Delta recently announced that it’s going to be ending its partnership with Lyft on April 7, 2025. In its place will be a new partnership with Uber.
The details of the new Delta/Uber partnership are underwhelming as of right now, but perhaps future promotions will make it a little more worthwhile.
As a quick recap, you can currently earn 1 Delta SkyMile for every $1 spent on Lyft rides. That partnership will now only be around until April 7, but it’s not a huge loss. That’s because Lyft has other partnerships with Alaska Airlines, Bilt and Hilton, so there’s no shortage of other good earning opportunities and there’s no longer an ability to double dip by earning with more than one partner on Lyft rides.
We don’t have an exact date for when the Delta/Uber partnership will start, but we do know that it’s meant to be in Spring 2025. Seeing as the Lyft partnership ends on April 7, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Uber one begins on April 8, but that remains to be confirmed.
There are some details that have been revealed though. The key one is how you’ll earn SkyMiles on Uber rides:
- 3 miles per dollar on Uber Reserve rides
- 2 miles per dollar on premium rides (e.g. Uber Black, Uber Comfort, Uber XL, etc.)
- 1 mile per dollar on Uber X airport rides
That’s disappointing because it means that regular UberX rides that aren’t to/from an airport will earn zero SkyMiles, whereas with Lyft those earned 1x.
There is some element of hope that there might be additional earning opportunities. Uber has set up a waitlist on its website that’s worth registering for in case it provides exclusive earning options at the launch. It states that doing so will “Unlock the chance to receive exciting surprises from Uber and Delta.” I wouldn’t count on it being too generous, but I’d love to be wrong.
Something else that remains to be seen is if it’ll be possible to double dip earnings with Uber’s partnership with Marriott or if you’ll have to choose between earning SkyMiles or Bonvoy points, not both. As things stand, I’d probably prefer to earn Marriott Bonvoy points over Delta SkyMiles because Marriott’s partnership includes Uber Eats orders too whereas the Delta/Uber announcement only mentions Uber rides. Having said that, I expect that to change once more details are provided. The header of the waitlist page says ‘Uber & Delta SkyMiles Waitlist | Earn Miles on Rides & Eats.’ The inclusion of ‘& Eats’ certainly gives the impression that mile earning won’t be restricted solely to Uber rides. Needless to say, we’ll provide more details about this new partnership as and when they’re announced.
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You’re right. Based on the info we know, if we have to choose between the two, stick with Bonvoy.
Enjoyed the Lyft partnership with Delta. I have issues with Uber never working..
When you click through the link you posted, it actually does mention qualifying rides and Ubereats orders.
hoeofully that means Ubereats orders will accrue points.
A waitlist? And why is it some Google form?
Yeah, I thought it was weird that they were using a Google form.
PSA: DoC had a scathing article on Uber’s pricing. In short Uber’s pricing algorithm knows if a person has Amex credits, gift cards or a favorable partnership and increases ride pricing to eliminate any benefit received (relative to “regular” pricing).
And since this had been known and widely reported on for a while now. I devalue the bloggers who post about Uber offers without adding this significant caveat.
Can you charge a non Amex card and then after the ride change the payment method to an Amex card etc?
Yep. You can also load Uber gift cards after your ride and apply those to your past ride.