Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Breakfast. No time for lunch today, so the streak ends.

was it at least different restaurants?

To get to my elite status faster, I found a strip mall with no less than 5 iDine places... so I ordered a burrito from one, a drink from another, and a gelato from the 3rd. Then did it again the following days, changing where I get my entree

Where is this strip mall? In OC I assume since you're based in SNA. No minimum CC charge apparently.

Have not yet used i-dine!!
As there are no i-dine restaurants in Victoria, I would like to make maximum benefit from my visit to Vancouver
next week.
Would a beer or glass of wine count? What if I bill each drink separately. Can I visit same place on same day
and get credit?
What are other techniques?

No minimum charge. It's in Irvine, the Quail Hill Village or something like that, off the 405, Shady Canyon exit (next to Albertsons).

--Red Brick Pizza - $600 max/mo
--Sharky's Mexican Grill - $600 max/mo
--Nalu's Hawaiian Grill - $600 max/1 visit/mo
--Thai Bamboo - $600 max/1 visit/mo

Oops... Daphne's Greek Cafe was the 5th for me, but it's down the road a ways.

Had lunch at Red Brick today... I actually give it a ^^

You have to look at the restaurant's individual restrictions. If all it says unlimited benefit up to $600/mo, then you can visit as much as you want.

Yes, any charge at the restaurant counts as a dine.

I'll assume you're not elite yet, so you'll probably be getting 3mi/$1. If you're REALLY up for it, do what I do... use those "unlimited dine" places to buy like a drink or something small/cheap. Do that 12 times, and you'll be elite, which will get you 10mi/$1 on subsequent dines.

However, you have to balance this method with the 250mi bonus, which you get by 1) registering and 2) spending a minimum $15.

So if you go to a bar and it's unlimited, you can try to pay for every couple drinks ($15... can include tip) with your card, and you'll be set ^

I.T. you win the slut of the day award...and we love and respect you for it.

Thank you... thank you very much *takes a bow*

Small world! I was just at that strip mall last week! I go there all the time.

I have used my idine at a take out restaurant near me to buy a $1.50 soda ($1.59 with tax). As long as the restaurant does not have a minimum charge, it would count as a "dine".

BUT - be careful about "dining" at the same location on the same day! I bought a soda at location A about 1 PM, had soup for lunch at location B (for $7) at about 2 PM, then bought another soda at location A at about 5 PM. The mileage posted from location B and also from location A - but only from the first dine! (Not from the 2nd - 5 PM - purchase.)

If you do "dine" at the same place on the same day, be sure to keep the receipts. You may need to FAX them in to get credit for the later dines. (Like I will for my 5 PM purchase.)

The 250 bonus that IceTrojan mentioned has to do with the airline that your idine account is with. For example: AA has a $25 minimum to get the 250 mile bonus, DL has a $15 minimum but UA has NO minimum for their bonus promotion. Either way, a $2 or $3 charge would get you mileage and count as a "dine", even though you may not qualify for that program's promotion.

I use the UA promotion, so I am only currently concerned about getting 8 dines. Right now (to me) I am not concerned about getting a minimum charge. But if I was in (say) the AA or DL programs, I'd be sure to buy 2 or 3 drinks to get to the $15 or $25 minimum.

Also don't forget that your tax and tip get mileage also. Make sure your total adds up above the next level.

AA's minimum is $15 not $25. As noted, I've seen an even dollar tab rounded down a penny more than once so if you see $14.99 online on a $15.00 check, you'll have to send the receipt to Miami, with an explanation that you want the $15 minimum for the promo. Better to round it up to $15.20 (for dining elites) or $15.34 (for regular diners).

DL's current promo has no "minimum" per-vist, but needs $150 total spending (each) for August and September: 30 x $5 would work fine with them.

Which airline program(s) are you signed up with? Just about every single participant is in the midst of a promo right now, and you can be a member of all of them at the same time (if you have enough credit cards!).

It takes 12 dines to make "elite" dining status for maximum benefit (10 miles per dollar, with a few [rare] 20 milers out there), so having tiny tabs all over town might make sense, but save your receipts! Check your online account(s) regularly starting 3-4 (calendar, not business) days after your restaurant visit. If you don't see the meal within a week as posted, you need to call Rewards Network; they'll likely require you to mail/fax the receipts to them in Miami to credit your account by hand (appearing on your account as Manual Tickets).

Restaurants come and go fast - I strongly urge you to double check the participant list as close to your departure as possible. Also, on rare (although sadly it does happen) occasion, a joint will patipate with certain airlines, but not others; if you are signed up with multiple plans, you cannot "assume" the listings are completely identical.

Good luck and welcome!

Thanks to all, especially Points Scrounger, Ice Trojan and the_traveler.

At present, I have only enrolled with UA. Most flying and credit card miles with Air Canada (who does not participate
with idine).

But one(maybe a couple) more question(s).

Can I enroll with several airlines with same credit card?
Then what happens if I spend $$ at restaurant? Points with more than one plan?
Or must I use a separate card with each plan? Can I use more than one credit card with one plan?

Each credit card can be linked only to one plan at a time. It used to be a max of three cards per airline, but that may have been changed. Also, you must keep at least one card linked to an airline at all times; the system won't allow the end user to remove a solo card, leaving none at all.

Drinks at bars are the easiest to rack up one-by-one to get your UA promo and elite status quest fulfilled. I had an interesting experience the other day where I consumed a gin-and-tonic, a beer and an entree. I asked the bartender to put the entree on my American Airlines credit card (as with tax/tip it went just over $15 by itself). He assumed that I was being re-imbursed for the food as an "expense" but my employer didn't pay for booze.

My suggestion to you for now is to link two or three cards to your UA account, and tell servers when they bring the first drink that you'd like to cash out then and there, and then switch to another (linked) card for the rest of your tab, etc. I'd find it awkward to re-present the same card again (and again). Beware that there are still some joints that are "1 Visit Per Month [per airline]" out there while you're splitting purchases at the same venue!