@Anonymous wrote:Rakuten dining reward is not for every one.
For starter, its an iOS only app. Then the restaurent in the network... lets just say they aren't cheap. And lastly, you can get reward through reward network already (AA dining, delta dining, southwest dining, etc).
Just to clarify, Rakuten Dining is through Rewards Network the same as most airline/hotel/fuel/cash dining reward programs, so all of the eligible restaurants are exactly the same. It's a shame that they won't just let you sign up on the website, but the Android app update with it is coming soon. I have VIP status with SkyMiles Dining so I earn 5x instead of the standard 3x, but I'm still switching over to Rakuten. If I needed SkyMiles, I can still transfer to Delta 1:1 so I'm not losing anything and that also gives me the option to be able to transfer to Virgin Atlantic or Air France/KLM for even cheaper Delta awards.
The selection of restaurants is going to vary widely depending on the city. Here in Boston, there are about 250 restaurants listed within a 30 mile radius from almost fast food to fine dining (one of the latter shares a merchant account with a luxury movie theatre here; it was a surprise when dinner and drinks at the movie triggered SkyMiles Dining LOL), so there's a little bit for everyone. I always look when I travel, so I do know that in some areas (especially those dominated by chain restaurants) it might just be a handful of bars and pubs participating.
Amex Offers was mentioned several times in the thread. I do have to say that having numerous Amex cards, every card gets different offers. I've had enough unique ones in the past 12 months to essentially cover my AF on Gold and then there's GrubHub to more than take care of the rest. I really don't use my Gold Card much, but every time I consider closing it I realize I'm not exactly losing money on it, and it would be hard to me to close a card that old.
@Anonymous wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@staticvoidmain wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:1. split delta trip into two one way trips and book as two trips, for each trip, use 50-100 GC and pay the remainder (<100) with gold, should trigger credit.
Have you tested this past mid-2019? I thought the GC trick stopped working completely around a couple of months ago? There might be a chance the GC trick could work but only if you buy it from SkyClub lounges.
This is different from the old 'trick'; in this case it's paying the remainder of the flight that triggers the credit, not the purchase of the GC. The GC is only needed to get the balance due to under $100.
Expanding on this method, you can use any GC to activate this trick? It doesn't have to be specific to the Airline youre flight is on right, hence could be any generic Visa/MC type? Then pay the remainder with Gold. Or does it have to be a Delta GC? Or can one do the pay with Mileage +Cashand still trigger it?
When using a Delta gift card for some of the cost of a ticket, it codes differently than a normal ticket purchase which is why that still works for triggering the credit. If you are splitting the payment onto 2 or more credit cards, I think it would still code as a normal ticket purchase (also note that you cannot split payment onto 2 or more credit cards on the Delta website or app, but it's likely possible over the phone or in-person).
I'm not sure if Pay With Miles will code differently or not; it's quite possible that it might, but at 1 cent per mile (less if not doing increments of $50, i.e. $300.00 requires 30k miles, but $300.23 requires 35k miles) it's not a very good value and might be best reserved for those who just have orphan points lying around or truly will never accrue enough miles for an award flight and you would still only earn SkyMiles based on whatever portion was not paid in miles.
Basically I think the reason the partial gift card payment is still working is because it pretty much codes as an ancillary fee like taxes on an award flight. And it has to appear differently in the Delta system because if you were refunded, the amount charged to the gift card would not be refundable but rather issued as a travel credit.
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@staticvoidmain wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:1. split delta trip into two one way trips and book as two trips, for each trip, use 50-100 GC and pay the remainder (<100) with gold, should trigger credit.
Have you tested this past mid-2019? I thought the GC trick stopped working completely around a couple of months ago? There might be a chance the GC trick could work but only if you buy it from SkyClub lounges.
This is different from the old 'trick'; in this case it's paying the remainder of the flight that triggers the credit, not the purchase of the GC. The GC is only needed to get the balance due to under $100.
Expanding on this method, you can use any GC to activate this trick? It doesn't have to be specific to the Airline youre flight is on right, hence could be any generic Visa/MC type? Then pay the remainder with Gold. Or does it have to be a Delta GC? Or can one do the pay with Mileage +Cashand still trigger it?
When using a Delta gift card for some of the cost of a ticket, it codes differently than a normal ticket purchase which is why that still works for triggering the credit. If you are splitting the payment onto 2 or more credit cards, I think it would still code as a normal ticket purchase (also note that you cannot split payment onto 2 or more credit cards on the Delta website or app, but it's likely possible over the phone or in-person).
I'm not sure if Pay With Miles will code differently or not; it's quite possible that it might, but at 1 cent per mile (less if not doing increments of $50, i.e. $300.00 requires 30k miles, but $300.23 requires 35k miles) it's not a very good value and might be best reserved for those who just have orphan points lying around or truly will never accrue enough miles for an award flight and you would still only earn SkyMiles based on whatever portion was not paid in miles.
Basically I think the reason the partial gift card payment is still working is because it pretty much codes as an ancillary fee like taxes on an award flight. And it has to appear differently in the Delta system because if you were refunded, the amount charged to the gift card would not be refundable but rather issued as a travel credit.
Do you know if the partial gc method works for AA too? Thanks!
