Updated on January 2, 2018

Deal Recap – Upside.com

A couple days ago, I posted a fantastic deal on how to score a $200 gift card with a $400 minimum trip through Upside.com. Naturally, I received follow-ups from my friends and family asking how to redeem. Below is a guide to use the $200 offer for those who like step-by-step instructions with screen prints.

***EXPIRED – The $200 offer has expired. You can use this promo code to get the new offer of $100 in gift cards. I have updated the links to load this $100 offer instead.

• Here is the link for the offer
• Spend $400+ on either flight only, or a combination with hotel or Uber
• Expires 8/31/17
• Uber rides can only be used during the trip
• After you complete your trip, you can redeem your $200 gift card for many stores like Amazon.com

Sample Trip

For this booking, I chose NYC-LAX during the Christmas holiday, 12/21/17 – 12/26/17, flight only. The cost of the flight must be $400 or more to get your $200 gift card. If your flight is less than $400, you can add some Uber credits which I will explain later.

Step 1

Click this link and click GREAT, LET'S GO!

Step 2

If you need a flight only, select FLIGHT and I NEED A FLIGHT only and complete the details on the bottom:

Step 3

When the results for the outbound flight displays, I prefer to sort by lowest price and filter for nonstop flights.  Hit SELECT FLIGHT:

Step 4

Likewise for the inbound flight, I made sure it was sorted for lowest price and filtered for nonstop.  Hit SELECT FLIGHT:

Step 5

On the Checkout page, make sure you see the $200 gift card notation on the right. The flight has to be $400 or more for this to work. Once confirmed, complete the rest of the passenger and payment info and voila! You should see the promo code lygkhb in the “Promo Code” section.

Just to demonstrate that Upside is not charging a premium, I did a search on Google Flights and found the pricing to be only a few dollars more, $459 vs. $445 – an immaterial premium that is more than offset by the huge $200 gift card.

 

Flights Less than $400?

No problem. If the flight you have in mind does not meet the $400 minimum requirement, just add an Uber package to the deal.  Unfortunately, you have to start over.

Step 1

Click this link and click “Great! Lets go”. Select FLIGHT and UBER:

Step 2

After selecting the flight portion of the package, select an Uber package that will bring you above the $400 requirement.  Note, this is a 2nd example where the flight price was approximately $360:

Step 3

As you can see, the $50 Uber package brought my total to $406, which makes this transaction eligible for the $200 gift card:

You need more than one ticket?

Just have each passenger sign up and purchase a ticket separately (with their own upside account) and each will get their own $200 gift card.

Final Thoughts

I found myself playing with dates / packages for 2+ hours when the deal first surfaced. Then another few hours when I started planning trips for family members. Some destinations don't work like Grand Cayman. I suspect you may find yourself in the same shoes unless you have concrete travel plans. Hopefully, this post helps save you some time.