The amount of food delivery and rideshare benefits attached to credit cards is really starting to grow. We are seeing more and more cards partner with these huge start ups in the rideshare and food delivery service niche in order to attract more customers and offer justification for higher annual fees.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve recently increased its annual fee from $450 to $550 but it did introduce a series of new benefits. Some of these new benefits related to DoorDash while others were special Lyft benefits. In this article, I will break down these new perks and explain everything you need to know about them including how they work.
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What are the Chase Sapphire Reserve Lyft benefits?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a special bonus earning rate of 10X on Lyft rides and also provides cardholders with Lyft Pink membership for one year when a cardmember activates by 03/31/2022. I will go into detail about both of these benefits below!
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
What is Lyft?
Before diving too deep into this article let me quickly explain what Lyft is to the newly initiated.
Lyft is a rideshare service that is similar to Uber — you use an app to book a ride with strangers instead of taking a taxi. In my experience (and others) Lyft has been a little bit more expensive than Uber.
One other important difference between Uber and Lyft is that Lyft does not offer a food delivery service. So unlike the American Express Platinum Card that allows you to use a $200 Uber credit on Uber rides or Uber Eats deliveries, the Reserve Lyft benefits are limited to rides.
However, it is worth noting that the Chase Sapphire Reserve also offers a $60 DoorDash annual credit along with DashPass which allows you to avoid delivery fees in many cases.
10X on Lyft rides
The Chase Sapphire Reserve now earns a special bonus earning rate of 10X on Lyft rides.
Earning 10X on anything is usually a pretty big deal. But earning 10X Ultimate Rewards is a very big deal because those points are worth much more than cash back when used towards various travel purchases. At a valuation of 1.7 cents per point, you are getting 17% back which is pretty spectacular.
(It’s worth noting that technically you just are earning an additional seven points since the Reserve already earns 3X on travel — not to mention dining).
If you are already a regular Lyft rider, then the Chase Sapphire Reserve could easily offset its annual fee with your Lyft spend alone.
I will illustrate how with an example below.
Let’s say that you can utilize the $300 travel credit and also the $60 DoorDash credit so that your effective annual fee for the Reserve becomes $190. If you spent $1,117 on Lyft that would earn you 11,176 Ultimate Rewards. At a valuation of 1.7 cents per point, that would completely wipe out the $190 effective annual fee!
This means that if you are spending around $90 a month on Lyft, the new 10X earnings could be very lucrative for you.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Lyft Pink benefits
The Chase Sapphire Reserve now provides cardholders with Lyft Pink membership for one year when a cardmember activates by 03/31/2022.
Lyft Pink is a special membership program that offers “an elevated Lyft experience” and would normally cost $19.99/month (plus tax where required). So you’re getting a $200 benefit for free.
Lyft Pink membership comes with the following perks:
- 15% off unlimited car rides
- Priority airport pickups
- Relaxed cancellations
- Surprise offers
- Waived lost and found fees
- Bikes and scooters
I’ll go into details about these perks below.
15% off unlimited car rides
The most valuable part of this membership in my opinion is the 15% off unlimited car rides. If you spent $1,266 on Lyft in a year you would receive a $190 in savings on those fares which would cancel out the effective annual fee of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Don’t forget you would also be earning 17% back on those purchases as well.
This 15% discount is a key distinction between the Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum Card which offers Uber VIP.
Uber VIP is an elite-like program where riders can take advantage of highly-rated drivers and receive superior service and/or better vehicles. Uber VIP offers the following benefits:
- VIP Drivers only (drivers with a 4.8 rating or above)
- High-quality Vehicles
- Exclusive giveaways, special discounts for local attractions, and advanced notice of upcoming Uber-related promotions
- Uber VIP bookings are the same price as non-Uber VIP bookings
But Uber VIP does not come with a guaranteed discount on car rides so this membership has the potential to be much more valuable in terms of savings on transportation though getting a $200 credit with the Platinum is pretty great.
One thing to note is that the business profiles do not currently get the 15% off perk.
Priority airport pickups
Another big benefit is getting priority airport pick ups. During some peak times, airport pick ups can get very backed up and you could be sitting outside the terminal for a very long time waiting for your ride. With a Pink membership, your waiting times should be decreased.
Relaxed cancellations
You will not have to worry about cancellation fees three times per month so long as you rebook within 15 minutes. Cancellation fees in many cities could be $10 so this perk could save you a good amount of money over the course of a year if you find yourself having to cancel rides every now and again.
This also could be a timesaver. Sometimes you can tell that your rideshare driver is not familiar with the area and is taking a very long time to get to your location. In those cases you could simply cancel your booking and instantly rebook it, saving you time and frustration and not forcing you to pay a cancellation fee.
Surprise offers
Get seasonal discounts and exclusive savings. I don’t know that this program has been around long enough for us to get a true sense of what the seasonal discounts and exclusive savings will be like but this should be another way for you to save money on your rideshares.
Waived lost and found fees
If you have ever left your belongings in a rideshare vehicle, you know how bad it feels to not know the whereabouts of your property. In order to get your belongings back, you have to contact the driver and then work out a delivery of your belongings but not before you are forced to pay a lost and found fee which is $15. However, if you have a Pink membership you will get this $15 fee waived every time.
Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!
Bikes and scooters
In certain cities, you can rent bikes or scooters for free for up to 30 minutes, up to three times per month.
How to activate your Lyft Pink membership
Step one
First, you need to download the Lyft app. If you’re currently viewing this page from your mobile device, click here for iOS or here for Android.
Step two
Second, you need to add your Reserve card as your default payment method in the app. You can use either a personal or business profile and you can also set your Chase card as a default for one or both of the profiles.
To ensure that your Chase card is your default payment you can do the following:
1) Open the Lyft app
2) Open the menu in the top left
3) Tap ‘Payment’ and select the desired Personal or Business profile under ‘Payment defaults’.
4) Make sure that your Chase card is selected. If it’s not, tap the card you’d like to set as default and then tap ‘Save’ in the top right corner.
Step three
You should then receive a message within the app prompting you to activate Lyft Pink. You may also find this in the side menu of the app.
Simply follow the steps to activate. One thing to keep in mind is that your membership will be good from one year after you activate. So if you don’t have any upcoming Lyft rides, you may want to wait until right before you actually need to use the app to maximize the length of your complimentary membership.
Frequently asked questions FAQ
You can earn 10X on the following fares:
Standard
Shared
Shared Saver
Lux
Lux Black
Lyft XL
Lyft Black XL rides
Business rides
Bike and scooter rides booked through the Lyft app in the US.
Not valid on bike or scooter rides booked through partner apps
After the first year of membership, you will have the opportunity to re-enroll but you will not be automatically enrolled.
There is no guarantee that Chase will change things and add additional membership time after the initial one year of Pink. Personally, I do not believe that you will get an additional year of Pink membership but that is just my hunch.
If you pay for your Lyft ride with a digital wallet, such as Apple Pay or Samsung pay, you should still earn the 10X on your Lyft ride.
Free membership is available to one cardmember per account. This means that the primary card holder or the authorized user can use this benefit but not both. If an authorized user registers before the primary card holder, the primary cardholder will not be able to register and vice versa.
If you delete your card from the Lyft app, you will lose the Lyft Pink membership. But if you re-add your card you will resume the benefit. Just keep in mind that your original expiration date will be the same.
Yes, other Chase cards can also earn special bonus points on Lyft purchases. However, these other cards do not get a complementary one year membership to Lyft Pink.
These bonus points include the following cards and rates:
5X total Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Sapphire
Ink Business Preferred
Ink Plus
5% total cash back
Ink Business Cash
Ink Cash
Ink Business Unlimited
Chase Freedom
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Chase Freedom Student
If you already paid for a Lyft Pink membership then you’re free when your membership will resume at the end of your paid period.
Final word
The new Lyft benefits are definitely an exciting new perk for people who regularly use Lyft. Earning essentially 17% back on Lyft purchases is simply amazing and you could offset your annual fee pretty easily on Lyft expenses alone at that rate. It’s also very nice to get the Pink membership even if it is for one year because those 15% savings could add up.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.