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Did you know that you can earn airline miles just by going out to restaurants — and not just because you use a co-branded card? Many airlines offer a dining rewards program where you can get rewarded each time you dine at an eligible restaurant. Better yet, you can earn up to 5,000 bonus miles when joining an airline dining rewards program as a new member and completing set tasks.
Considering these are “new member bonuses,” it goes without saying that these promotions are limited to those joining for the first time. If you already have an account with any of these programs, you won't be able to get the bonus miles.
Page Contents
- American Airlines AAdvantage® Dining: 500 Bonus Miles
- Free Spirit Dining: 500 Bonus Points
- Alaska Mileage Plan Dining: 500 Bonus Miles
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining: 500 Bonus Points
- JetBlue TrueBlue Dining: 500 Bonus Points
- United MileagePlus Dining: 1,500 Bonus Miles
- Delta SkyMiles Dining: 1,000 Bonus Miles
- General Terms and Conditions for Airline Dining Program New Member Bonuses
- How Airline Dining Rewards Programs Work
- Our Take
American Airlines AAdvantage® Dining: 500 Bonus Miles
There aren't many things you can't earn AAdvantage® miles on nowadays. Going out to eat through the AAdvantage Dining program is an easy way to supplement your mile-earning strategy, helping you get ever closer to that next sweet spot redemption. And you'll earn 500 bonus miles because you're a new member.
- Sign up for the AAdvantage® Dining program before May 31, 2025.
- Link a debit or credit card.
- Within 30 days of joining the program, you must spend at least $25 (including tax and tip) on one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Review your dining experience via the link to the restaurant review in your Account Center or benefit confirmation email.
- Earn 500 bonus AAdvantage miles.
Free Spirit Dining: 500 Bonus Points
If Spirit is your airline of choice, you'd be wise to sign up for the Free Spirit dining program. You can earn bonus miles just by going out to eat!
- Sign up for the Free Spirit Dining program before June 6, 2025.
- Link a debit or credit card.
- Spend at least $30 (including tax and tip) in one dine at any participating restaurant, bar, or club within 30 days of joining the program.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Complete an online review.
- Earn 500 bonus points.
Alaska Mileage Plan Dining: 500 Bonus Miles
Of all the airline currencies you can earn, Alaska Mileage Plan miles are easily some of the most valuable. Why not earn 500 bonus miles by signing up for the Mileage Plan Dining program?
- Sign up for the Mileage Plan Dining program before June 6, 2025.
- Link a debit or credit card.
- Within 30 days of joining the program, you must spend at least $30 (including tax and tip) on one purchase at any participating restaurant, bar, or club.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Complete an online review.
- Earn 500 bonus miles.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining: 500 Bonus Points
Southwest Airlines has one of the easiest loyalty programs, so it's only natural that it makes it easy to earn miles on everyday purchases, such as dining. New members can earn 500 bonus points after joining and completing some simple tasks.
- Sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining program by June 30, 2025.
- Link a debit or credit card.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Within 30 days of joining the program, you must spend at least $25 (including tax and tip) on one visit at any participating restaurant.
- Complete an online review within 30 days.
- Earn 500 bonus points.
JetBlue TrueBlue Dining: 500 Bonus Points
Fancy a few extra JetBlue TrueBlue points? Signing up for JetBlue TrueBlue Dining is a great way to pocket extra points without much effort.
- Sign up for the TrueBlue Dining program before June 30, 2025.
- Link a debit or credit card.
- Within 30 days of joining the program, you must spend at least $25 (including tax and tip) on one purchase at any participating restaurant, bar, or club.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Complete an online review.
- Earn 500 bonus points.
United MileagePlus Dining: 1,500 Bonus Miles
Saving up for a United MileagePlus sweet spot redemption? Supplementing your miles-earning methods with United's dining program is an easy way to earn miles faster. And the cherry on top is a new member bonus of up to 1,500 miles.
- Sign up for the MileagePlus Dining program before July 15, 2025.
- Link a debit or credit card.
- Spend at least $50 (including tax and tip) in one purchase at any participating restaurant, bar, or club (including online orders) within 30 days of joining the program.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Review your dining experience.
- Earn 1,500 bonus miles.
Delta SkyMiles Dining: 1,000 Bonus Miles
The Delta SkyMiles Dining Program gives the largest new member bonus for a dining program of any airline. Through June 6, 2025, you can earn 1,000 SkyMiles for joining and spending at least $30 at a participating restaurant.
- Sign up for the SkyMiles Dining program before January 9, 2026.
- Link a debit or credit card.
- Within 30 days of joining the program, you must spend at least $30 (including tax and tip) on one purchase at any participating restaurant, bar, or club.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Review your dining experience via the link to the restaurant review in your Account Center or benefit confirmation email.
- Earn 1,000 bonus miles.
General Terms and Conditions for Airline Dining Program New Member Bonuses
- The minimum of $25 or $30 spent on takeout and delivery orders is based on the subtotal only, not including taxes, tips, and fees.
- Bonus points and miles can take up to 6 weeks to appear in your account.
- Remain opted in to receive emails from the program with a valid, deliverable email address.
- Some participating restaurants only offer bonus miles on certain days of the week, with a limited amount of spending per month or a limited number of visits, so ensure that you check your dining rewards program website for details.
- These offers may not be combined with other dining program offers.
How Airline Dining Rewards Programs Work
Most of the dining programs work the same way. For each dollar you spend, you'll earn a small multiple of miles — usually around 0.5X miles per dollar. If you opt-in to receive emails from the dining program, you'll earn a lot more miles (typically around 3X) per dollar spent. After you complete a set number of transactions in one calendar year, you'll move up to VIP status and start earning 5X miles per dollar spent on your 12th transaction and thereafter.
There are a couple of exceptions. First, American AAdvantage® Dining automatically gives you 1X mile per dollar spent (instead of 0.5X mile per dollar spent). The other notable mention is JetBlue, which only gives 3X TrueBlue points per dollar spent on dining and doesn't offer a higher tier of earnings for opting into emails. However, you can double your points earned through TrueBlue dining by using a JetBlue credit card.
Another big change is that Southwest points earned through the Rapid Rewards Dining program no longer count toward earning a Southwest Companion Pass.
Our Take
While each of these promotions has an expiration date, they inevitably are extended each time they expire. Unfortunately, the number of points you can earn has dropped repeatedly. Until 2023, you could earn a combined 10,500 bonus miles with these offers. Right now, the most you can earn is 5,000. Yet, while you don't earn a huge number of points anymore, every little bit helps to get some extra miles.
Airline dining rewards programs are great for earning bonus miles without traveling. If you aren't already a member of these programs and want to maximize your miles, don't sign up for all of them at once. Consider staggering them each month or two so you can ensure you earn all of the bonuses.
You don't have to use an airline credit card to get these bonuses, but it will help you earn even more miles. You can also consult our list of the best credit cards for restaurant and dining purchases to further maximize your earnings.
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