You can earn airline award miles just by dining out. Many airlines offer dining rewards programs that let you earn rewards each time you eat at participating restaurants. Even better, if you join an airline dining rewards program as a new member and complete the required tasks, you can earn extra bonus miles.

How Airline Dining Rewards Work

Most dining rewards programs work in a similar way. And most major airlines have one, including AA, UA, Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, and more. Here’s how it works:

  • Sign up for the airline’s dining rewards program
  • Link a credit card or debit card to your account
  • Use the linked card at participating restaurants and earn miles per dollar spent, typically 0.5 miles per $1
  • If you opt in to promotional emails, you can earn more miles per $1 spent, usually about 3x
  • After completing a certain number of transactions within a year, you’ll be upgraded to VIP status and earn 5x miles starting with your 12th transaction and beyond

In addition, some restaurants offer extra bonuses. Below are some eligible restaurants I found in New York City. You can sign up and search using your own ZIP code to see what’s available nearby. The participating restaurants are generally the same across programs, though the bonus offers may vary by airline.

If you haven’t joined these programs yet and want to maximize your miles, don’t sign up for all of them at once. I suggest joining one each month or every other month, because the welcome bonuses are actually pretty decent. If you’re going to dine out anyway, it’s an easy way to pick up whichever bonus gives you the best value.

One important thing to note: a single credit card can only be linked to one airline dining program at a time. If you link it to another program later, it will automatically be removed from the previous one. So my suggestion is to first earn the welcome bonus from each airline program, then decide which airline you want to focus on and link the card you plan to use for dining.

Of course, the best move is to use a credit card that already earns bonus rewards on dining purchases. You can also check out our roundup of the best cards for restaurant spending:

You can also refer to the summary table below:

Dining

Credit Card Cash Back Annual Fee Notes Apply
Citi Strata Elite 4.5%/9% (6x TYP) $595 $700 in annual credits; 3x normally, 6x on dining on Friday and Saturday nights Apply
Citi Prestige 6.5% (5x TYP) $495 $250 in annual travel credits No longer available for direct application; only obtainable via product change
AMEX Gold 6.4% (4x MR) $325 $300 in annual credits Apply
Citi Custom Cash 5% $0 $500 monthly cap Apply
AMEX Green 4.8% (3x MR) $250 Clear credit of $189 Apply
Chase Sapphire Preferred 4.8% (3x UR) $95 $50 hotel credit Apply
Chase Sapphire Reserve 4.8% (3x UR) $795 About $2,500 in various annual credits Apply
US Bank Altitude Go 4% $0 Only applies to the first $2,000 in dining purchases per quarter Apply
Citi Strata Premier 3.9% (3x TYP) $95 $100 annual hotel benefit Apply
Capital One Savor 3% $0 No annual fee for the first year Apply
BOA Customized Cash 3% $0 Can be boosted to 5.25% with a premium checking account Apply
Wells Fargo Autograph 3% $0 Apply
Citi Costco 3% $0 Requires at least a $55 Costco membership Apply
Detailed analysis: Best Credit Cards for Dining

American Airlines AAdvantage® Dining: 1500 Bonus Miles

  • Sign-up link
  • Register for the AAdvantage® Dining program by September 30, 2024
  • Link a debit card or credit card
  • Within 30 days of joining, make one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club totaling at least $150, including tax and tip
  • Pay with your linked credit card or debit card
  • Submit a review of your dining experience through the link in your account or in the review email
  • Earn 1500 bonus AAdvantage miles

AA automatically awards 1 mile per dollar spent instead of 0.5x. Also, these dining earnings count toward Loyalty Points.

Delta SkyMiles Dining: 1000 Bonus Miles

  • Sign-up link
  • Register for the SkyMiles Dining program by January 17, 2025
  • Link a debit card or credit card
  • Within 30 days of joining, make one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club totaling at least $30, including tax and tip
  • Pay with your linked credit card or debit card
  • Submit a review of your dining experience through the link in your account or in the review email
  • Earn 1000 bonus Delta miles

Compared with AA, this one only requires $30 in spending, so the value is much better.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining: 500 Bonus Points

  • Sign-up link
  • Register for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining program by January 17, 2025
  • Link a debit card or credit card
  • Within 30 days of joining, make one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club totaling at least $25, including tax and tip
  • Pay with your linked credit card or debit card
  • Submit a review of your dining experience through the link in your account or in the review email
  • Earn 500 bonus Southwest miles

Note: points earned through Rapid Rewards Dining no longer count toward qualifying for the Southwest Companion Pass.

Free Spirit Dining: 500 Bonus Points

  • Sign-up link
  • Register for the Spirit Rewards Dining program by January 17, 2025
  • Link a debit card or credit card
  • Within 30 days of joining, make one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club totaling at least $30, including tax and tip
  • Pay with your linked credit card or debit card
  • Submit a review of your dining experience through the link in your account or in the review email
  • Earn 500 bonus Spirit miles

United MileagePlus Dining: 500 Bonus Miles

  • Sign-up link
  • Register for the UA program by January 17, 2025
  • Link a debit card or credit card
  • Within 30 days of joining, make one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club totaling at least $30, including tax and tip
  • Pay with your linked credit card or debit card
  • Submit a review of your dining experience through the link in your account or in the review email
  • Earn 500 bonus UA miles

Alaska Mileage Plan Dining: 500 Bonus Miles

  • Sign-up link
  • Register for the Alaska Dining Rewards program by January 17, 2025
  • Link a debit card or credit card
  • Within 30 days of joining, make one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club totaling at least $30, including tax and tip
  • Pay with your linked credit card or debit card
  • Submit a review of your dining experience through the link in your account or in the review email
  • Earn 500 bonus Alaska miles

JetBlue TrueBlue Dining: 500 Bonus Points

  • Sign-up link
  • Register for the JetBlue Dining Rewards program by January 17, 2025
  • Link a debit card or credit card
  • Within 30 days of joining, make one or more purchases at any participating restaurant, bar, or club totaling at least $25, including tax and tip
  • Pay with your linked credit card or debit card
  • Submit a review of your dining experience through the link in your account or in the review email
  • Earn 500 bonus JetBlue miles

JetBlue only awards 3 TrueBlue points per $1 spent on dining purchases.

My Take

Dining Rewards has been around for many years, and it’s a solid way to earn miles from everyday spending. In many cases, the miles earned can also help extend the expiration date of your airline miles, which makes these programs even more useful. If restaurants you already visit are part of this Rewards network, it’s worth signing up—after all, free extra miles are always nice.