Link: Learn more about the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card
The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review) is Citi’s new premium credit card. The card has a big welcome bonus that makes it worth applying for — many people should be eligible for the product, and it’s a card that I recently applied for. There’s likely a particular interest in this card since Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to American AAdvantage.
The card has a $595 annual fee, but offers a variety of perks that can help justify that, with an especially strong value proposition in the first year. These benefits include a $300 annual hotel credit, a $200 annual “Splurge Credit,” four annual Admirals Club passes, a Priority Pass membership, and more. In this post, I’d like to take a look at the $200 annual Blacklane credit offered by the card, especially as I’ve now had time to use this benefit, and can report back with my experience.
What is Blacklane, how complicated is it to use this credit, and is it even a good deal? I’ve gotten a lot more value from this perk than I was expecting to, so let me explain…
Basics of Blacklane global chauffeur service
Blacklane is a global chauffeur service that is available in many cities across the globe. We all know Uber for the concept of ridesharing, while the idea is that Blacklane has a global network of professional drivers who can be booked for city-to-city rides, airport transfers, or even hourly or full day hires.
It’s of course important to emphasize that Blacklane essentially provides the technology for this, while drivers work either independently or for regional car services. So it’s not like all the drivers work directly for Blacklane, and therefore, you may find there’s a bit of inconsistency.
What differentiates a chauffeur service from a rideshare? A chauffeur service is supposed to be in a nice business or luxury vehicle, the drivers are professionals who do this for a living, you generally book in advance (there are exceptions, and that can work to your advantage), the driver typically arrives early and will wait for you for a certain amount of time, etc.
As you’d expect, booking a chauffeur service is considerably more expensive than booking a rideshare, since it’s supposed to offer a different level of reliability and service. Note that with Blacklane, tips, tolls, taxes, and fees, are included with rides.
Details of the Citi Strata Elite Card Blacklane credit
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers a $200 Blacklane credit annually. As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:
- This is a semi-annual credit, meaning you can earn up to a $100 statement credit in January through June, and up to a $100 statement credit in July through December
- There’s no registration required, and credits will post automatically for eligible purchases made with your Citi Strata Elite, across one or more transactions
- In order for Blacklane rides to be eligible for the credit, the booking needs to be made directly through the Blacklane website or app
- Purchases made by the primary cardmember or authorized users can count toward the Blacklane credit, though the credit is a maximum of $100 semi-annually per primary cardmember account
- The credit can be used for any purchases with Blacklane globally, so it’s not only for the United States, or for certain types of rides
Is the Citi Strata Elite Card Blacklane credit worth using?
Going back many years, I used Blacklane with some frequency for airport transfers at some foreign destinations. This was at a time when Uber wasn’t available at many airports, and while Blacklane was expensive, I found it to consistently be cheaper than ordering a car through a hotel, etc. It was an easy “one stop shop” for booking reliable transfers, since it can otherwise be time consuming to find a reliable, local car service.
However, I then didn’t use Blacklane for many years, primarily due to how much more widespread Uber has become, and I also feel like Blacklane has become more expensive over time (I mean, what hasn’t?).
So when it comes to the Citi Strata Elite Card Blacklane credit, the question is whether this benefit is worth anything at all, and if so, how much value can you get from it? In other words, does the $100 Blacklane credit every six months factor into my math on justifying the card? As I’ve increasingly played around with Blacklane, a few things have stood out, which I’d consider to be a pleasant surprise.
First of all, there are some markets in which Blacklane has more competitive pricing than in other markets. For example, in Dubai, Blacklane pricing is in line with what you’d expect for a professional chauffeur service.
Furthermore, Blacklane offers “chauffeur hailing” in a limited number of cities, meaning you can order a car service on demand (rather than booking in advance), and that pricing is much lower than a pre-arranged car service. Officially, this is available in Dubai and Miami, but I’m also finding this to be available in some other markets, like London, by just selecting the “Request now” option.
Let me give some examples of pricing. For example, if you want to go from the St. Regis Dubai The Palm to Dubai Airport (DXB), you could book an on-demand ride for ~$60, while you could schedule a ride for ~$62. As a point of comparison, booking an Uber Black would cost ~$53.
As another example, say you want to go from the Park Hyatt London River Thames to London Heathrow Airport (LHR). You could book an on-demand ride for ~$92, while you could schedule a ride for ~$140. As a point of comparison, booking an Uber Exec would cost ~$117.
As another example, say you want to go from the Four Seasons Miami to Miami Airport (MIA). You could book an on-demand ride for ~$61, while you could schedule a ride for ~$92. As a point of comparison, booking an Uber Black would cost ~$52.
I think what stands out to me the most is that pre-booked rides are actually a decent value in some cities, like Dubai. But what excites me most is that Blacklane is also offering on-demand rides in select cities, and those are generally priced comparably to an Uber Black.
For example, I’ve been using my Citi Strata Elite Card Blacklane credit for on-demand rides in Miami. Most rides that aren’t too far away seem to cost $25, so I’ve now taken a few of those rides, and they’ve been reimbursed (the reimbursement typically comes around two to three weeks after the ride, in my experience).
I’ve gotta say, the quality of cars and drivers has been way higher than I’ve come to expect from ridesharing apps, so that’s great. The drivers have all had brand new cars, drive in a civilized way (that’s a big benefit in Miami!), even wear suits, etc.
So I expect that I’ll fully be able to maximize my $100 semi-annual Blacklane credit on an ongoing basis. This is more valuable than those cards that have rideshare credits where you get $10 or so every month, since at least you can use the entire $100 credit toward a single ride (or at least on a much more limited number of rides).
With that in mind, how much do I value this $200 annual Blacklane credit? I don’t value it close to face value, but I at least feel confident that I can consistently use it, and will get value out of it.
If I had to put a price on this, I’d say I probably think it’s worth around half of face value, though that’s conservative. I guess I’m also lucky that I live in Miami, where the on-demand service is available, which is much easier to use, and allows me to maximize value pretty easily.
Bottom line
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers several valuable benefits, and among those is a $200 annual Blacklane credit. This is a semi-annual benefit, meaning that you can receive a $100 statement credit toward Blacklane rides every six months.
Blacklane is a global chauffeur service, and as you’d expect for a professional service, pricing is often on the steep side. Initially I thought I might value this credit at very little, but I actually think I’ll get decent use out of this.
For one, pricing in some cities is quite attractive, with rides more than covered by the $100 credit. But what excites me most is that Blacklane also has an on-demand chauffeur hailing service in select cities (including my home city!), which generally has much lower pricing. So while I don’t think the Blacklane credit is worth face value, I do still value it considerably.
What’s your take on the Citi Strata Elite Card $200 Blacklane credit?
