iDine for newbies: any reason to join?
 

I don't seem to have any iDine restaurants in my home town, but I see there are some that participate where I travel. Glancing at their website, it seems like you have a choice of points or cashback -- with cashback generally being more lucrative, but with a $49 annual fee charged. If so, that pretty much rules out the cashback option for a casual user (which would be me).

I see that there are occasional bonus ff opportunities with iDine, but I didn't see anything current. So would there be any reason for me to join now? Earning 1 or 2 ff miles per dollar spent probably wouldn't be enough to make it worthwhile to me, especially with the restrictions of figuring out when the discount was valid.

Thanks for the help.

You may want to read this current thread - it lists some of the possible reasons.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=675050

Use one of the links provided in the sticky above, create an account and you will probably earn at least 3 miles per dollar - and if you are an airline elite, you may be granted elite status - 10 miles per dollar spent is nice, IMO (the miles granted by most participating restaurants to Rewards Network / iDine elites.)

Even if you had to reach iDine elite the hard way (12 dines in one calendar year,) there are threads that tell you how you can split your dines and multiply them.

Yes, I'm a Platinum with CO. Ten points per dollar would be enough to get me to join, since sign-up is free. Is there a way to sign up as an elite, or to know whether iDine will grant you their elite status? Thanks.

I joined IDine in early 2006, and since then i have accumalted over 13000 miles. When I find myself looking for places to eat IDine helps me since they have all across america.

I dine too!
 

You betcha it's worth it!

I joined iDine for AAdvantage Rewards Networks AAMiles back in 2006. So far, I have accumulated around 27000 miles by dining.

When my friends ask me where to eat, first thing I do is see where the participating restaurants are. We usually end up at a AAdvantage Dining restaurant. (There's a lot of restaurants in and around Orange County, California.) Then I charge the entire bill (to get the max miles) and get my friends to pay their balance in cash!:D


Steve

http://onepass.rewardsnetwork.com/index.jsp, listed in the "URL Links To Your Favorite IDINE Affinity Program" started by NJUPINTHEAIR, is your beginning; establishing an account and registering credit card(s) is next. Guidelines and rules on CO's OnePass Dining by Rewards Network page.

The bad news for their offered: "Want to earn 10 OnePass® miles per dining dollar spent? That's what OnePass Dining Premium Members earn on all qualified dines. And now we've made it easier than ever to reach Premium status: simply spend $250 on qualified dines between 2/1/07 and 3/31/07. But you must register first in order to qualify for the Fast Track promotion."

BUT, I wonder if they will renew it, or if you called if they would offer a short cut, given the date? Or, organize a group for a big dine this week. If not, I'd still call (1-800-555-5396, 8 a.m. - Midnight ET) and ask about your status with CO and see if they are willing to grant OnePass Dining Premium Status; the worst they could do was say "no." OTOH, maybe they have some flexibility, or some shortcut up their sleeve they can offer.

Still, 12 dines isn't impossible to make Premium status - some members have even run multiple bills at one restaurant. (A drink at the bar; mains, perhaps even split two ways; whoops, I think I'll have a latte and a dessert...) The ten miles per dine can take you a long way - I've earned 343,381 AA miles to date (over seven years, and thanks to my friends, family and colleagues. :D)

Im a huge fan of the Dining Rewards program and dont know of a reason you wouldn't join. It doesnt cost anything to get the miles and even if you pick up 1000 miles a year there is still no cost or penalty to you.

Give it a shot, you may get hooked on it.

Well, apparently I should have joined some time ago, but just now signed up in order to have an easy way to keep my AA account active.

Is it as easy as it appears? Just go to the restaurant and use the designated credit card? Or are there some conditions that I'm missing? Thanks

After you've registered online, the only "catch" is that your first 12 dines earn 3 miles/dollar, rather than the "elite" level 10.
For the next 30 days AA is having a promotion of 250 bonus miles for tabs $15 and over (registration required). So, you're in kind of a strange place in that my advice to new members would be to split tabs to get to 12 dines faster (multiple dines at the same joint in the same day are fine, just be sure to vary the amount of each by at least 1 cent), but that'd make it tougher for you to get the 250 bonus miles. The promo itself is restricted to one bonus per restaurant per day, so you might put exactly $15 on one tab, and split from there if you run up largerer checks.

Otherwise, it is pretty easy to accumulate miles. However, you gotta check the fine print on restaurant listings for restrictions such as: days of the week it's participating, which credit cards give miles, unlimited vs. one-visit-per-month, etc.

You'll get the hang of it right quick as an FT'er though! ;)

AAdvantage elites get elite status (i.e., 10 miles/$) on rewards network without the 10 dines:
http://www.aa.com/platinumoffers.
Also get 500 mile bonus for spending $150 at participating restaurants in any month through Feb 2008 (an offer that has been extended several times).

Are other airlines doing something similar?

Yes, it is that easy. All you have to do is dine (as you would have anyway) and pay with your credit card (as you would have anyway). And sometimes, you may get a surprise! ;)

A few years ago, I was just driving around, and stopped for lunch at "the next restaurant I saw on the road". I ate and paid with my Visa (as usual). The following week, I got an email from my UA idine account. It said, "You've earned miles!" :D

That "next restaurant" was a participating location! :D I didn't even know! I'm not saying it will happen every time, but the extra 400 miles for having lunch "at the next restaurant I see" is nice!

And yes, it is an easy way to keep my UA, US, CO, DL and NW accounts active. If available, a $1.50 soda will extend a FF account another 2-3 years! :D

Easy? Well, let's see: Lady JDiver went for a nice lunch at Jaleo in Arlington VA yesterday. The bill came to $22, she added $4 for tip. The restaurant processed her (no annual charge Hilton HHNors AMEX) card as they process any card, she earned 260 miles for the dine, and 250 more miles for the current bonus. She will earn 410 miles and I will earn 205 Hilton HHonors points for her eating where she intended to anyway; the miles will post in the next few days. Uh, what's the downside?

Attn. moderator:

I'm assuming you made a typo, but just in case you hadn't realized, the AA bonus over $15 is 250 miles, not 150. ;)

JDiver So are you saying that I can get both Hilton and AA points, or does this have something to do with points directly from AmEx in lieu of membership rewards? Thanks

I think what JDiver is saying is that if you use a Hilton AX (I think) CC to pay, you get x points/$ - and if that CC is registered to AA idine, you get y points/$. So you can earn both Hilton and AA! :D

Likewise, if you have a CO MasterCard (that earns 1 mile/$) and have it registered to UA idine, you'll esentially earn both CO and UA miles for your dine! :D