Uber elite status is earned six months at a time. Since the beginning of the pandemic they’ve been offering status extensions. I was an Uber Diamond member at the start of the pandemic, and have now gotten three extensions of my status. With the status extension provided last week I have Diamond into February 2022 (I hadn’t hit a third of the points needed to requalify.)
The odd thing is that Uber hasn’t told me they’ve extended my status. It’s a great opportunity to capture loyalty with members but the program doesn’t bother to communicate. Which is just another sign that Uber has largely given up and is almost indifferent to its loyalty program. They know they have good customers they want to keep, but they’ve consistently devalued the elite program which was only modestly rewarding to start with.
Uber launched its program in fall 2018 and at the time the best benefits were,
- For Platinums: guaranteed pricing on a single route of your choice. I used this so that I never faced surges to and from the airport. Late arriving flights always seemed to involve much more expensive rides.
- For Diamonds: upgraded vehicles based on availability, book UberX and get a better car. They also offered 3 free UberEats deliveries every 6 months.
The program has been gradually devalued since launch. They no longer guarantee pricing on a single route for Platinums, offering bonus points on a single route instead. Diamonds no longer get upgrades. Even those free UberEats deliveries first became less valuable when they split delivery and service fees into separate charges and then the benefit quietly disappeared completely.
As a Diamond I still get ‘premium support’ if I call to complain about something (though Golds get ‘priority support’), and ‘highly rated drivers’ (which I’m supposed to get with ‘VIP’ status that comes with the Amex Platinum card anyway). There’s still ‘priority’ access to drivers at airports at the Platinum level and above.
In other words I don’t actually care whether I still have Uber status or not. So maybe, with the lack of benefits, telling members they still have them would just underscore how mediocre the program actually is.
This actually exists? I spend probably $5K a year with Uber and never even heard of it.
@ Gary — No offense to you, but does anyone care? I check uber, I check lyft, I take the lower price. Done. If they are both outrageous, I try to get a cab. Why does uber even bother with this useless program?
Uber laid off a quarter of their staff last year. The rewards program probably isn’t high-pri, and is probably understaffed. So it sits there, languishing. The points are useful though that you can redeem for various % off rides and Eats orders.