My experience with Blacklane chauffeur cars – with 10% discount

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We recently wrote about a 10% discount for first time users with airport chauffeur group Blacklane. Their website is here.

When you book, Blacklane lets you earn miles with:

Asia Miles (2 per £/$/€ spent)
Flying Blue (2 per £/$/€ spent)
Miles & More (2 per £/$/€ spent)
Qatar Privilege Club (1 per £/$/€ spent)
Enrich (Malaysia Airlines) (2 per £/$/€ spent)
Singapore Airlines Krisflyer (2 per £/$/€ spent)

We decided to give Blacklane a try in Johannesburg yesterday. Anika’s hotel was very slow in replying to our request for a driver and when it did reply it wanted £47. By then we had already given up and booked Blacklane for (after the 10% first user discount) £38 for a similar black car. The ride will also earn me 108 Miles & More miles.

Anika’s feedback was excellent. She was met at arrivals and walked to the car where the driver was waiting. Water and cold towels were in the vehicle and the driver was keen to chat about the city.

You clearly can’t guarantee the same service globally but we would happily use it again. The online booking system is very easy – I don’t know how it does it, but virtually every building, street and hotel in every major global city is there and pops up when you start typing. You don’t need to know the exact address of where you are going.

The 10% first ride discount code is BL10.

Blacklane has a slightly odd way of entering promotional codes. You will be presented with a page asking for your credit card details. After you type them in, there is an additional screen which asks if you have a voucher code. Add BL10 on that page and 10% is deducted from your quote. Your card is not charged until after the ride and you can cancel until 1 hour before pick-up.

You can book, create an account or find out more about Blacklane on their website here.

Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Thomas Howard says:

11 Apr11 April 08:47

Other airline news, apparently Airbus are looking at putting sleeping pods in the cargo hold: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/apr/11/airbus-to-put-sleeping-berths-in-cargo-holds
- john says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 10:25
  
  Would the customer get loaded into this pod pre-flight I wonder?! Qantas were reported at working on this with Boeing/Airbus.
- John says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 10:31
  
  I would happily fly a “business” class which had only a flat bed and none of the other trimmings (as long as my status benefits are honoured), so this sounds interesting.
Nick says:

11 Apr11 April 08:51

Loads have been ‘weak’ – true
Loads have been ‘very weak’ – not true

We’ve seen in the last that BA isn’t scared to pull out of radically underperforming markets (anyone remember Chengdu?) and there’s plenty of places they could send another 777, so there must be enough promising signs to keep going for now.
- Rob says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 09:50
  
  I’ve seen reports on Flyertalk of 50 people on a 787. I’d class that as ‘very weak’ if true.
Sandra says:

11 Apr11 April 09:46

Always had excellent service when using Blacklane and no excess wait charge when flight was late on one occasion as they had the details and tracked flight. I do always compare and next month, for example, the Warsaw Intercon car service can do a return airport journey for the cost of a single Blacklane pick up, Sometimes they are the same/slightly more than other car services (probably where there is increased competition), other times much more. What I do like, especially if travelling alone (and also when my children were younger and it was just the 3 of us travelling), is their reliability as they have always been there in arrivals waiting for me, helped with luggage and they have always felt safe.
JPV says:

11 Apr11 April 10:06

OT: does anyone have any thoughts on if checking in to a hotel ahead of time via a mobile app makes getting a status upgrade less likely?

Have a number of upcoming hilton stays and am gold. Am always torn between checking in via the app and choosing a room that looks well situated in the booked class vs. feeling like I am less likely to get upgraded when I have already chosen myself a room!
- Genghis says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 10:18
  
  I always wait. Have often checked what room I’m offered on the app and most of the time get something better on physical check in.
  
  I did do it once, however. Landed late in KUL and whilst in immigration checked the app and saw got a suite at the DT. Not going to better that on a 10k points / night stay so locked it in.
  - JPV says:
    
    11 Apr11 April 10:32
    
    Thanks for the advice Genghis. I will try physical check in tonight and see how it works out.
    
    In my last dozen stays as gold (all UK) never seem to have been offered an upgrade. Perhaps I present badly at checkin!
- john says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 10:30
  
  Depends what the hotel is like and what your room requirements are.. If for example there is a quiet side to hotel to avoid street noise then I’d favour choosing a room based off of that through the app. If not then I’d maybe not bother. It will usually offer you better rooms than you have booked due to status so it’s worth looking at least. I locked in a decent larger corner room in BCN through app.
  
  If you don’t like the room when you get to it you can always go back to reception to switch.
- JamesB says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 10:40
  
  I never check in online for hotels, front desk is most likely rout to a nice upgrade and and opportunity to double check room is away from lift etc. Rooms with baths are often higher standard in modern hotels and if research confirms this I often request one at the desk. Care is needed though as in older hotels rooms with baths might be those that have not been refurbished.
Cate ⛱️ says:

11 Apr11 April 10:53

Ha Ha! Anyone just received a marketing email from Hilton with their current offer with roughly the same picture as the Marriott current offer? 1000 points from Hilton versus 750 from Marriott.
Doug says:

11 Apr11 April 11:04

I’m been charged £2.50 interest every month in my HSBC Premier card, I think they are considering curve withdrawns as cash, may have to give them a call to find out which transaction exactly is triggering this.
- Flying Misfit says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 14:47
  
  Doug
  
  Would be interested in your follow up here. I have linked/used my Elite card to various Fin Tech cards and none to date have been considered as cash advances (last statement as recent as 5th April).
Troubleonline says:

11 Apr11 April 12:05

As an Edinburgh resident am not particularly devastated re Etihad. We fly yearly to South East Asia (usually Thailand). Last year we tried Etihad (EDI-AUH-BKK/HKT) and weren’t fans of the service, food or having to switch flights in the middle of the journey. Or the price of (terrible) food at AUH – couldn’t get into lounge on return leg.

This year we flew Malaysia and although we had to fly to LHR first and it meant 3 flights rather than 2 it was a much better experience all round. Having tried lots of combos our preference definitely to fly to LHR or a European hub first.

Also I don’t think there is the need for 2 middle east carriers in Edinburgh and as Tom says Qatar got their first. Would love to see them replaced with a SE Asian carrier though – preferably Thai or Malaysian!!
Rob says:

11 Apr11 April 12:07

She works for me, she is a woman travelling on her own and her safety and security is top of my list.
- Wivus says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 13:21
  
  Company policy for us when travelling to Non-E.U, U.S. destinations. All staff, male or female, have a car booked by the hotel if they are not being collected by suppliers or hiring a car. For the sake of a couple of hundred pounds extra over the year we deem it prudent.
- Roger I* says:
  
  11 Apr11 April 21:05
  
  Understood, Rob. Good points from a responsible employer.
  
  But they do seem to reduce the value of your promotion of Uber, unless tagged with an asterisk saying ‘ recommended for males only’ or similar.
  
  I almost feel sorry for asking.