Hmmm,
Luigis...

Would you be talking about the one in Bedford, MA by any chance?

That is one of my family's favorite places. So much so, we could care less if it is idine or not! This is the case with a few other of our favorites, which include:

John harvard's brew house, the brick alley pub in Newport, RI, and santarpio's pizza in East boston by the airport. All non idines, but who cares--they are such great places!

Anyway, speaking of idine, you could always throw down one of those low money charter one cards as your meal payment, and then you get to get rid of it without fees, and let the others or the waiter figure it out. A payment is a payment.

OR, you could always just play credit card roulette to see who GETS TO WANT TO PAY the bill:

Here are the rules we used to play by:

CREDIT CARD ROULETTE v.1 - RULES

1)
it can happen anytime, anywhere... decided before, durring or after a meal, usually impulsively, with large or small groups. So, always eat BIG!
The majority makes it happen or not...

2) food server is selected to pick cards from a hat - married or other "couples" EACH put in a card! (other cards or IDs can be used to represent a credit card or form of payment if you do not carry credit
cards).

3) people can bail out, but only once
in a group/trip. If you lose twice, however, you can bail out for good now. You have already tried and lost again and now you suck!

4) if you only had like a soda or something very light, you can opt out too (even if you had taken advantage of the above way out) but only once!!! No more! Next time, yer in!

5) LOSER MUST PAY! You played, so
you live with it. It'll come around fer ya - but pay up now and no whining. Pay the tip and tax and don't skimp.

6) Those not in shall now pay the loser their entire meal plus 25%. That's 5% tax plus 20% tip - a very good way, infact, to figure out what to put in for any meal any time! AT least this is where the loser can make out a little bit... hopefully, he/she did have a very decent meal and is kinda buzzed.

7) Credit Card Roulette winning and losing can be huge or small. It's all
worth the same in the eys of the karma gods. That is why one shouldn't bail out durring those smaller outings. Go big or stay home! And most of all, have fun!

MM

when idining, try also to split the bill among many cards each person has. that way everyone gets miles and a bonus if there are any avail.

And having some left over or losing a second time in converting it back, though depending on one's travel patterns this can be less of a problem in the Euro age than it used to be.

I once made it through a short trip to Copenhagen without changing any money at all. (Nearly all taxis there take credit cards.)

Nope, in London, like I thought I said. It's at 134-136 Wardour St. in Soho, to be specific. Small place, not a chain. I've been to the one in Bedford too, it's good, but I think the food in London is better.

The thread about the get-together is here. If you've never been to one of these, I recommend them highly!

ah yeah, as soon as I posted i realized what you said and re-read that you said LONDON. Oh well, will have to try that one next time.

As for get together and idine, my next trip to plan is to Holland for a wedding of brother in law in april but it is around easter so hardly any mile opps exist for me and it is pricey now too. Have to wait a week to see what low fares may pop up in some of the airlines we use like iceland air. If there were any get togethers in Holland, I would be in if it fits both my dates and work, and also works around my skiing... It's still winter you know so it is hard to travel away from the favored snow... There are no friends on a powder day!

BUT speaking of idine, are there any idine places in AMSTERDAM that anyone knows of? I bet most dutch friend and family will have no idea and though they may be happy I offer to pay, the problem will be that they will feel as though they should host and will probably insist on GOING DUTCH!

that would mean I would only get half the miles at best! ha ha ho.

MM

Are you suggesting that there are OTHER ways to get miles beside idine and credit cards? Pray tell, enquiring minds want to know.

Credit Card roulette is a staple on all of our group trips. You'll appreciate this MM - I ended up biting it and buying the carbo-load for 8 guys before last year's Twin Cities Marathon.

Sometimes we do it in reverse: waiter pulls out 1 card at a time - last one in the hat buys. For a really stupid meal - like Morton's in Vegas with waaaaay too much booze consumed, we'll say 2 out of 8 split it. (We do this simply because for a meal like that, there is no way for one loser to recover.)

I always chuckle when I lose one at an iDine place. Big winner and big loser - all at the same time!

Pin,

I love the reverse credit card roulette gig and we must meet and try it out to see who gets the idnine bonus, but I have another creative MM moment fer ya'll:

i would get some charter one gift cards in the $50-100 range whilst ordering my 5k per month and keep them little ones in my wallet for just such an idine occasion! IF you have to pay someone else who insists on using their card to pay, loses credit card roulette, or knows about and thus wants to pay to get their own idine miles, then why not do this:

associate that charter one gift card with an idine account of an airline FFP you have! yes, why not? The expiry date of that "credit card" would be 6 months out (that's how long these are good for, right?) and as far as idine is concerned, it is yet another 16 digit account number in your name! You set that up and then carry the little thing around in your wallet in case, by off chance, you are in a situation where you have to pay someone else to pay the bill. In lieu of cash, you lay down this charter one card and say, there's my $50 toward the bill, guys! (Or give it and iits pin to the person paying and say this is your payment to them instead) and now, not only will you get rid of it, but also, you will still earn 10 miles per dollar on it.

I would think so at least!
that way, the idine-ist, the one who thinks they are going to get all those miles for paying wiith their card, now has to accept your charter one gift card because hey, you didnt bring any cash with you tonite becaus eyou planned to pay with a credit card on your own.

Well, it could work. certainly cant hurt to have the charter one cards become associated with a FFP for idine.
MM

Flying in airplanes?

Sorry - couldn't resist.

Wouldn't that require actually paying dollars for a ticket? Heaven forbid!

------------------
Free Frequent Flyer Miles

I never realized that eventually Flyertalk.com will become a mileage addict support group!

It is great feeling to know that I am not alone in this world!

And the thing is, not many of us want to be cured. It used to be that women were "computer widows", now I'm sure there are a lot of FF widows/widowers. Ah, progress.

Last time I checked, idine is for USA restaurants only. Not even Canada, let alone Europe or other parts!


Kathy

Northwest's iDine used to have a bunch of restaurants in Tokyo, Japan that participated. This was about three years ago. Anyone know what happened to that?