Win 1 million Avios with Uber – and a reminder of how the partnership works

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

• Andrew. says:

  10 Mar10 March 07:24

  I’ve never used Uber in the UK. Don’t think I’ve even used a taxi/cab in the UK in the last 10 years. All my Uber trips are in the US or Canada.

  Shame they can’t use the PAN or the registered address of the account holder to identify their home nation.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    10 Mar10 March 10:28

    Even if they did wouldn’t help you earn Avios as you don’t take Ubers in the UK

    Do you just make random complaints?

    • Tsm says:

      10 Mar10 March 12:47

      You couldn’t pay me 1 million avios to use uber

      • George says:

        10 Mar10 March 13:11

        So you wouldn’t take £5000 for one ride on Uber?

        Yeah right

        • Rob says:

          10 Mar10 March 14:11

          Why would you not take an Uber? Uber LUX – very smart Mercedes, suited driver. Uber Exec – as before but a slightly less smart Mercedes. Uber XL – get all the kids and multiple suitcases in to head to the airport. Uber Pet – bring your dog.

          A quick check shows I can get these cars to my door in 2, 2, 2 and 4 minutes respectively even though its raining as I type.

          Black cabs have their place, and super cheap UberX is not a barrel of laughs, but you’d be a mug to turn your nose up at the other services.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          10 Mar10 March 17:12

          It’s literally the easiest way to get a can unless you happen to have a black cab driving past or you’re very close to a rank. Honestly the black cab model is dead and Gett was perhaps the answer to saving it having lots of disparate apps for each company/city just doesn’t work as that’s not why I use Uber it’s knowing I need one app wherever I am in the UK and even globe.

          but I suspect too many of the cab companies/drivers just didn’t get behind it quick enough or thought they knew better

        • Tsm says:

          10 Mar10 March 18:09

          No.

          It’s a safety issue.

        • Rob says:

          10 Mar10 March 19:02

          Because getting into a car which is being tracked centrally and via your and potentially your family’s phones with a driver who is fully vetted in the UK is more dangerous then getting into a random black cab on the street which could been stolen / borrowed / bought second hand?

          As with many things in Britain, criticism of Uber can often (mistakenly I’m sure) come across as racism giving that I’d guess London drivers are 5% white vs 95% white for black cabs.

        • Doug M says:

          10 Mar10 March 19:50

          I previously used Gett but gave up after a number of journeys where the cab wait shown became 5x the suggested one once I’d confirmed. Also the suggested fare is a range, and the journey cost exceeded the top end of the range. With Uber the wait is far more realistic, and the cost fixed. UberX is fine on your own, drivers generally fine, and happy with the customers willingness to chat or not, compared to Black cab drivers that seem to whinge endlessly even when you’ve no desire to hear it.

    • David says:

      10 Mar10 March 15:37

      TGLoyalty – Do you just make nasty comments?

      The point made by Andrew is perfectly valid.

      And he doesn’t say he won’t use it, just says he hasn’t to date. Now, this could be the kind of promotion (and yes remember this is a post about a marketing promotion) that has trigger his interest for a taxi – or perhaps to book a train ticket, and he is frustrated the app won’t let him enter BA account details.

      Indeed, as someone who has a UK address and billed card, but takes the vast majority of my uber rides outside the UK it is annoying for me that they keep removing the Avios option from my uber account, so when I do take an uber in the UK, I don’t earn on it. I then need to wait and relink my accounts before next ride (which might be outside UK again).

      What’s doubly crackpot is that this is something that affects their partnership with a TRAVEL company. Did uber not expect that lots of avios collectors might spend time outside the UK? And that a decent percentage of people might have a different travel profile when at home vs abroad etc?

      • daveinitalia says:

        10 Mar10 March 16:48

        I’ve never had any issues I use Uber in other countries (not in Italy as they’re not as useful there) but when I’m in the UK the link to BAEC is still there and I get my points.
        You definitely don’t need to be resident in the UK to do that, but it only seems to offer the sign up when it thinks you’re in the UK.
        A trick I used which might still work now if you’re outside the UK, go into the Uber app, search for something in the UK, then edit the start point to also be within the UK and then it starts to offer UK trips. When I did that then the Avios option was in the settings. Alternatively just wait until you’re in the UK and then do a search, add your details and then book your ride. Although I can see why you might not want to do it before you arrive as it’s quite easy to forget when you’ve just landed in the UK and want to get to your destination.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        10 Mar10 March 17:07

        It’s not a nasty comment it’s nothing to do with being a U.K. resident either.

        Using Uber abroad is irrelevant for the Uber/Avios tie up as it’s clearly mentioned its for U.K. rides only. So take a single ride in the U.K. regardless of where you live (which is usually under £5) and you can register and then continue to … or just carry on not using Uber or taxis like for the past 10 years and not comment.

        • David says:

          11 Mar11 March 11:12

          TGLoyalty – you are totally missing a number of the point.

          I will just focus on this one bit though:
          “Using Uber abroad is irrelevant for the Uber/Avios tie up as it’s clearly mentioned its for U.K. rides only.”

          this is wrong. It’s certainly not irrelevant. When you use uber abroad, even as someone who uses them on a non-infrequent basis in the UK, if the majority of my trips are abroad they remove it from my account, this seems to happen again and agian.

          So the original point her is perfectly valid. If they want to control the availability of the option, they need a better way.

          Personally, if they are going to focus on partnerships with travel companies, I’d make the uber app support people registering partnerships in any country they want. It would be daft if you lived in two countries but the app kept on turning off your loyalty participation.

• Terry says:

  10 Mar10 March 07:50

  Who wins the million though? just doesn’t seem very clear. And, can we see a list of the winners somewhere to know that the million have actually been given away.

  Or is it like the premium bonds where numbers are chosen irrespective of whether they know who holds a bond with that number?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    10 Mar10 March 10:30

    What? It says one winner will be drawn per week and to enter you need to have taken a ride or bought a train/coach ticket via Uber in the UK

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    10 Mar10 March 13:32

    You’d need to ask avios / uber that as it’s their competion not HfPs

    HfP does publish the winners of its own competitions.

  • Chaz says:

    10 Mar10 March 22:10

    If they say it’s Cindy from Bedford who won, what do you want? Her phone number? Address? A picture of Cindy holding a massive cardboard cheque with “One million Avios!” written on it?

    How would any of the above (or anything else) help you determine this was, or was not a real competition? If you believe it’s all BS – I’d suggest you move on and worry about something / anything else.

    Just my two cents.

• Indy500 says:

  10 Mar10 March 08:36

  Were there some concerns originally about the BA data that was shared with Uber? Flight details etc?

• Paul says:

  10 Mar10 March 08:38

  Not interested at these so called giveaways always seem to be such a con. You never hear of who won.

  I am more concerned about my rating from Drivers! Now that I can see individual ratings but not by driver I want to know why 4 drivers have fished out 1 star! I have 54 5 star and a handful of 4 but genuinely bewildered as to what I did that led to 1 star. What’s worse is I have never rated a driver anything other than 5. Though I have withheld a few tips…. Perhaps I have my answer

  • Chas says:

    10 Mar10 March 09:02

    Can you – where? Just had a look in my app (iPhone) and can’t see it. I’ve often wondered why I’ve had a lower rating than I would have expected, and why it doesn’t seem to move even after a handful of rides which really should have been 5* and therefore shifted the rating slightly.

  • Phil says:

    10 Mar10 March 09:21

    Same pain point here, mate. Not sure why my rating sits at 4.6, while all the drivers’ ratings are usually between 4.9-5!! Feels like I’m the service provider for “taking the ride”…lol

  • Kevin C says:

    10 Mar10 March 11:41

    Absolutely no reason not to think this is a legitimate competition with a fair draw system. I know people who have won these sorts of things and I’ve even won some myself.

    However, because entries are automatic rather than opt-in there will be a lot of them and your chance of winning is small. It’s entirely possible that a winner won’t know they’ve been entered and will ignore the winning message thinking it’s a scam.

    • Rob says:

      10 Mar10 March 11:50

      I mean, really. You’re heading into anti-vaxxer territory here. You think two billion dollar / pound companies are deliberately going to set up a fake competition to save – at most – £30,000 of prizes by doing something that would end the careers of everyone involved and lead to huge negative PR if it came out (which it likely would, because one of the badly paid marketing freelancers working on it would ensure it got leaked)?

      It’s not as it £30k is even the biggest part of the contest. BA will probably have paid £2k to an agency just to write the email that goes out tomorrow to tell you about it. (I know a bank which pays £2k to an agency to write its customer emails.) A similar amount at Uber to get that webpage coded. The lawyers will have taken £5k for signing off the T&C. An IT contractor will have taken another £5k for writing the code to extra the data set of potential winners.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        10 Mar10 March 12:49

        No sure that was aimed at Kevin but exactly. It doesn’t matter if they do or don’t publish names the prize will go to the winners.

        This isn’t some random prize draw company.

        • Kevin C says:

          10 Mar10 March 15:49

          I think Rob’s comment was directed at the original poster.

          I suspect there are quite a few companies specialising in promotions who could run it for somewhat less but I don’t have specifics.

      • Londonsteve says:

        10 Mar10 March 12:51

        The costs you illustrate are staggering. I mean, I used to work in the City and the concept of high salaries and magic circle law firms’ hourly rates aren’t alien to me, but even so, I’m staggered those would be the costs involved in setting up something so minor. I dare say they’re too high and the cost of doing business in the U.K. is becoming uncompetitive at this rate.

• Phil says:

  10 Mar10 March 09:16

  “Receive this offer from Uber or British Airways directly” – This is one of the eligibility criteria. Has anyone here has received any email or app notification? I definitely haven’t!

  • Rob says:

    10 Mar10 March 09:54

    It’s not an issue. BA sent us this to run.

    • meta says:

      10 Mar10 March 14:11

      I received communications two days ago from Uber – email and app notification. I also received app notification from BA yesterday.

      • Dylan says:

        16 Mar16 March 13:12

        And same as Phil, I haven’t but I did get the £10 credit back on flights a few days ago.. :/

• FatherOfFour says:

  10 Mar10 March 09:38

  I can recall several occasions where the winner of a giveaway was announced so I’m not sure the cynical comments are fair.

  Acknowledging the point about initial ride after linking Uber and BAEC:

  Do overseas rides count for the competition?

  Do overseas rides earn Avios?

  • Junior says:

    10 Mar10 March 10:06

    Overseas rides don’t earn Avios, unfortunately.

    • George says:

      10 Mar10 March 10:28

      “The Avios / Uber partnership lets you collect 1 Avios for every £1 you spend on travel in the UK “

      • FatherOfFour says:

        10 Mar10 March 10:38

        D’oh!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    10 Mar10 March 10:33

    John Smith from Leicester might not exist anyway so what’s the point in publishing who won if you don’t believe they are genuinely giving away the prizes anyway

    • Londonsteve says:

      10 Mar10 March 12:52

      🙂

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    10 Mar10 March 13:39

    HfP announces the winners of the competion HfP organises

    But this isn’t a HfP organised competion.

• tw33ty says:

  10 Mar10 March 13:21

  lol it’s a free competition if your already using Uber, what’s with all the drama

  • David says:

    11 Mar11 March 03:35

    Madness

• George W says:

  10 Mar10 March 19:22

  Absurd comment from @rob here.

  There are many legitimate complaints to be levied against Uber: treatment of drivers, working practices, safety of passengers, general disdain for their business model.

  To conflate that with racism, is, I suggest, pretty far off the mark.

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