered on iDine, I went to just recently. I think they were trying to poison me and my guest. It was terrible. Even at 100 miles per dollar, I still would not return.

In many cases, the Idine transaction is going to pay off a loan the restaurant has from Idine. They are in the loan business, giving you and I miles is just a way for them to get people in the door to eat in the restaurant so they can pay off the loan.

The matching is done at the credit card end of it, be it Mastercard, Visa etc. My guess would be the system scans the merchant number to see if the merchant is participating in Idine, and if it is, then scans the credit card number to see if the person using the card is a member. If that is the case, then idine probably gets a report with date, time, amount, merchant number, card number, etc and issues the mileage credit, and pays off a bit more of the loan.

It's sure a mustery to me how they can pay some of these iDine promos. Currently AA is running a double the miles Promo through the end of March.

So I eat at one of my favorite restaurants and get 10 airmiles per $ which then gets doubled to 20. I then convert those AA miles to Hilton points at 2 for 1 as well as use my Hilton AMEX ending with another 3 points per $1 for a grand total of 43 Hilton points per $1 spent. Good time to pick up a few gift certificates while your dining. Let's see I can spend $4,100 on restaurants, Eat like a king and end up with a free week at the Hilton Wiakaloa (sp) Somewhere in the process the restaurant and iDine are suposed to make a profit. It puzzles me as to how it all works.

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"A day without FF Miles is like a day without SUNSHINE"

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum73/HTML/000601.html may be on interest to those following this thread.

Those promos are usually capped. You could only get 5,000 AA miles on top of your normal earning in the example you cite.

If you spent the $4100 you wouldn't get enough points for the HH award, but you could join iDine Prime and get 20% back. An $800 bid on Priceline for 6 nights on the Big Island is about right, so YES, you can still eat like a king and get the "free" week - you just wouldn't do it through the HHonors program.

For bigger spenders, iDine Prime might be your best bet for your primary earnings (perhaps with a couple of backup iDine FF mile accounts for top-off purposes).