Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Coming to London? Claim £10 GetTaxi and £10 Wheely credit

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

If you will be in London for a day or two over the Summer, don’t forget that I have sign-up bonuses available for Wheely – the private driver car service – and GetTaxi, the black cab app.

You can download and activate these apps (all need a credit card number adding) before your trip and then simply start them up whenever you need a car.

Once your free credit is used up, charges, including tips with GetTaxi, are made directly to your credit card so no cash is required.

GetTaxi

GetTaxi is the ‘number two’ in the smartphone taxi-ordering market in London, behind Hailo.

One advantage of GetTaxi over Hailo is that there is NO minimum fare (apart from 10am-5pm weekdays, Hailo has a minimum) and NO cancellation fees.

This can be an issue with Hailo as you may want to cancel a job when, after claiming your nearest cab is 3 minutes away, your job is actually picked up by a driver 15 minutes away! (You do get a one minute window with Hailo in which to cancel after the job is accepted before the fee kicks in.) GetTaxi also allows you to book a taxi in advance.

To claim your £10 free credit, download the app and (once you have verified your mobile phone number) click on the ‘Coupon Code’ box on the menu.  (A quick way of downloading the app if you are reading this on your phone is to click here and then click on the appropriate Android or iOS button.)

In the ‘Coupon Code’ box – which is on the personal details menu – enter code GTSZFWS.  £10 of credit will be dropped into your account.

One quick warning. After you’ve signed up, GetTaxi will email or text you a £5 coupon code. Do not input this into the app, as it will invalidate the £10 code if you haven’t already used it. If you have already used the £10 code, the £5 code will not work anyway.

I have used GetTaxi a few times in recent weeks and it works well.  They have fewer drivers that Hailo so you may find yourself waiting a bit longer for a driver to get to you – possibly quite a bit longer outside Central London – but apart from that the service and structure is identical.

Wheely

Wheely is a new competitor to Uber.  It offers an equivalent service to UberX (with Toyota Prius) and UberExec (with Mercedes E-Class cars).  It announced last week that it is also rolling out a Mercedes S-Class luxury service although there are only a handful of cars currently available.

If you sign up with this Wheely sign-up code here you will receive a £10 credit on your first ride.

The USP of Wheely is flat rate pricing.  You need to input your destination when booking and you are quoted a fare in advance.  This fare is fixed however bad the traffic conditions on the way.

The problem with Wheely at the moment is lack of vehicles.  Their own website quotes an average waiting time of 14 minutes.  At the time of writing (2pm on a weekday) it is quoting 18 minutes to get to me on Regent Street.  This is not ideal if you are looking for a quick getaway but as long as you factor in waiting time then it will save you £15.

Comments (25)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • jason says:

    Anyone know if its possible to book a cab from jfk with uber or is it just pot luck?

    • Tim says:

      Presumably – note though that if you have any free credit on your app, it doesn’t seem to work abroad. I used uber in Miami to get to the airport, but even though I had lots of free credit, my card was charged instead.

      • Rob says:

        Correct, credit is only valid for rides billed in the currency of the credit

    • Arthur says:

      Jason, specifically to the question, yes you can book Uber from JFK. I just moved from NYC to London and Uber is almost as popular as the yellow cab in NYC. So there are always many Ubers of all kinds (UberX, UberBlack, UberTaxi) waiting at JFK. You should have no problem. Just make sure you have signal, bc wifi at JFK is not free I believe (its paid service via Boingo).

  • Grant says:

    The Uber app for Windows Phone has been released in the last week or so.

  • Waribai says:

    One issue with the uber app I have is that it seems to drain the battery very quickly. Anyone encountered this?

    • Rob says:

      Not found it too bad – just make sure the app is closed when not using it. In general, turning off Bluetooth will also save battery drain as will turning off ‘location services’ for apps which you don’t use much.

  • Waribai says:

    Thanks for that Raffles

  • Waribai says:

    Ok..got Uber sussed I think. Now on to Get Taxi, one you login on the app, there seems to be no way to log out. Am I right?

  • Roger says:

    I previously tried to get Uber and Hailo outside the central zone (OK, in TfL zone 4) and got the no cars available message,which didn’t entirely surprise me as I guess these offers come into their own in Central London.

    A service covering pickups in outer London would be welcome, at least by me.

    • CWK says:

      Uber drivers tend to head straight back into central London (where the work is) after dropping off (unless they’re there already).

      It’s pot luck whether or not you can find an Uber in the suburbs, and catching one as they’re heading back in, though availability is usually better on Fri and Sat nights.

      I managed to get an Uber from Richmond, Twickenham and Kingston no problem on Fri/Sat nights.

      • Rob says:

        In simple terms, the nearer you get to Chelsea / Mayfair, the easier it is to get a Lux (and vice versa with UberX)

  • Hummer says:

    Excellent stuff, but I cant seem to get to grips with this Uber app, I can do a dummy collection request fine says 5 mins, but can I not put in where I am going to and get the total price? I want to go from Heathrow to Gatwick and return the next week unless anyone can also recommend a better way of going London Heathrow to Gatwick cheaper?

    • Rob says:

      It is not fixed prices, except for airport runs where the prices are on the website. It prices like a taxi ie a combo of distance and time.

      • Waribai says:

        I think you can or you could get an approx fare quote on the pc website though…..

  • Hummer says:

    Never mind I seem to have the app working now, it quotes me just under £70 which less £20 is £50. I think if paying that much £70 of Tesco vouchers gets me Virgin Upper class limo for 17500 miles.
    Can and one suggest a cheaper alternative apart from Nation Express

    • CWK says:

      Just read this after posting my post.

      Another alternative is to catch the X26 bus to East Croydon Station, then change trains to Gatwick.

      Or catch the 285 bus (from T1,2,3) or 490 (from T4,5) to Feltham Station, train to Clapham Junction, then change for Gatwick.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.