Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

My experience with Blacklane chauffeur cars – with 10% discount

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

We recently wrote about a 10% discount for first time users with airport chauffeur group BlacklaneTheir website is here.

When you book, Blacklane lets you earn miles with:

  • Asia Miles (2 per £/$/€ spent)
  • Flying Blue (2 per £/$/€ spent)
  • Miles & More (2 per £/$/€ spent)
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club (1 per £/$/€ spent)
  • Enrich (Malaysia Airlines) (2 per £/$/€ spent)
  • Singapore Airlines Krisflyer (2 per £/$/€ spent)

My experience with Blacklane

We decided to give Blacklane a try in Johannesburg yesterday.  Anika’s hotel was very slow in replying to our request for a driver and when it did reply it wanted £47.  By then we had already given up and booked Blacklane for (after the 10% first user discount) £38 for a similar black car.  The ride will also earn me 108 Miles & More miles.

Anika’s feedback was excellent.  She was met at arrivals and walked to the car where the driver was waiting.  Water and cold towels were in the vehicle and the driver was keen to chat about the city.

You clearly can’t guarantee the same service globally but we would happily use it again.  The online booking system is very easy – I don’t know how it does it, but virtually every building, street and hotel in every major global city is there and pops up when you start typing.  You don’t need to know the exact address of where you are going.

The 10% first ride discount code is BL10.

Blacklane has a slightly odd way of entering promotional codes.  You will be presented with a page asking for your credit card details.  After you type them in, there is an additional screen which asks if you have a voucher code.  Add BL10 on that page and 10% is deducted from your quote.  Your card is not charged until after the ride and you can cancel until 1 hour before pick-up.

You can book, create an account or find out more about Blacklane on their website here.


How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards

How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards (April 2025)

If you hire a car in the UK, you can get special benefits (discounts, upgrades, free additional drivers etc) if you have elite status with a car rental programme. You can get elite status for free via certain American Express cards.

The Platinum Card and American Express Business Platinum

The Platinum Card from American Express and American Express Business Platinum come with two free car hire status cards. Your supplementary Platinum cardholder can also receive status in their own right.

From Avis, you receive President’s Club status in Avis Preferred. This gets you up to 25% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a guaranteed one class upgrade. For weekend rentals you will receive a two class upgrade, subject to availability.

From Hertz, you receive ‘Five Star’ status in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. This gets you up to 15% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a one class upgrade, subject to availability.

Hertz also offers Platinum cardholders a 4 hour grace period on rentals. Your final day is treated as 28 hours, so a 1pm pick up with a 5pm return the following day is only charged as one day, not two days. We wrote about the Hertz / Platinum 4 hour grace period here.

The Platinum Card also comes with full car hire insurance with no obligation to pay for the rental via American Express. You can refuse any attempts to sell you additional insurance at pick up. This benefit has substantial value if you rent on a regular basis.

You can find more details on the two Platinum cards, and apply, in our full reviews linked below. You can apply here for the personal card and here for the business card.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is an excellent card in its own right. You receive 20,000 Membership Rewards points for signing up (convert to 20,000 Avios amongst other things), four airport lounge passes and £120 of Deliveroo credit. Even better, your first year is free.

There are two car rental benefits:

  • you receive Preferred Plus status in Avis Preferred
  • you receive a special package with Hertz – 10% off best available rates at participating locations, a one class upgrade for rentals of 5 days or more, subject to availability, and no additional driver fees

Find out more about the benefits of American Express Preferred Rewards Gold in our review. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Comments (68)

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

  • Nick says:

    Loads have been ‘weak’ – true
    Loads have been ‘very weak’ – not true

    We’ve seen in the last that BA isn’t scared to pull out of radically underperforming markets (anyone remember Chengdu?) and there’s plenty of places they could send another 777, so there must be enough promising signs to keep going for now.

    • Rob says:

      I’ve seen reports on Flyertalk of 50 people on a 787. I’d class that as ‘very weak’ if true.

  • Sandra says:

    Always had excellent service when using Blacklane and no excess wait charge when flight was late on one occasion as they had the details and tracked flight. I do always compare and next month, for example, the Warsaw Intercon car service can do a return airport journey for the cost of a single Blacklane pick up, Sometimes they are the same/slightly more than other car services (probably where there is increased competition), other times much more. What I do like, especially if travelling alone (and also when my children were younger and it was just the 3 of us travelling), is their reliability as they have always been there in arrivals waiting for me, helped with luggage and they have always felt safe.

  • JPV says:

    OT: does anyone have any thoughts on if checking in to a hotel ahead of time via a mobile app makes getting a status upgrade less likely?

    Have a number of upcoming hilton stays and am gold. Am always torn between checking in via the app and choosing a room that looks well situated in the booked class vs. feeling like I am less likely to get upgraded when I have already chosen myself a room!

    • Genghis says:

      I always wait. Have often checked what room I’m offered on the app and most of the time get something better on physical check in.

      I did do it once, however. Landed late in KUL and whilst in immigration checked the app and saw got a suite at the DT. Not going to better that on a 10k points / night stay so locked it in.

      • JPV says:

        Thanks for the advice Genghis. I will try physical check in tonight and see how it works out.

        In my last dozen stays as gold (all UK) never seem to have been offered an upgrade. Perhaps I present badly at checkin!

    • john says:

      Depends what the hotel is like and what your room requirements are.. If for example there is a quiet side to hotel to avoid street noise then I’d favour choosing a room based off of that through the app. If not then I’d maybe not bother. It will usually offer you better rooms than you have booked due to status so it’s worth looking at least. I locked in a decent larger corner room in BCN through app.

      If you don’t like the room when you get to it you can always go back to reception to switch.

    • JamesB says:

      I never check in online for hotels, front desk is most likely rout to a nice upgrade and and opportunity to double check room is away from lift etc. Rooms with baths are often higher standard in modern hotels and if research confirms this I often request one at the desk. Care is needed though as in older hotels rooms with baths might be those that have not been refurbished.

  • john says:

    Would the customer get loaded into this pod pre-flight I wonder?! Qantas were reported at working on this with Boeing/Airbus.

  • John says:

    I would happily fly a “business” class which had only a flat bed and none of the other trimmings (as long as my status benefits are honoured), so this sounds interesting.

  • Cate ⛱️ says:

    Ha Ha! Anyone just received a marketing email from Hilton with their current offer with roughly the same picture as the Marriott current offer? 1000 points from Hilton versus 750 from Marriott.

  • Doug says:

    I’m been charged £2.50 interest every month in my HSBC Premier card, I think they are considering curve withdrawns as cash, may have to give them a call to find out which transaction exactly is triggering this.

    • Flying Misfit says:

      Doug

      Would be interested in your follow up here. I have linked/used my Elite card to various Fin Tech cards and none to date have been considered as cash advances (last statement as recent as 5th April).

  • Troubleonline says:

    As an Edinburgh resident am not particularly devastated re Etihad. We fly yearly to South East Asia (usually Thailand). Last year we tried Etihad (EDI-AUH-BKK/HKT) and weren’t fans of the service, food or having to switch flights in the middle of the journey. Or the price of (terrible) food at AUH – couldn’t get into lounge on return leg.

    This year we flew Malaysia and although we had to fly to LHR first and it meant 3 flights rather than 2 it was a much better experience all round. Having tried lots of combos our preference definitely to fly to LHR or a European hub first.

    Also I don’t think there is the need for 2 middle east carriers in Edinburgh and as Tom says Qatar got their first. Would love to see them replaced with a SE Asian carrier though – preferably Thai or Malaysian!!

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.