How often have you landed at an airport and checked fares to get to your destination on both Lyft and Uber? If you’re like me, you check both and order a car on whichever platform is cheaper. Although that system can work well, your potential rewards earnings on the two platforms are far from identical.
Frankly, the little you can earn on Uber is no match for the ability to triple stack on Lyft. You can earn bonus credit card points, airline miles or hotel points and even cash back on your Lyft rides. You just need to know where to look.
What is this magic Lyft trifecta, and how do you start maximizing your Lyft rides? Let’s take a closer look.
Chase Ultimate Rewards: 10 points — 20 cents per dollar back
WYATT SMITH/THE POINTS GUY
Chase recently extended its partnership with Lyft, so Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders will continue to enjoy 10 points per dollar on all Lyft rides through March 2025. TPG values each Chase Ultimate Rewards point at 2 cents, so at 10 points per dollar, you get 20% back on your Lyft rides in Ultimate Rewards points by using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Sapphire Reserve cardholders enjoy even more Lyft benefits with a complimentary Lyft Pink All Access membership for two years, worth up to $199 annually. This includes various benefits like discounted rides, free bike and scooter rentals and priority pickup upgrades. Activate by December 31, 2024.
If you don’t have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you can earn 5 points per dollar on Lyft rides (or a 10% return based on TPG’s valuations) or 5% cash back using any of these cards:
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
Chase Freedom Card (no longer available to new applicants).
Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Chase Freedom Flex.
Chase Freedom Student credit card.
All Ink business cards — such as the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, Ink Business Cash Credit Card and the Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card).
To earn these increased Chase award rates, simply add your Chase card to the “payment” section of the Lyft app.
Related: How to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value
Dosh: 10% back on Lyft rides — 10 cents per dollar back
DOSH
By linking your desired card to the Dosh app, you’ll start earning cash back when you use your card at participating merchants. The amount you’ll earn depends on the merchant you’re shopping with, and you can cash out your rewards through PayPal or Venmo when you have at least $25 in your account. Cash back is earned in addition to your credit card rewards.
In the case of Lyft, Dosh will reward you 10% back when you use your Dosh-connected card in the Lyft app. There’s a daily maximum of $2 from Dosh.
Related: Expert stacking: How I earned $80 in cash back and rewards from one dinner
Alaska Airlines: 1 or 2 Mileage Plan miles per dollar — 1.8 or 3.6 cents per dollar back
ALASKAAIR.COM
Alaska Airlines recently partnered with Lyft, giving Mileage Plan members another way to earn miles. For 2022, you can earn 2 miles per dollar spent on Lyft rides. After Jan. 1, 2023, you’ll earn 1 mile per dollar spent on Lyft. Remember, you can only earn on the base fare of your Lyft ride.
If you prefer to earn Hilton Honors points or Delta SkyMiles, you can select accordingly in the Lyft app. Unfortunately, you can only earn rewards with one of these partners at a time.
Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll earn from each rewards partner:
Hilton Honors, up to $10,000 per year:
3 Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on private Lyft rides in the U.S. (1.8% return).
2 Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on shared Lyft rides in the U.S. (1.2% return).
Delta SkyMiles:
2 Delta SkyMiles per dollar spent on airport Lyft rides in the U.S. (2.82% return).
1 Delta SkyMile per dollar spent on non-airport Lyft rides in the U.S. (1.41% return).
Alaska Mileage Plan:
2 Alaska Mileage Plan miles per dollar spent on all Lyft rides in 2022 in the U.S. and Canada (3.6% return).
1 Alaska Mileage Plan mile per dollar spent on all Lyft rides after 2022 in the U.S. and Canada (1.8% return).
Once 2023 kicks off, if your goal is to earn as many points as possible at the highest rate, you should credit your airport rides to Delta SkyMiles and your non-airport private rides to Hilton Honors or Alaska Mileage Plan. However, you’d need to manually switch your rewards partner before each trip.
To add your Alaska Mileage Plan, Delta SkyMiles or Hilton Honors membership number to Lyft and start earning points, go to the “rewards” section of the Lyft app.
Related: Your complete guide to the Delta SkyMiles program
Bottom line
The ability to triple stack offers on Lyft means that you can save north of 30% on Lyft rides when you factor in the value of your earnings. Much of this depends on your value of your Ultimate Rewards, Alaska Mileage Plan, Delta SkyMiles and Hilton Honors points. Regardless, earning cash back on Dosh alone is highly appealing.