Uber Rewards is Out and I Was Surprised with Platinum Status

You may have already heard of Uber’s new rewards program, Uber Rewards, where you can earn points with every ride and UberEATs purchase and enjoy perks like cash rewards, flexible cancellations, and price protection.

Uber Rewards will initially be offered in nine markets – Atlanta, Denver, Miami, New York, Tampa, Philadelphia, San Diego, Washington DC, and New Jersey. Starting this January, the program will become available to accounts on a rolling basis.

With Uber Rewards, you can earn:

• 3x points per eligible dollar spent on Uber Black and Uber Black SUV trips
• 2x points per eligible dollar spent on UberX, UberXL, or Uber Select
• 1x points per eligible dollar spent on Uber Eats and Uber Pool trips

Right now points cannot be earned on bike rides or scooter rides.

Additionally, there are four Uber Rewards Elite Levels – Blue, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. You can earn $5 Uber Cash for every 500 points you earn, which works out to a 2% return on every $250 you spend on UberX rides.

Aside from earning points on rides you already are taking, some of the elite benefits are especially intriguing for mid-tier elites such as flexible cancellations and price protection on UberX.

Flexible cancellations for Gold members and above allows you to you re-book within 15 min for a “limited number of uses” (excluding UberPool trips), and is not available in all locations, including airports, venues/stadiums (bummer).

Price protection for Platinum members and above allows you to lock-in lower prices between two locations on UberX (for example between home and work), for a maximum 35% discount per trip.

My Platinum Surprise

After joining the waitlist sometime in December, I finally received an in-app notification inviting me to join Uber Rewards and was told that I earned Platinum status based on my ride and UberEATS history over the past 6 months (which means I spent over $1,250 on UberX rides during that time frame).

I am New Jersey-based and I often use Uber to/from EWR and for rides to/from Manhattan.

Bottom Line

Overall I think the Uber Rewards program is a nice addition to a ride-share app so many of us travelers already use. The ability to earn a return on money spent with Uber is a great bonus (you can also stack Uber Rewards with cash back earned from Freebird too), and the perks enhance the overall rider experience.

Have you received an invitation to join Uber Rewards yet? If so, what market are you in and what level did you earn?