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To be honest, I’d never heard of Blacklane until I first learned about the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees). I'm not that fancy, so don't come after me. But now that I’ve got the card, I can unlock up to $200 in annual Blacklane credits for chauffeur-driven rides in cities around the world. So I'm in the process of getting familiar with the service.
If you’re also new to Blacklane and the Citi Strata Elite Card, here’s a quick look at how it works along with my experience using it on a recent trip through Austin, Texas.
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How the Citi Strata Elite Blacklane Credit Works
Each year you keep the Citi Strata Elite and pay the annual fee, you’ll get up to $200 in private chauffeur credits with Blacklane. Unlike some of the card’s other credits, this one isn’t a flat $200 all at once. Instead, it’s split into two parts:
- Up to $100 from January through June
- Up to $100 from July through December
This is a use it or lose it credit. If you don’t use your allowance in a given half of the year or you don’t use the full $100, it won’t roll over into the next period. You can spread it across multiple rides, but once the window closes, you can kiss the unused portion goodbye.
So, to make sure you use all of it, let’s take a closer look at what the Blacklane credit actually covers.
Related: Don’t Leave Money on the Table — Use These Credit Card Statement Credits This Year
What can you use the Blacklane credit for?
The Blacklane credit covers quite a bit. It’s valid on anything you book through the Blacklane website or app as long as you or an authorized user charges the purchase to your Citi Strata Elite.
Some examples include scheduled airport transfers, in town rides, city to city trips, or even hiring a chauffeur by the hour or for a full day. And in some cities, you can also request rides on demand.
Depending on what you book, though, Blacklane can get pricey. A more premium vehicle, a longer trip, or several hours with a driver can easily exceed the value of your credit. That said, it's not unusual to find airport transfers and in town rides in places like Seattle, New York, San Diego, or other international cities that fit within your semi-annual $100 credit or at least come pretty close. And since tips and gratuities are already included, the price you see is the price you pay.
Plus, you’ll get perks on Blacklane bookings you won’t find with even the most premium Uber or Lyft rides, like complimentary in vehicle Wi-Fi, a personal meet and greet, free cancellation up to an hour before pickup, and more.
The bottom line is this credit gives you a more premium experience than you’d usually get with a standard rideshare. It might not make sense for every transfer since Blacklane can be expensive, but if you’ve got the Citi Strata Elite it’s definitely worth using at least twice a year, as I can attest.
My Experience Riding With Blacklane in Austin, Texas
I’m not the type of person who usually splurges on a chauffeur ride, but I gave Blacklane a whirl on a recent trip through Austin, Texas.
About a week before arriving, I scheduled a ride from Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) to the Hotel Magdalena, which is part of Hyatt’s newly integrated Bunkhouse brand. Booking took all of two minutes, and I charged the $111.84 ride to my Citi Strata Elite. The amount showed as a hold on my card until the ride was complete, at which point I received a final invoice for the same $111.84.
I’ll admit it felt a little over the top to use a chauffeur service for a 10 mile trip, but after factoring in the semiannual credit, the cost dropped to just $11.84. By comparison, I could’ve reserved an Uber Premier for $60.67, a Lyft Black for $61.48, or paid around $30 for an UberX or Lyft Standard — plus a tip.
Since I can live without riding in a luxury vehicle and will opt for public transportation over pricey rideshare rates, I don’t value the Blacklane credit as highly as some of the other Citi Strata Elite credits. Still, it was nice to pay a little over $10 out of pocket for a ride that lasted less than 20 minutes instead of several times that amount.
Outside of the price I paid, the biggest benefit of scheduling a ride with Blacklane was the peace of mind. The app notified me five days before departure who my driver would be, what they looked like, and exactly where to meet them after exiting the secure part of the airport.
From start to finish, the experience was seamless, even when my inbound flight had a long maintenance delay that pushed my arrival in Austin back by several hours.
Seamless despite flight delays
When I landed at my connecting airport and turned my phone back on, I received a text saying my flight to Austin was delayed by more than four hours and that my pickup time had been updated automatically. Funnily enough, Blacklane let me know my connecting was delayed before American Airlines did, and my driver was later more apologetic about the long delay than the airline was.
It's nice having things like this handled for you since it means one less thing to deal with while managing a delay. And if you do change your flight, it’s still easy to update everything right in the app or on the website. Plus, the chauffeur will continue to monitor your inbound flight for additional delays…which are all too common nowadays it seems.
Riding from Austin Airport to the Hotel Magdalena
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this entire experience was nothing if not seamless. After switching my phone on in Austin, I had both a text and an app notification from Blacklane saying that my chauffeur was already at the airport and would be waiting for me by the flight’s baggage belt — conveniently at the bottom of the exit escalators.
From the escalator, I was able to spot my chauffeur right away since she had a yellow flashing sign with my name on it. After confirming I was traveling alone, she offered to wheel my carry on bag across the street and load it into her Suburban.
Summer in Texas is pretty toasty, so it was nice to step into the extremely well air conditioned Suburban, where a complimentary bottle of water was waiting for me.
From there, the rest of the experience was a piece of cake. Within 20 minutes we’d arrived at the Hotel Magdalena. It was a comfortable, no fuss way to get from the airport to the hotel, and the chauffeur was kind enough to point out landmarks and local spots as we drove by.
Would I hesitate to use Blacklane again? Absolutely not. It might not be something I book every time I need to get somewhere, but I can see plenty of situations where the peace of mind and the extra comfort would come in handy, like traveling with family or needing to be somewhere shortly after landing when you don't have time to spare. The convenience and comfort were second to none, but you do get what you pay for.
Related: Premium Credit Card Perks That Make Family Travel Smoother (and Cheaper)
Bottom Line
The Citi Strata Elite gives you up to $100 to spend on Blacklane in each half of the year. Using the full credit is one of several ways to offset the card’s hefty annual fee, and riding with Blacklane is a pretty neat experience. That was certainly my impression when I used it to get from the Austin airport to the Hotel Magdalena. I don’t expect to use the service often since I rarely splurge on luxury transport, but taking advantage of it twice a year feels good enough to me.
- For a limited time, earn 80,000 bonus Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com and 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com
- Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time
- Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
- Up to $300 Annual Hotel Benefit: Each calendar year, enjoy up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more when booked through cititravel.com.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
- 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
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