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If you want to build up your airline rewards program miles, there's a way to earn bonus miles on something you do every day: eating. You can join an airline dining rewards program as a new member and get bonus miles. If you maximize all of them, you can currently earn 3,000 bonus miles. But you'll need to sign up for the Southwest dining rewards program by June 30 to do so.
Each program is a little different with how to get your bonus miles, but you can get all 3,000 miles without much spending. Considering these are “new member bonuses,” it goes without saying that these promotions are limited to new members. If you already have an account with any of these programs, you won't be able to get the bonus miles.
Page Contents
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining Program: 500 Bonus Points
- Free Spirit Dining Rewards Program: 500 Bonus Points
- Alaska Mileage Plan Dining Rewards Program: 500 Bonus Miles
- United MileagePlus Dining Rewards Program: Up to 1,000 Bonus Miles
- American Airlines AAdvantage Dining Rewards Program: 500 Bonus Miles
- Delta SkyMiles Dining Rewards Program
- JetBlue TrueBlue Dining Rewards Program
- General Terms and Conditions for New Member Bonuses
- How Airline Dining Rewards Programs Work
- Our Take
Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining Program: 500 Bonus Points
- Sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining program by June 30, 2023.
- Link a debit and/or credit card.
- Spend at least $25 (including tax and tip) in one visit at any participating restaurant within 30 days of joining the program.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Complete an online review within 30 days.
- Earn 500 bonus points.
Free Spirit Dining Rewards Program: 500 Bonus Points
- Sign up for the Free Spirit Dining program before July 31, 2023.
- Link a debit and/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 (was 1,000).
Alaska Mileage Plan Dining Rewards Program: 500 Bonus Miles
- Sign up for the Mileage Plan Dining program before July 31, 2023.
- Link a debit and/or credit card.
- Spend at least $30 (including tax and tip) in one purchase 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 (was 1,000).
United MileagePlus Dining Rewards Program: Up to 1,000 Bonus Miles
- Sign up for the MileagePlus Dining program before July 31, 2023.
- Link a debit and/or credit card.
- Spend at least $25 (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 500 bonus miles.
- MileagePlan members who have a Premier status will earn an additional 500 miles, for a total of 1,000 bonus miles.
While we are happy to see this promotion extended again, the bonus amount has been reduced yet again: from 3,000 to 1,500 to now a maximum of 1,000 miles.
American Airlines AAdvantage Dining Rewards Program: 500 Bonus Miles
- Sign up for the AAdvantage Dining program before August 31, 2023.
- Link a debit and/or credit card.
- Spend at least $25 (including tax and tip) in one purchase at any participating restaurant, bar, or club within 30 days of joining the program.
- Review your dining experience via the link to the restaurant review in your Account Center or benefit confirmation email.
- Pay the check with your linked credit or debit card.
- Earn 500 bonus miles.
Delta SkyMiles Dining Rewards Program
Delta recently offered up to 1,500 bonus SkyMiles to new members. However, that promotion ended May 14, 2023. When another bonus is available for new members, we will provide updates.
JetBlue TrueBlue Dining Rewards Program
TrueBlue Dining previously offered a bonus for new members signing up, but that is no longer available. Members simply earn 3 TrueBlue points per dollar spent on dining through the platform.
General Terms and Conditions for 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.
- An online review is not available or required for a purchase made at a restaurant listed as Online Ordering Only.
- Remain opted in to receive emails from the program with a valid, deliverable email address.
- Some of the 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 to 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 0.5 miles per dollar. If you opt in to receive emails from the dining program, you'll earn a lot more miles (typically around 3) 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 5 miles per dollar spent on your 12th transaction and thereafter.
There are a couple of exceptions. First, American AAdvantage Dining automatically gives you 1 mile per dollar spent (instead of 0.5 mile per dollar spent). The other notable mention is JetBlue, which only gives 3 TrueBlue points per dollar spent on dining and doesn't offer a second tier.
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
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. I'd suggest staggering them each month.
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 & dining purchases to further maximize your earnings.
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How do you dis-enroll from these programs so you can qualify for a new sign up bonus???
I’d love to know how to do that and I haven’t had the time to figure it out
I’m not sure there’s a way to unenroll from these programs. Let us know if you figure it out.
It’s interesting that no matter what programs you sign up for whether it is United, Delta or American, they all show the same restaurants. I am in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and I have cards from all three airlines.
If I enroll for Delta, Alaska, and Southwest with the same credit card and then I go to one restaurant that happens to be part of all three programs, which program will I earn points from? All three? Can’t be that good?
I can go to threes restaurants easily, but exactly which restaurant is going to which program?
You’ll only get credit on the last program that you added the card to. The backend systems on these are all interconnected. So, unfortunately, we can’t take advantage of all of them at once.
Is there a way to dis-enroll from these plans and start over with potential new bonuses?
That would be a very interesting article.
We know we can get bonuses again on Chase, Citi and B of A cards if we close existing card and wait long enough.
???
Paul – I haven’t tried it, but I would assume removing your credit cards and then signing up with a new email would allow you to start over with a new account. The issue would be whether the program(s) allow you to link the same frequent flyer number that was already linked to another account somewhere else. We haven’t tried it, so we have nothing to go on for whether that’s possible.
Delta seems to give you the most bang for your buck. Already a member of the Southwest Dining Program.
Every once in a while, I get surprised with some points for a meal out. Feels good.
The bonuses are good for new members. It would be great if past customers could take advantage of these offers as well.
Hi! Does this also apply to countries outside the US? Thanks.
Guillermo – I haven’t searched exhaustively, but I believe most of the restaurants in these programs are in the US. You could go to the programs’ websites and use the “my location” feature to see if anything is near you.
These programs are all operated by Rewards Network, which has member restaurants ONLY IN THE USA. Many years ago, RN tried to expand into Canada and Japan, but soon quit those countries. Foreigners AFAIK can join if they visit the USA often enough to make it worthwhile. David Stretch, regular debit cards do work, and I’m pretty sure that prepaid cards also do.
I’ve sometimes wondered, does this also work for prepaid cards?
Hello, thanks for the note, I have a question, this is only valid in the USA or in other countries, can it be done?
I assume the Dining rewards programs recognize prior use from the e-mail address used for the login. It would be a pain to have a different e-mail for each account, just to get “New Member” bonuses!
I’m intrigued enough that I may actually do the American dining one
The bonuses are good for new members. It would be great if past customers could take advantage of these offers as well.
Plenty of dining programs also linked to hotel partners. Really need to shop around on which one provides you the best value.
Great news but I also found there are much fewer participating restaurants than before at least near where I live.
Great programme, I just wish it would be venture out to restaurants overseas
These aren’t a bad initiative, but can non-US members take advantage?
I remember Qantas offering a similar sort of bonus/tie up with Qandoo and IHG with Opentable.
I think (at least some of) these programs are open to all loyalty prog. members, but you’ll want to check if there are dining options close to home unless you’re planning to use when traveling to US.
These programs usually focus on the home bases of the airlines.
Every time I get a new credit card, I enroll it in one of these dining programs. Unfortunately, I think I’ve maxxed out all of them at this point.
Nice offers but all these dining programs never have any restaurants around where I live…
So, if I use my Citi AAdvantage Platinum card in AAdvantage Dining, which earns 2x on Restaurant Purchases and I visit a restaurant 10 times to reach VIP status and earn 5x, is it really like getting 7x on eating out for lunch?
Asking for a friend…
Yep that looks right. Except that VIP starts on your 12th dining transaction (earn 5x after your 11th dine)
interesante es la propuesta de cenar e ir sumando millas. la tendremos en cuenta.
Hi, sorry for insisting. Do you know if these programs apply in Argentina?
Thanks in advance !
This is certainly a good way to extend the life of your miles for those programs that expire. The signup bonuses also is an added bonus for those that have not sign up for these programs yet. Everybody got to eat, right?
Too bad these dining programs aren’t like AT&T, where existing customers get the same deals as new customers 🙂
Existing members should be just as valuable indeed.
Do telecom providers still offer very rewarding offers like they used to, by the way?
This is a good bonus for new members, but the programs used to be more generous for existing members. For example, for both AA and Delta, the base miles earned by dining at participating restaurants was 10 miles/dollar. Then they had what they called “hot deals”, where at selected restaurants you could get 20 miles/dollar. Now it’s 5 miles/dollar.
Don’t get me wrong, is a good offer too bad not open no older members. But often times, i’ve noticed those restaurants that sign up for the dining program are those that can not atract clients on their own, like based on their culinary offer. Careful if attempting a date or such.
The restaurant offerings are definitely location dependent, but I have had the opposite experience: The restaurants I’ve tried in the program have been excellent and a few were truly outstanding. I use the program as a tool to find restaurants when I travel. I remember a few years ago in Baltimore, I found a restaurant through the program that was in an art museum. It was so good that I went back the next night with people I had met from the conference. Everyone was impressed and I got points again. Certainly I never would have found this location without the program.
Existing members should be fully valued too.
I assume the Dining rewards programs recognize prior use from the e-mail address used for the login. It would be a pain to have a different e-mail for each account, just to get “New Member” bonuses!
Great way to keep miles from expiring.
Good info. I am already a member of the AA dining program as this is a good way to keep miles alive. I will sign up for the others, as well, and grab the bonuses. Thanks!
Excellent promotion is now only directed to be able to use it in the USA or can you also use it in other countries?
Unfortunately these promotions are really only for US, as that’s where the dining programs have partnered with restaurants.
I know you can’t join two programs at the same time (i.e. Hilton and AA dining), but what about cases where two people have the same credit card number? Can the number be tied to one program for each person or does it get treated as a dupe?
Unfortunately, it will be treated as a duplicate. The dining programs only work off of the credit card number.
This is good but only for those who do not have an account yet. I wish they would do this for those who already have an account.
Does anyone know of similar programs at European airlines?
Besides being a great way to tack on some extra points & miles, the dining programs are also a great way to reset the expiration clock on those programs that still have an expiration date like Hilton, AA and Alaskan Airlines.
Amazing offer! I especially love that this is great incentive to dine out which will help the restaurants who are suffering in sales. Double win!
What about existing members? They need to offer something in todays times.
Easy way to earn some extra miles. Unfortunate that they only offers new member bonuses though. Would be nice to some incentives for those that are long time members.
Hold up; is this saying that you could get the delta bonus thrice? As in get the bonus, delete login, get the bonus, delete login, and get another bonus again?
I wouldn’t mind joining am few of these but as far as I can tell these programs are targeted to US residents only. Is that right? Any programs for international residents at the moment?
Thanks!
Most of the airline dining programs use Rewards Network for the backend – and they’re focused solely on getting U.S. restaurants onboard (at least for now). That’s why it’s only targeted to U.S. residents.
This kind of programs are usually offered by airlines in their home turfs to their home market members..
I have had a restaurant or two hit without expecting it. With the current uncertainty due to the pandemic, I’d look to the programs where they haven’t ended points expiration dates.
There’s gotta be a way to expand dining programs to Canada too!!
The link associated with the Spirit program appears to instead actually link to the Southwest program.
It sure does 🙁 Fixed and thanks for catching that!
If you sign up but did not get the bonus before, can you still get the bonus now?
The terms generally say something like “This bonus offer is open to all new AAdvantage℠ members who have not yet created a web login and linked a credit and/or debit card.” So, if you’ve earned through the program in the past, you’re probably out of luck,
Looks like a great way to rack up some extra miles for when I start traveling again!
Great idea for building points throughout the pandemic! I plan to follow these steps. Thanks for posting.
I signed up for the AA, DL and UA dining programs years ago. I now just use my CSR wherever I dine
I’m a member of the Hilton Dining Program which is pretty good when you reach the VIP level but for 3.000+ bonus points, may have to switch loyalty for a few months.
Didn’t know about these programs. Thanks for an easy way to add some extra points to my frequent flyer programs!
My understanding is that a given card my only be associated “linked” with only a singular program at a given time. Accordingly, one would have to close an account to switch a particular card to another airline/hotel/shopping plan to take advantage of the bonuses detailed above. Is this indeed the correct interpretation?
That’s right that a card can only be linked to 1 account at a time. But thankfully, you don’t have to close the other accounts. Say you start with Delta. After the bonuses post to your account, you can open a United account and link the same card. Doing so will automatically unlink that card from your Delta account. Just make sure that you wait until the bonus posts to your account before switching over.
I am a big fan of the dining programs and have all my cards linked to various different ones. I have used it to earn miles but also it has helped me find great restaurants that otherwise I never would have visited. I actually didn’t know that JetBlue participated. I’ll have to sign up for their program but I think I’ll wait to see if they ever have a new member sign up bonus.
I’m a big fan of these dining reward programmes. I feel they don’t get the attention and uptake they deserve
I gave this a shot last August/September for 3,000 miles with United. The restaurant network is abysmal and nor did they give me the 3,000 miles. I wasn’t gonna fight for it and I stopped using the website to try and find restaurants. I guess my card is still linked if I hit the 1 in a million odds I done at one of the restaurants but I guess this isn’t for me.
These programs have been around for years, and the restaurant inventory does change over time, so maybe check in on the network every 6 months or so. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Do you know if there are any foreign carriers that have dining programs for their frequent flyer programs outside the US?
Well, Cathay runs it own program in Hong Kong.