After a long break and finally getting home from my month-long trip to Australia, here’s another way of earning airline miles, just in time for the weekend.
If you are planning a dinner date tonight or tomorrow and still don’t know where to go, keep reading.
In case I wasn’t clear, the name of the game in flying for free is to earn airline miles, or points. Programs directly through airlines tend to earn miles and other programs generally earn points. Each differ depending on the program and there are different programs that are better than others. You’ll be able to decide which one is best for you but if you follow the examples I list you’ll be heading in a good direction. Hopefully in the near future I’ll make a list of the top programs and list the pros and cons to each.
In the meantime here’s an excellent way to earning extra miles all while doing exactly what you were planning on doing tonight anyway, going out to dinner.
Just like you learned to use a shopping portal before doing any online shopping this time you’ll be registering on a dining site. It’s a little easier this time around because all you have to do is register your credit card(s) on the site and link it to your frequent flyer account. This is a very underutilized method, even among many people who do earn frequent flyer miles regularly.
The example I’ll be using is MileagePlus Dining for United. Other airlines offer similar programs, mostly all are hosted by Rewards Network. They have over 3 million users, membership is free and they don’t ever charge your card. I’ve been using them for years and haven’t ever had a problem. You can check out what rewards programs offer this benefit on the Rewards Network site but you’re better off registering through the airline’s link because sometimes they’ll offer better sign up bonuses signing up directly.
United is currently offering 2,000 bonus miles just for signing up and spending $30 on a single visit. You’ll start off earning 3 miles per dollar but after a couple dines you’ll be earning up to 5 miles per dollar (including tax and tip!) for the rest of the year. They also rotate different restaurants that offer double miles making it even easier to rack up miles.
If you eat out just once a month at $100 that would be an easy extra 6,000 miles!
The catch is it’s only for specific restaurants that are part of the Rewards Network. The good thing is there is usually a good selection of restaurants, from pizzerias, to the bar down the street, to IHOP, to the fancy Italian place you like. And if there is a place that you always go to that you would like to see listed you can even suggest a dining spot on the website and they’ll invite them to join.
It’s a win for both you and the restaurant. You get to earn extra miles, up to 5 per dollar just for going to dinner and the restaurant gets extra traffic from people who are hungry and interested in flying for free.
I wouldn’t necessarily change my dinner plans but if you didn’t know where to go out tonight and wanted to try some place new I’d check out this site.
I’ve even went out to some bars in the city and woke up to having hundreds of bonus miles because they were part of the network and I didn’t even know. So if you have your card linked and just do what you were going to do anyway you might be on your way to dining in style on your next trip.
Enjoy your dinner!
M TingTang