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I recently went on a trip to Philadelphia to go see Frequent Miler to learn more about travel hacking, and to get around I took a Lyft. Funny enough, both my friend and I tested the Lyft “shared rides,” and no one joined any of our rides! In shared rides you are paired with other passengers going along the same route, and you pay a discounted price. Testing out the “shared rides” might be a good option if you are looking to save some money. However, please note it may be based on luck, and someone may join your ride, which might make the trip longer.
In this article I list the 7 ways you can potentially stack on Lyft. For those that do not know, Lyft is one of the ride sharing companies that you can use to get around 644 cities in the United States and 12 cities in Canada. It is similar to using Uber where you book a ride via an app on your phone.
I strongly prefer booking an Uber or Lyft through your phone instead of finding a taxi because I also noticed it is safer (due to the ability to track the ride),it is cheaper, and faster than finding a taxi on the street.
1. Under “Payments” in the Lyft app add a credit card that gives you rewards for travel.
In this instance, I used Chase Sapphire Reserve ($550 annual fee), which gives me 10x points for Lyft. Chase Sapphire Reserve also gives me a $300 travel credit. Since I did not use the $300 travel credit prior to these Lyft trips, all my Lyft rides went towards this travel credit. Thus, I did not receive 10x the points for my Lyft rides. However, I was still able to get the Lyft credits based on the price I would have paid for the Lyft rides on the apps in this article.
If you want a cheaper credit card Capital One Venture ($95 annual fee) gives you 2x the miles per dollar for every purchase and you get a $100 credit for Global Entry or free TSA PreCheck (valid for 5 years). There are also no foreign transaction fees.
Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited are no annual fee cards, and currently offer you 5% cash back on Lyft rides through March 2022. However, there is no credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, and a 3% fee for foreign transactions.
2. Enter any Lyft codes you have into the Lyft app.
If you have a Lyft code I would enter this first before booking the ride on Raukten or Freebird. Luckily, if you have a Lyft code (ANGEL734844), you can also get $5 off your ride (only valid for new users). Occasionally, there are Lyft codes for existing users, so please also double your email and Google for any promo codes.
Using a Lyft code does not affect the other apps for getting credit, so you can still get credit on the other apps for using Lyft.
For example, in my Los Angeles trip I used Freebird with Uber, and I ended up making money, since the Freebird rewards were higher than the cost of my Uber. Uber had a promo for 50% off rides, and since I needed to complete 3 rides to get the special Freebird $25 reward, I ended up making money due to the 50% off Uber ride promo. All 3 of my rides were less than $4 each on Uber, so I ended up making $14.93. So yes, you can stack both the Lyft and Uber promo code on top of Freebird for a bigger discount.
3. Book your ride through the Raukten portal or Freebird app.
Raukten is a cash back and shopping rewards company that allows you to get cash back at 2,500+ stores.
Freebird is exclusively only for rideshare rides (such as, Lyft and Uber) to get cash back. For Freebird you can only choose one rideshare app, which is either Lyft or Uber.
I have used both Raukten and Freebird (code ld07e) for awards. In this scenario you would have to choose either the Raukten app or Freebird app to book the ride. You can can only choose one. Your credit card bill will say Lyft or Uber (depending on the rideshare company you chose).
Please note, you will have remember to go into the Raukten app or Freebird app each time to activate the ride to get the credit for cash back. Occasionally, Freebird also has promo codes, so please also double check your email and Google for any promo codes. And remember you can stack both the Lyft and Uber coupon on top of the Freebird coupon for a bigger discount.
4. Link your credit card to the Pei app.
Luckily for Pei you only have to do this once. You go into the app and link your credit cards to the app, so if you easily forget to go into portals like Raukten or Freebird, you do not need to do this each time.
Pei allows you to get cash back in either Bitcoin or cash.
5. Link your credit card to the Drop app.
Similar to the Pei app you only have to do this once. You go into the Drop app and link your credit cards to the app, so if you easily forget to go into portals like Raukten or Freebird, you do not need to do this each time.
Drop allows you to get gift card rewards to merchants, such as American Airlines, Amazon, or Gap.
6. Link your Delta SkyMiles account to the Lyft app.
Just like Pei and Drop you do this only once. You can link your Delta SkyMiles account to Lyft here to start earning miles for every U.S. ride. *Excludes taxes, fees, tolls and tips.
As of this post, you can earn 1 mile per $1 on every U.S ride. For a limited time, earn 2 miles per $1* on all AIRPORT RIDES. Get up to $20 in ride credit as a NEW LYFT USER.
7. Link your Hilton Rewards account to the Lyft app.
Thank goodness Drop, Pei, Delta SkyMiles, and Hilton only require you to connect once to get rewards. For people like me that sometimes forget to use Raukten or Freebird this is a game changer.
As of this posting, Hilton Honors and Lyft accounts earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Lyft rides (economy, luxury and extra seats). Earn 2 Points per $1 spent on shared Lyft rides.*