Uber Launching Rewards Program [Program ends Aug. 2022].
 

doing the same for drivers as well.

Anyone here start out as diamond? I'm kind of bummed that I started as platinum and have to work my way up to diamond from zero -- I was pretty sure that I had $2500 in black/SUV rides over the past 6 months but I guess not.

As for the platinum benefits:
-The "locked in low rate" between 2 points is a dud -- I've never paid anywhere near the quoted "discounted" rate no matter what time of day or weather.
-The pickup at DCA today was indistinguishable from prior pickups (not sure what the "priority" feature is supposed to do)
-The $5 rebate per 500 points is a nice bonus -- 2% on UberX, 3% on black
-The flexible cancellations thing just seems to be a formalization of what Uber has always done for me... every time I click through the app to say something about a cancellation fee, it has always been automatically refunded. Maybe that's not the same for everyone?

What I would very much like about Diamond status is the free upgrades and the "special access to highly rated drivers"... I am sick of smelly low-rated ubers in DC.

Throwing a few couple percent back on every ride is a pittance, compared to ways of buying Uber gift cards at 15-20% off or more. That's real savings and I laugh when Uber riders brag that their credit card gives them 3X funny money points back on every Uber ride.

And the new Ride Pass (here in Tampa Bay, at least) is worthless. The old Pass ($10 for 28 days, paid when you want it to start) was worth 10% off the top of any fare, and could be stacked with other discounts, promo codes, ibotta rebates and discounted gift cards. I was stacking these for 50-60% off the total fare.

The new Pass ($15 for 28 days, auto-renew required) gives you nothing but opaque "price protection", whatever that is. For that, the current opaque price you are quoted is possibly replaced by another lower opaque price. None of these prices can be independently calculated or confirmed by the rider, you just have to trust that you are getting a "deal" from Uber's customer price-sensitivity algorithm.

How do you accomplish this?

You can buy gift cards from retailers at a discount from online resellers and then purchase discounted Uber gift cards at that retailer. Some examples are Winn-Dixie or Kroger, which sell other company's gift cards at a discount, sometimes significantly. In addition, there are trusted Uber gift card resellers on eBay that have sold them for as much as 15% off. Also, Amazon, Target, etc sometimes offer 20% off Uber cards.

When I get over a 20% discount, I back up the truck and buy $500 to $1,000 at a time because I know my friends will take some off my hands.

Same here. Seem to be limited to only certain areas now. I'm based in AZ.

I dumped Uber after they canceled their Starwood partnership and most of my rides have been on Lyft so won't get any status. Only the diamond status level interests me for the upgrades and access to a phone number to get real support (I'm so sick of online only BS).

Any word on if or when Lyft will start there own rewards program and elite status system?

Also haven't gotten an email about it, even though NYC is supposedly one of the cities where it's available. Finally, after many, MANY back-and-forths with their support folks, I got the following:

"Sorry for the trouble! In New York, only 12.5% of the riders are randomly selected for the Uber Rewards program. If invited, a rider will need to officially opt-in to the program. Once that happens, they start earning points for dollars spent on Uber and Uber Eats. they become a member of the program and qualify for the base tier."

I got a notification a short time ago to activate Uber Rewards having registered interest a while back. They put me at Gold status (I've not used it much in the last few months so maybe that's why) but it shows at the bottom of the welcome screen with a progress bar towards the next $5 of Uber cash and progress towards Platinum status.

I am Uber VIP anyway, not sure who this jives with that. I've had free upgrades and whatnot through that.

Has this started expanding yet? I sign-up for notifications back in November I believe, but have not heard anything since.

Looks like a nice program to me.

Can I see somewhere when they launch in my city?