Uber Rewards to launch in Australia in early 2020

Uber Rewards is Uber’s loyalty program. It launched in the US this year and will hit Australian shores in early 2020.

However, some users have already been targeted for early enrolment in the program. Check your Uber app to see if you are eligible.

In this guide, I outline earn rates when ordering Uber rides and Uber Eats. I also go through the four membership tiers and explore the benefits of the program.

Note that this program is separate to the Uber-Qantas Frequent Flyer partnership. Through this, Qantas members earn 1 Qantas Point per $ spent on rides to and from Australian airports. (Qantas elite status holders can earn a bonus but only until 12 December 2019).

Uber Rewards earn rates

Customers can earn points both in Australia and overseas on rides with Uber and orders with Uber Eats. You’ll earn:

• 1 point per AUD spent on UberPool rides and Uber Eats orders
• 2 points per AUD spent on UberX, UberXL, Comfort and Assist rides
• 3 points per AUD spent on Uber Premier rides

Here is our separate guide on the different types of Uber rides you can take in Australia.

Uber Rewards tiers & benefits

If you spend enough, you’ll advance through the following membership levels:

• Blue to start ↓
• Gold at 1,200 points ↓
• Platinum at 4,000 points ↓
• Diamond at 7,500 points ↓

Your membership level resets every six months, which is not generous at all.

Blue

There are no benefits for a base-level member.

Gold

How easy is it to get to Gold? Well, you’d have to spend at least $45 on Uber Eats orders or $23 on UberX rides each week for six months. That’s not too bad.

For every 750 Uber Rewards points you have in your account, you can choose to:

• get 15% off Uber Eats orders or Uber rides over a three-day window (best value)
• convert them into 200 Qantas Points
• donate $10 to Paralympics Australia

You’ll also get 10% off one Comfort ride each month.

Platinum

In addition to Gold benefits, Platinum members get ‘price confidence on a route.’ That means that the price is fixed at the promotional rate between your two favourite locations (perhaps home and work or a partner/friend’s house.)

The exception is during ‘extremely’ busy times, when the discount is capped at 35% of the surge rate.

Diamond

In addition to Platinum benefits, Uber’s highest-tier members get premium phone support (wow!) and the occasional upgrade from UberX to Comfort or Premier at no extra cost.

Frequently asked questions

Summing up: my take on Uber Rewards

Earning some points is better than no points at all. However, there are no benefits for base-level members, with measly ones kicking in once you reach Gold status. Even the benefits for higher-tier members are quite weak.

My advice is to sign up to the program when it does launch in Australia (maybe that will be automatic). Also, make sure that you’ve linked your Uber and Qantas accounts so that you earn 1 Qantas Points per $ spent on airport rides.

However, I think that neither Uber Rewards program nor the Qantas-Uber partnership should sway you towards preferencing using Uber over other taxi and rideshare services. As such, I would encourage you to check out our comparison guide for earning points with rideshare and car booking services.

You can read more about the Uber Rewards program here.

Supplementary images courtesy Uber.