Today, January 12th, the new Chase Sapphire Reserve Lyft benefits took effect and can now be activated on your account. Let’s look at what they are, how they work, and if you should activate Lyft Pink now or later.
First, let me remind you that today, January 12th, is the absolute last day to get the Chase Sapphire Reserve with your first year annual fee at $450. After today, the exact same first year will be $550.
In this article
Chase Sapphire Reserve / Lyft Benefits
- Earn 10X Ultimate Rewards points on Lyft rides.
This benefit is now active automatically. As long as your Chase Sapphire Reserve is in your profile and you pay with your Reserve card, you’ll earn a crazy 10X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on your ride. (Meanwhile, other Chase cards also earn bonuses. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card earns 5X as does the Chase Ink Business Preferred).
- Get a one-time complimentary Lyft Pink subscription (15% Lyft discounts, 3 free 30 minute bike/scooter rentals each month, and better cancellation rules). This is a $240 value.
This is more tricky. It’s now active, but only if you activate it. You can only use it for one year of Lyft Pink and must activate by March 2022.
Should you activate Lyft Pink right away?
I did. That doesn’t mean you should. My reasoning was that with my CSR renewal in April at $550 I’d really like to maximize my value and also quantify the value of the benefit. I also figure there is some very small chance that the benefit gets renewed beyond one-time, in which case I’d be able to keep on saving.
As well, I figure that with the various credit card / rideshare benefits (for example the monthly Uber credits on the Platinum Card from American Express, I may move on to something else in a year.
The reason to not activate it today would be that you don’t expect to use Lyft much right now, but expect to use it a lot X months down the road.
How to activate your Chase Sapphire Reserve Lyft Pink benefit
If your Chase Sapphire Reserve is in your profile, just go into your payment settings and you should be prompted to activate Lyft Pink. You can choose to do so – or not. If you don’t have your Chase Sapphire Reserve in your profile yet, simply add it. Once entered, it will offer you the option.
What if I want to use a different payment method? Will 
my 15% Lyft discount still apply?
my 15% Lyft discount still apply?Great question. I mostly use Lyft for my business and have a Chase Ink Business Preferred as my main payment method (earning 5X Ultimate rewards now!).
I was concerned that since activating Lyft Pink makes your CSR your default payment method, you would lose the 15% discount when switching cards. when I selected my Chase Ink Business Preferred, it adjusted my earnings to 5X Ultimate Rewards, but the 15% discount remained in tact.
Fantastic.
Are you activating your Lyft Pink now? Or later?
Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
How do you earn 5 UR points on Lyft with the Biz Preferred?
Super easy! Just add the card to your payment profile. It will show you the 5X if you use it for payment automatically.