Do this now: link your JetBlue and Delta accounts to Lyft

Last month I wrote about Lyft’s partnership with the Ebates app, which allows you to earn $1 in Ebates cash back each time you start a Lyft booking through the Ebates app. It struck me at the time, and still strikes me, as a bit silly, but it works perfectly, and given that my rides are typically less than $10 it functions as a discount of over 10% per ride.

I want to flag two additional earning opportunities that can be stacked on top of that $1 discount.

Link Delta and JetBlue accounts to Lyft

By navigating to Lyft’s Connected Services page, you can link both your Delta SkyMiles and JetBlue TrueBlue accounts. Each program also has a dedicated signup page, https://www.deltalyft.com/ for Delta and https://www.lyft.com/jetblue/first for JetBlue.

Earning with each program works slightly differently, but there’s no restriction on earning with both programs and combining them with the Ebates discount:

• you earn 1 Delta SkyMiles per dollar spent on Lyft and 2 SkyMiles per dollar spent on “airport rides;”

• you earn 30 JetBlue TrueBlue points per “airport ride.”

Additionally, if you enter the promo code “SKYMILES10X” in the Lyft app, you’ll earn 3 SkyMiles per dollar on all rides and 10 SkyMiles per dollar on airport rides through December 25, 2018.

As a word of warning, I entered the SKYMILES10X code before linking my SkyMiles account and only earned 1 SkyMiles per dollar on my latest ride, so to be on the safe side, I’d suggest linking your SkyMiles account before entering the promo code into the app. Alternately it may be that the bonus points will post later, as the terms state “Miles may take two (2) weeks or more to be awarded to Delta SkyMiles accounts.”

Link Fuel Rewards just in case

On the Lyft Connected Services page you also have the option of linking your Shell Fuel Rewards account to Lyft. At first I thought this might be interesting since Fuel Rewards is also the program linked to Giant, Stop & Shop, and Food Lion grocery stores, where you can periodically earn bonus fuel points for Visa and MasterCard gift card purchases.

However, it appears the Fuel Rewards benefit is for Lyft drivers, not passengers, and you need to give 10 rides in 3 months to activate Silver status with Lyft’s Accelerate program and receive an additional 5 cents off per gallon through Fuel Rewards (7 cents per gallon for Platinum drivers).

If you’re already in Lyft’s system as a driver, that should be a no-brainer, but it’s probably not worth doing for civilians unless you buy a lot of gas. But if you do drive a lot, or are simply curious how Lyft works from a driver’s perspective, it still might be interesting to try.