As of 2022, American Airlines is introducing the new Loyalty Points system for status qualification. What this means is that your AAdvantage status won’t just be based on your flying activity, but it’ll also be based on how many miles you earn through non-flying activities.
Continue reading: Guide To American AAdvantage Dining Program
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
A possibility you might want to address...if one has an AA co-branded card, does one essentially "double dip"; i.e., earn 1, 3 or 5 miles/dollar spent (depending on one's status with AA Dining Rewards) plus an additional mile/dollar for using the AA co-branded card?
@ Jim -- You could indeed, but if you ask me, the opportunity cost of putting dining spending on a co-branded AAdvantage card is simply too high, given the number of points you're forgoing.
Yes. It says as much on the AADVANTAGE Dining site as well. Your "restaurant bonus" category is from your card issuer, this is not.
@ben So I'm VIP on the dining program, so I earn 5 miles per dollar at those places, plus 2 per dollar on my AA card. So even at 7 miles per dollar (in some cases) I'm still losing out compared to say 1% back on Discover or 1.5% on Chase?
So a vip and use of the citi Aadvantage world elite MasterCard would get 7 LPs per $1 ?
I don’t believe it.
Every Dec I get an email from the program of how many more visits I need to keep 5x VIP. Then I spend $2 a pop on a kids cup at an ice cream shop for how many visits I still need. I guess that’s “dairy running?”
I make 3-4 extra thous AA miles a yr by keeping VIP usually by accidentally landing on a restaurant while out of town. And the program sometimes runs 200+ extra point promos which further helps to bump up total miles for the yr.
Biggest hurdle is keeping my updated credit cards linked.
I charge my meals in the U.S. on the AMEX Biz Gold, which simultaneously earns me 4x AMEX MR points and 5x UA miles as a VIP in UA Dining. The CSR: 3x UR points and 5x UA miles. The AMEX HH Aspire: 7x HH points (that count as base points until 12/2022) and 5x UA miles....
Not bad at all.
I have been a member of the AAdvantage Dining Program for years and my participation with it varies over time, probably the main contributor being how often I have to manually submit my meal requests because their internal processes for tabulating spent dollars doesn't capture my visit. This year, I probably had to do it 5 times. Very annoying!
Some stupid influencer should eat their way to EXP.
Eating out for $40k isn't really a lot consider how these people are injecting stupid or crazy stuff to our youths today. Especially YouTubers that came to fame by complaining about iPhones, donating Beast stuff, or wasting parents' money for funny content, etc.
I invite any YouTuber dumb enough, try to eat your way to elite EXP.
Bonus if you actually make Concierge Key through dining.
How much weight will you gain?
Benjamin you're losing out by not using a card that earns 3x or 4x if you have them. Considering all of those equal you'd be earning 8x or 9x.
I'm confused by the card combination for maximum earning. If I'm reading correctly, you're better off using a non AA branded credit card? Do you then convert points? Or you spend $10 and the card gives you 2x =20 points and the AA Dining then multiplies that? I'm usually pretty good at following this and actually accrued a fair amount of extra AA Miles using the program 5-6 years ago. I believe it was 10x miles then too for VIP or whatever. And as someone mentioned, end of the year you'd go to a place multiple times for one thing. Or in my case, I'd hit the bar of the restaurant and tab out 4-5, whatever number of times/transactions I needed to requalify. And yes I compensated the staff for the hassle. Anyhow, Maybe I could ask this way : What's the ultimate setup for taking full advantage of the AA Dining program for earning Loyalty Points?
Does AA dining include any restaurants overseas like Australia or is it only restaurants in the US ?
DON'T pay with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay. Normally your miles will be credited to your account automatically, but if they don't, your receipt will show a "digital card" number which will disqualify you from rewards. You can't register the digital card, as you only know the last four digits.
This program SUCKS!! I signed up and was expecting the bonus miles because I dined within 30 days, then they wanted to say I need to do 3 other steps, except it was for Simply Miles. It is a no wonder this airline is in the toilet; they cheat their member. You deserve whtat you get; go somewhere else