Score an Upgrade Soon!

Everyone who lives on or visits Maui is interested in racking up Frequent Flyer awards so we figured What’s Cooking Maui readers would appreciate knowing which restaurants offer triple miles on the AA Advantage Dining program.

For every dollar you spend at the restaurant, you’ll receive three AA points, which if you dine out as often as we do, could add up to a round trip ticket every year. Then you can fly to the mainland and dine out there! For instance, there are 293 restaurants in the program near where we often stay in LA so check the website for participants when you travel as well.
Here are the Maui restaurants currently participating in this promotion:

Tia Juana’s Beach Cantina
2291 Ka`anapali Pkwy, Lahaina, HI 808-667-4080

Son’z Maui at Swan Court, Hyatt Regency Kaanapali
200 Nohea Kai Drive Lahaina, HI | P. (808) 667-4506

Pizza Paradiso
3350 Lower Honoapiilani Rd Lahaina, HI | P. (808) 667-2929

Lulu’s Lahaina Surf Club
1221 Honoapiilani Hwy Lahaina, HI | P. (808) 661-0808

Cilantro Mexican Grill
170 Papalua Avenue Lahaina, HI | P. (808) 667-5444

Lahaina Coolers
180 Dickenson St Lahaina, HI | P. (808) 661-7082

Mulligan’s At The Wharf
658 Front Street Suite #145C Lahaina, HI | P. (808) 661-8881

Denny’s Restaurant -…New!
430 Kele St Kahului, HI | P. (808) 873-5550

United Plus members have access to similar program in addition to the option of using FF miles for Restaurant.com dining certificates. As promoted on United’s website,

• Now our Mileage Plus® members have a delectable way to redeem miles when dining out. You can redeem miles for restaurant dining certificates through Restaurant.com. Redeem as few as 1,000 miles for one $25 certificate, or 2,000 miles for four $25 certificates (total of $100). Each certificate is valid for discounts at over 13,000 restaurants nationwide.

You will have to decide for yourself if the miles used are worth it, since it costs about 2.5 cents each to purchase a mile with airline program and you only get cents on the dollar back with the restaurant certs, but if you have miles about to expire it may be worth it.

In general, the program is a good one for boosting your mileage if you are going to dine out anyway. The program is managed through Rewards Network and works very simply: you register just about any Frequent Flier credit card with the service, then points are awarded to your account automatically when you dine at the participating restaurants.

Bon appetite and happy travels!