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I’m flying home with my wife and kids – haven’t been in Austin in weeks – and the last thing I want to do is schlepp them and bags through the parking garage out to the Uber pick up lot. I’d much rather have a car pick us up. Austin reserves parking directly outside the terminal for licensed car services with a special permit. That makes it especially expensive.
Fortunately I remembered there’s a new Blacklane – GHA Discovery partnership. That partnership even lets you earn GHA Discovery status without staying a single night. For this trip, though, what mattered is that they offer Blacklane discounts and credit vouchers.
And these will stack with statement credits for Blacklane rides from Citi Strata EliteSM Card (See rates and fees.). The card offers a $200 credit each year with Blacklane – $100 January – June and $100 July – December. No registration is required, just pay for Blacklane trips with the card and the statement credits trigger automatically. And since it’s based on charges to the card, it stacks with other discounts and promotions.
I’m actually out of pocket $0 for the airport pickup, with a driver meeting us at baggage claim and taking us right outside to the curb for our ride home. That’s great with kids and bags!
GHA Discovery is my second favorite hotel loyalty program. See for instance my DC stays, Venice stay, and Kempinski Cancun. They won Hotel Program of the Year and Best Elite Program for the Middle East and Asia Pacific and Up and Coming Program of the Year for Europe and Africa in the 2026 Freddie Awards.
They currently are offering an easy paid status match for their top tier Titanium and also for their Platinum status, and matched status lasts through the end of 2027. It costs $100 (Platinum) or $150 (Titanium) but you get half of that back in ‘Discovery Dollars’ which you can use to pay for a stay, food and beverage, etc. so it can easily pay for itself after a single stay.
Woohoo… Citi Strata Elite benefits… use that 6x Citi Nights dining Fri/Sat after 6PM EST… (so *not* restrictive…)
Speaking of Blacklane, is BILT ever gonna get that B$ redemption live? Sheesh…
$595 annual fee = $0. Gary math.
@Gene — “Gary Math” …bah! Add it to “WFBF” and the other Gene-isms!
Blacklane is finally starting to catch on in the U.S. — for several years there I felt almost as if I was the only non-European using it domestically.
They are not always perfect in terms of service though, particularly if your flight arrives early.
@Mike Hunt — In some areas, like NYC, you can use it ‘on-demand’ instead of booking in-advance. Until the last year or so, I had only used them via Emirates chauffeur service, but, then, I used Gary’s link for that Citi Strata Elite SUB, and I’ve been using $100 credits for each six-month period until I eventually churn and burn the card.
When you use a credit for something that something isn’t free.
@rich — Yup. If we’re gonna wordsmith together on here, how’s “included” or “prepaid” or “expiring gift card” sound?
It’s absolutely free if you would have paid the $595 for the other benefits.
For me, Prime Video is absolutely free, because I was already paying for Amazon Prime for the free shipping for my business.
@brteacher — Nah, still more-so ‘included,’ than “absolutely” free. $300 hotel benefit requires 2 nights, and Citi Travel portal nearly always inflates prices, so that’s not a direct 1:1. $200 Blacklane, again, often less expensive to take Uber/Lyft, or mass transit, depending where you are. $200 Splurge ($200 at AA or Best Buy probably most useful to many of us, and perhaps closer to 1:1). So, $595 AF verses $700 in credits, yeah, okay, maybe it balances out, but rarely is someone getting this card for the measly 4 annual Admirals Club passes (I won’t even ‘value’ those in here.) Yeah, no, yeah, not free, “included.”
Maybe Gary already extracted $600 in value from the card so everything going forward until the next annual fee is free.
I got a Sapphire Reserve a month ago and already used both $150 StubHub and $150 The Edit dining in June for 3 credits before annual fee and $250 IHG and $300 travel credits, so everything I get in the next 11 months (incl 150K UR SUB) is free.
I was feeling pretty good about myself until I read Gary’s link yesterday about burning Chase credits for a profit and I missed out on buying StubHub via TopCashback and Paze. So I missed out on $15 cash-back and 10x points for paying with Paze. I feel like an amateur. 🙁