Uber Rewards is shutting up shop globally, giving barely two weeks’ notice before members lose the ability to earn points and enjoy reward benefits. In its place, a new Uber One premium subscription will launch, costing $9.99 a month in Australia.
Uber Rewards was a loyalty program that offered up to 3 points per dollar spent on rides and UberEats orders. Customers could also progress up reward tiers from Blue to Diamond. Perks included 15% discounts on orders, bonus Qantas Points and locking in a fixed rate on a route you took often.
But the new Uber One subscription scraps all that, replacing it with a one-size-fits-all list of benefits including free delivery on some UberEats orders and discounts on Uber rides.
Thankfully, these changes are separate from the Uber-Qantas Frequent Flyer partnership. You’ll still be able to earn Qantas Point on rides to and from Australian airports. Earn rate as of March 2024 is as follows:
- 1 Qantas Point per $1 AUD for Uber Reserve trips to or from eligible Australian airports.
- 1 Qantas Points per $2 AUD for other Uber products to or from eligible Australian airports
Click here to learn more about these changes.
What is the new Uber One subscription?
Uber One packages four main perks into a monthly subscription fee of AU$9.99. For that price, you get:
- Free delivery on eligible UberEats orders over $20 (service fee still applies)
- Discounts of at least 10% off on Uber rides
- $5 credit if the ‘Latest Arrival’ estimate on your order is missed
- Access to top-rated drivers and premium support
- Special promotions on Uber Eats and Uber
What’s happening to Uber Rewards?
Uber Rewards is being shut down. The last day to earn points and use benefits is 31 August 2022. After that, you still have until 31 October (two months) to spend any remaining points for rewards. As a reminder, 750 Uber Rewards points can fetch you:
- 15% off UberEats orders or Uber rides over a three-day window (best value)
- 200 Qantas Points when converted
- other ‘seasonal’ rewards
Though we are Point Hacks, we do have to point out you’ll probably get more value with the 15% off perk over three days rather than just 200 Qantas Points.
Uber Rewards members can also claim one month of Uber One membership for free.
Can I still earn Qantas Points on Uber rides?
You’ll still be able to earn 1 Qantas Point per dollar spent on eligible airport rides to/from Australian airports. You just have to link your Uber account to Qantas Frequent Flyer.
You can easily link accounts from the Qantas App:
- Go to the Qantas App, select ‘Book’ on the bottom bar, and then press on Uber.
- Log in or sign up for Uber, then follow the instructions to link accounts.
Follow these steps to link your Qantas and Uber accounts through the web:
- Visit Uber’s partner page on the Qantas website.
- On the main banner, click ‘Link your Accounts’.
- Log in or sign up for Uber, then follow the instructions to link accounts.
Summing up
In a disappointing twist for busy and hungry customers, the Uber Rewards program is being phased out. Some of the key benefits included 15% off over three days – and for Platinum members – the ability to fix a price on a specific route to avoid surge fares.
The new Uber One subscription has a $9.99/month fee to unlock free delivery on UberEats and at least 10% off Uber rides. In a way, you should be able to get more value than the monthly fee if you take a few Uber rides and make a few UberEats orders each month.
But it’s always disappointing to see a loyalty program swapped for a subscription, especially when the perks were arguably better with Uber Rewards.
I don’t get the principle of charging loyal customers more for their continued loyalty. That’s $120 more a year and not knowing if the savings will justify it’s cost. Is the hassle of joining up & trying hard to make that subscription spent unnecessary additional work for the customer. It’s like robbing a loyal customer for more when the customer does have a choice with rideshare providers. I think loyalty should be respected not taken advantage of. Uber’s surcharges can be ridiculous too. Typical yanks trying to commercialise every ounce out of a customer. I also think combining the product with Uber Eats delivery is like 2 different customer types so dangling that into the subscription does nothing for me personally. Uber is a better, more reliable service than Ola (shocking) though.
I didn’t know it was in trial stage in the moment, but I am a Dimond tier. Perks are okay nothing to boast about, but for this Xmas they gave me a free bottle of Champagne to redeem from BWS, which I thought was pretty cool.
If already enrolled in the US is there a way to transfer over to Aus? Or are benefits from the US program going to be available here once rolled out?
Should retain gold, but currently can’t use any benefits in Australia.
I’m not sure about this one. I think the benefits between countries will be similar but slightly different and would be based on the country in your profile. Therefore, I would recommend contacting Uber Support to see if you can transfer your profile to Australia.
Yeah I got defaulted into gold the other week… there’s really no benefit to being gold. I guess you get a small discount on something, but it’s basically like “Congratulations, you’re gold! Now you can earn even more points towards getting platinum!”
I guess I got a free upgrade or something? meh.