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- Dining programs are a great way to earn extra airline miles and hotel points for your everyday spend.
- Pairing credit cards like the American Express® Gold Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve with these dining programs yields additional rewards on dining expenses.
- Depending on how much you dine out, you can earn some serious extra points and mileage.
Dining programs are a great way to earn extra airline miles and hotel points for your everyday spend. Think of these as shopping portals for restaurants: You can dine at participating restaurants, and you'll earn extra miles in addition to your credit card miles.
These programs are super easy to use, too.
Just sign up for the dining rewards program of your choice, link your credit cards, and dine at a participating restaurant. Then, after you pay, the miles will be deposited into your account in a matter of weeks - automatically!
How many airline miles do you earn per dollar spent? Also, more importantly, what airlines and hotel chains participate in dining rewards programs?
If you're asking these questions, you're in the right place. Because in this article, I'll show you how many miles you'll earn on major dining programs as well as which airlines and hotel chains have dining programs of their own.
Additionally, I'll discuss some of the best cards - including the American Express Gold Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve - to pair with these dining programs for additional rewards on dining expenses. When used in tandem, you can rack up some serious points.
How many miles and points will I earn?
Most airline and hotel dining chains are run by the same parent company: Rewards Network. Also, within most Rewards Network dining programs, there are three status tiers: member, online member, and VIP.
Member is the standard membership tier that earns the lowest number of points. Online member is achieved when you enroll in email alerts from the dining rewards program, and VIP is usually obtained after 10 dines.
Do note that not all airline dining programs have a VIP status tier. We'll discuss which do and which don't below.
Additionally, many Rewards Network dining programs have sign-up bonuses. These generally require a set amount of dines over a specific dollar amount within a specified period, so check your program of choice before signing up.
What airlines and hotel chains participate?
Nearly all major airlines and hotel chains have a dining program. Here's a list of all the dining rewards programs and how many points each status tier earns:
Alaska Airlines Mileage Dining Plan
- Earn 2 miles per $1 spent as a member
- Earn 3 miles per $1 spent as an online member
- Earn 5 miles per $1 spent as a VIP member
American Airlines AAdvantage Dining
- Earn 1 mile per $1 spent as a member
- Earn 3 miles per $1 spent as an online member
- Earn 5 miles per $1 spent as a VIP member
Delta SkyMiles Dining
- Earn 1 mile per $2 spent as a member
- Earn 3 miles per $1 spent as an online member
- Earn 5 miles per $1 spent as a VIP member
JetBlue TrueBlue Dining
- Earn 3 miles per $1 spent
Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining
- Earn 1 point per $2 spent as a member
- Earn 3 points per $1 spent as an online member
Spirit Airlines Free Spirit Dining
- Earn 1 mile per $2 spent as a member
- Earn 3 miles per $1 spent as an online member
- Earn 5 miles per $1 spent as a VIP member
United MileagePlus Dining
- Earn 1 mile per $2 spent as a member
- Earn 3 miles per $1 spent as an online member
- Earn 5 miles per $1 spent as a VIP member
Hilton Honors Dining
- Earn 2 points per $1 spent as a member
- Earn 5 points per $1 spent as a member
- Earn 8 points per $1 spent as a VIP member
IHG Rewards
- Earn 1 point per $1 spent as a member
- Earn 5 points per $1 spent as a member
- Earn 8 points per $1 spent as a VIP member
Pro tip: Link your card to Dosh for extra cash back.
Cash-back app Dosh has many of the same dining partners as the major airline and hotel dining programs. Add your card to Dosh, and you can earn extra cash back on top of the miles you earn with your credit card and through the dining programs listed above.
Some restaurants earn nearly 5-10% cash back, so it's easy to save money on your dining expenses. You can redeem Dosh cash back right to your bank account, so you're saving real money.
Dosh also partners with many local and online retailers so that you can earn extra cash back on other purchases too. Download the app and see which local retailers in your area are on Dosh.
Read more: Capital One Savor offers amazing dining-out perks for foodies in the form of unlimited 4% cash back
American Express
American Express
Best credit cards for dining purchases
In addition to dining programs and Dosh, you can earn tons of additional miles when using the right credit card for your dining purchases. Some of these cards earn up to 4 points per $1 spent at US restaurants.
Here are some of our favorite credit cards for dining purchases:
American Express Gold Card
The AmEx Gold card offers 4 points per $1 spent on dining purchases. Additionally, you're given a $10 monthly dining credit to select US restaurants and food delivery services like Seamless and Grubhub. Currently, this is the best credit card for dining purchases. The card earns American Express Membership Rewards points that can be transferred to a vast number of airlines, including British Airways, Emirates, ANA, and more.
Do note that this card has a $250 annual fee, but the card has an up to $100
Chase Sapphire Reserve
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card earns 3 points per $1 spent on all dining and travel purchases. Better yet, the dining category is super broad, so you'll earn bonus miles on dining at restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and coffee shops.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are great too. You can transfer the points to United, Southwest, British Airways, and other airline rewards programs as well as redeem them for paid flights at 1.5 cents per mile.
The card has a $450 annual fee but includes a $300 travel credit. There is a lower fee version of the card - dubbed the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card - but this card earns just 2 miles per $1 spent on dining and travel. However, the annual fee is only $95 per year (and is waived the first year). Further, you do not get the preferred rate of 1.5 cents per mile towards paid flights. Instead, you can redeem at 1.25 cents per point.
Read more: The best credit card rewards, bonuses, and perks of 2019
The bottom line
There you have it: All the airline and hotel dining programs you can sign-up for to earn extra miles, and the best credit cards to accompany them.
Use these programs, and you'll start to earn extra miles on everyday dining purchases. Depending on how much you dine out, you can earn some serious extra mileage.
Click here to learn more about the American Express Gold Card from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.
Click here to learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.
Click here to learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.
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