Uber & Qantas: Rides up but points down

Currently, you can earn Qantas points for rides on Uber, but only to and from the airport.

The good news

Now you can earn Qantas points on all Uber rides and Uber Eats – not just those rides to and from Qantas flights from airports. Yeah! You might say, but read on:

The bad news

Now (as of December 13, 2019) you will only earn one Qantas point per dollar spent with Uber.

It used to be for Qantas Platinum and Gold – 3 Qantas Points per dollar; For Qantas Silver – 2 points and for Bronze – 1 point.

Uber Rewards – Say what?

Yep – Uber is upping its claim in the data acquisition wars by introducing a rewards loyalty scheme, which gives you the option of redeeming Uber Rewards as Qantas points. Well, that is they are operating a soft launch, before opening it to all comers as of March 2020.

You earn differently depending on the service you use, but you earn in both Australia and internationally. Earn rates break down like this:

• 1 point per AU$1 on UberPool and UberEats
• 2 points per AU$1 on UberX, XL or Comfort
• 3 points per AU$1 on UberPremier

Status

What you earn over a six month period, will determine your Uber status level, which runs from Blue, through Gold, Platinum and Diamond.

750 points is the magic number at which you can ‘cash’ in your rewards, which are time-limited – so you could claim 15% discounts on rides and eats for three days. Effectively they are both a ‘reward’ and an incentive to spend! Masterful!

If you want to, you can convert those 750 points into 200 Qantas points.

2PAXfly Takeout – Is it worth it?

Well, that depends. If you are intending to use Uber’s intensively over a three day period for say a business trip, or preferably some extreme partying, then the 15% discount is probably the better option. I mean it’s not like 200 Qantas points are actually going to get you anywhere, is it?