Uber buying Blacklane; acquisition expected to close by the end of the year

Uber announced yesterday that it’s acquiring Blacklane, with the deal set to close by the end of 2026 pending regulatory approval.

It’s not clear yet if Blacklane will be rolled into Uber’s upcoming (and currently waitlisted) Uber Elite branding, or if it’ll be maintained as its own standalone brand.

This development will be of interest for Citi Strata Elite℠ cardholders as that comes with a twice-annual Blacklane credit ($100 for January-June and $100 for July-December). It’s proven to be a popular benefit for many cardholders, so hopefully that benefit continues if the deal closes, whether that’s as a standalone brand or if it comes in the form of twice-annual Uber (or perhaps Uber Elite) credits instead.

Bilt cardholders might be interested in this update too seeing as Blacklane is a Bilt Cash redemption option. There’s a limit of $50 in credits per year for Blue and Silver status holders, $100 for Gold members, and $150 for Platinum members.

This might even end up being a positive development for American Express Platinum Card® members too. That has a monthly Uber Cash benefit, so if Blacklane does become bookable through the Uber app and you can pay with Uber Cash, your $15 monthly credit (or $35 credit in December) will become even more useful.

While $15 won’t go too far when it comes a Blacklane ride, it is possible to add multiple consumer Amex Platinum cards to the same Uber account and collect all the Uber Cash from those cards on one account. For example, my wife and I have three Platinum cards between us and they’re all loaded to my account which we both use. That means we get a total of $45 Uber Cash on the first of each month from January to November, then $105 on December 1. That kind of amount does make much more of a meaningful impact on the cost of a Blacklane ride.

It’ll also be interesting to see how this impacts on Uber’s relationship with Marriott and its other partners worldwide. Most of these partnerships have different earning rates depending on what class of ride you book. For example, with its Marriott partnership in the US, Uber Premium rides (UberXL, Uber Black, Uber SUV, and Uber Comfort, including those booked with Reserve) earn 3X Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar, while earning 2X points per dollar on UberX Reserve rides. Hopefully that means Uber Elite/Blacklane rides will earn 4X or perhaps even 5X points per dollar, but that remains to be seen.

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