- Hey, it's Debra with Traveling Well For Less.
And today you'll learn how to earn airline miles
with airline dining programs.
If you're tired of struggling to earn enough miles
for free airline ticket, in this video,
I'll show you exactly
how to earn thousands of miles every month.
With this easy travel hack, you'll have enough miles
for a free flight.
I also share how to double and triple dip to get more miles.
So make sure you watch the entire video.
With airline dining programs, you can earn lots
of frequent flyer miles going out to eat.
It's an easy way to earn airline miles
without any extra effort or expense.
You don't need coupons, discount codes
or have to know the secret handshake.
Just order, eat and pay.
You earn up to five miles per dollar.
So if you spend $100, that's 500 frequent flyer miles.
You even are miles on the tax and tip and the miles post
to your account within a few business days.
Pretty easy, right?
Here are the simple steps to earn airline miles
at restaurants.
Step number one, join an airline dining program.
Most of the US airlines have a dining program making
it easy for you to earn frequent flyer miles
with your favorite airline.
Visit the airline dining program website
and enter your information along
with your frequent flyer number.
You can join all the programs or just a few.
Pro tip:
If you haven't signed up with any dining rewards program,
you should stagger your signups.
Instead of enrolling in all the dining programs
at the same time, sign up with one or two,
then join a few later in the year.
This way, you can take advantage of new enrollment bonuses
of 1,000 to 3,000 miles during your first 30 days as a member.
This is in addition to the miles you'll already earn.
Be sure to tell me in the comments
which airline dining program you wannna join.
Step number two.
Link your credit card or debit card.
You can register one card or multiple cards.
But, there is one important thing you need to know.
You can belong to and earn miles in several programs,
but you can't use the same credit card or debit card
to earn miles in both programs at the same time.
This means, if you register your Chase Sapphire Reserve card
with American Airlines AAdvantage Dining Rewards Program,
you can't also register with the Southwest Dining Program.
So you want to keep track of which dining rewards programs
you've registered each card.
Pro tip:
You don't have to pay with an airline credit card.
You can use any credit or debit card and earn airline miles.
Step number three:
dine at a participating restaurant.
You should look for Rewards Network Restaurants
when eating out, both at home and when traveling.
There are over 11,000 restaurants in the United States,
from fine dining, to fast food, to coffee shops,
to casual eateries.
On the airline dining website, you can search
for a restaurant by city or by name.
Pay close attention to the benefits
of each restaurant section
because some restaurants may not offer miles
on certain days of the week,
and some restaurants have a monthly $2,000 spending cap,
meaning you can only earn 10,000 miles each month
at that restaurant.
Fun fact.
Some airport restaurants are part of rewards network.
So, if you don't have a credit card
that gives you free airport lounge access,
if you don't know the tricks to get
into every airport lounge,
and if you didn't buy a cheap first class ticket
or business class ticket,
when you buy your food for your flight,
you'll still be able to earn miles
Because rewards network manages all
the airline dining programs,
whichever one you join,
you'll have access to all the same restaurants.
Pro tip:
Some bars, breweries and nightclubs participate
in Rewards Network Dining Program.
So that pint of beer, fancy cocktail can get you
that much closer to a free flight.
Speaking of free, I'm a big fan of Entertainment Books,
especially when they're on sale like they are now.
You can use the coupons
at airline dining program restaurants to save money
on your meal and earn miles.
The more you eat out, get takeout or grab fast food,
the more miles you earn,
but you don't have to spend more miles
to earn the most miles.
As promised, at the beginning of this video,
I'm going to share a few more tips to earn thousands
of extra bonus miles
so you can expertly travel hack airline dining programs.
If you haven't already, be sure and hit that like button.
Tip number one: Split the check
You earn the most miles,
five miles per $1 after 12 times in a calendar year.
But you don't have to eat out 12 times,
instead, you can split the check.
Splitting the check usually means sharing the bill
with someone else.
But with airline dining programs,
it means more miles.
Rewards Network, counts a dine or visit as one check.
Splitting the check into two or more dines
for a single visit.
When you first join a dining program, you're a Basic Member
and earn one mile for every dollar you spend.
For $100 check, you'll get 100 miles and one dine.
But if you split the check
into two equal payments of $50 each,
you'll still earn 100 miles, but you'll get two dines.
And if you split the check
into five equal payments of $20 each,
you get 100 miles, but you'll get five dines.
With five dines, you become a Select Member,
and the next time you go out to eat
at a Rewards Network restaurant,
or airline dining program restaurant,
you'll earn three miles for every dollar you spend.
That $100 check now becomes 300 miles.
When you split the check,
you can pay with the same credit card, debit card,
authorized user card or use a different card.
Just make sure if you use a different card,
it's also registered with the dining program.
Once you become a VIP member and start earning five miles
for every dollar you spend, you're wanna split the check
and pay with different cards that are linked
to different dining airline programs.
This way you earn miles with two airlines at the same time.
Pro tip:
At fast food restaurants, you can get two dines
on a fast food order when you order your food
and your drink separately.
Tip number two.
Use a card that gives bonus points for dining
to double dip and earn miles and points.
When you use a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve,
it gives bonus points at restaurants.
You'll earn extra points plus your airline miles.
Pro tip:
Some airline cards like the Citi AAdvantage card,
earn two miles for every dollar spent at restaurants.
So when you pay with that card, you'll earn your miles
for your dining plus the bonus miles
for using your Citibank card.
Tip number three:
Check for bonus offers to triple dip.
Some credit card companies like Chase and American Express,
offer bonus points when you pay with your credit card
at select merchants, including restaurants.
This allows you to triple dip.
Your earn miles eating at the Rewards Network restaurants.
You earn points when you pay
using your restaurant category bonus card,
and you'll earn extra points because you've opt into
that Chase or Amex offer.
As you know from this video,
on "Seven Easy Ways to Earn Points and Miles
Without Flying," I'm a big fan of easy.
If you haven't seen it,
be sure and watch it after this video.
If you love these tips on how to earn frequent flyer miles
with airline dining programs, make sure you like the video,
subscribe and hit that notification bell
because in the next video,
I will share more easy ways to earn miles and points.
Thanks for watching.