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A list of Dining program to earn extra points

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Breakfast at the Waldorf Dubai

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Beginner’s Guide: Join a dining program to earn extra points

Our Beginner’s Guide is dedicated to not only getting you started in points and miles, but also to drop a tip, hint, tutorial, or trick that maybe you’ve missed or haven’t heard before. If you’re an expert in this field, some of these may be things you already know, but a helpful reminder never hurts, and to those who haven’t heard of it – I gotchu baybay!

You probably already know about cards like the Amex Gold ( an absolute beast ) that have incredible category bonuses for dining.

But…did you know that you can sign up for a dining programs that will earn you another set of points when you eat at partner restaurants? Yes, you can earn your credit card points and airline or hotel points at the same time. Let’s dig into it.

You may not be able to pour two teas at one time, but you can earn two kinds of points and that is still pretty cool in my book.

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What are award dining programs?

These are partnerships that loyalty programs have struck with restaurants to reward you with their points when you dine with them. You don’t have to do anything besides sign up for the program and enter your credit card details. This pairs that card with a dining program and each time you use it at a partner restaurant you’ll earn points. I use the Alaska MileagePlan dining program, so when I dine at a partner restaurant I earn both Alaska Points and my credit card points. No fuss, just pay and earn two kinds of points.

There is NO reason why you shouldn’t be doing it. It’s more mindless than watching the Kardashians. WAYO!

Here are a few links to Dining Programs

Almost every program has an offer between 1000 and 3000 points to sign up. Great opportunity if you haven’t done so yet.

You can Double Dip: Earn Credit Card points + Airline/Hotel Points

I use my Amex Gold all the time for dining because it earns 4x points on every dollar I spend.

a close-up of a credit cardRead More About Amex Gold here

Every program is different, but my Amex Gold is linked to Alaska’s dining program. If I use it 11 times in a year, I get 5x at partner restaurants. That’s pretty awesome.

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Link your credit card

This is so it knows when you use it. They don’t keep the security id, billing information, etc

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How do you find partner restaurants?

Super easy. Each program has a search function. Here’s a look at my search for Studio City, CA

a map of a city

To Recap and more thoughts

If I eat out enough I’ll be enjoying some Cathay First Class again. Only 70k from the U.S. to Asia.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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Learn More

Affiliate Link

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
  • 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 2x on all other travel
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
  • Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
  • $95 Annual Fee

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex®  and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

11 Comments

  • […] you joined when you create your table. Find your dining table title inside list, and then click join dining […]

  • […] you aren’t participating in a dining program you definitely should. You can read a full description of Dining Programs here, but these are the programs that currently offer […]

  • Brian June 5, 2022

    Can you sign up for multiple programs at once or do you have to pick just one?

  • Caleb June 3, 2022

    Are any of these programs available for Canadians?

  • Katie March 5, 2022

    I had never heard of this before your blog post. Thank you as always for the amazing content and super valuable tips! Signed up and love earning points on my Amex Gold + Delta Skymiles Dining program!!

  • Joe June 21, 2021

    Thanks Zack! I appreciate the content you put out daily. I just signed up for the restaurant double dip. I found you on Tiktok and you’ve changed my world view on points and miles. I opened an Amex Plat because of your education content. That very next month, I opened an Amex Gold. All within 2 months. My friends and family joke that I’m currently obsessed with credit cards, points, and miles.

    • Miles June 22, 2021

      Joe – this is so awesome! TikTok has been an incredible growth platform for me and can’t tell you how cool it is to connect with people around the world who are interested in all things travel and points. enjoy those amazing bonuses and spend categories 🙂

  • Tim February 11, 2021

    Can I link all of my cards to each of the travel partners I use? For example, I linked my AMEX platinum and Aspire to United, Marriott and Hilton. When I dine, will I receive points on all of those partners and my cc or just one dining partner and cc?

    • Zack February 17, 2021

      Hi Tim, I just set mine up. You can only link one card to one account. So if you connect your AMEX to Hilton you cannot link it to another provider. It will alert you via email noting that your card has been transferred. I have my AMEX Card set to American and my Capital One Card linked to Hilton. Hope this helps.

  • EZ March 20, 2017

    Thanks for the reminder!

    There’s a nice opp for some Delta folks to get an extra 1k when earning at restaurants too:
    https://ez-journeys.com/2017/03/20/delta-is-offering-an-easy-1k-bonus-miles-for-earning-miles-w-its-partners-targeted/

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