Unfortunately, it's not very practical, and you have to eat at unnecessarily expensive restaurants to use the money. Also, the referral system is really poor; I invite people, but nobody signs up because you have to spend money to get the school credit, which isn't something people like. The payment and banking process is really annoying; for example, when my friend added their card to the system after I referred them, they blocked $100, which was unnecessary. It was eventually refunded, but it was still annoying. Also, using Fly is very confusing. The system isn't very user-friendly; it needs a simpler interface and more restaurants should be added.

It’s a cool idea, but Blackbird charges a $100 check-in fee that they refund later, about 3-5 business days, according to customer care. The actual bill is charged separately. I used this at a restaurant in NYC and my bill came out to $85. So now my account is out for $185 and it will probably take longer to get the check-in fee back since it’s the weekend. If you’re a money savvy diner and you are paying with Blackbird, make sure to budget out at least $200+ for your dining experience. I’m sure that’s not a problem for a lot of people in NYC, but it’s stressful to me to be out that much money for an $85 meal. Wasn’t really worth it for the free “secret menu” $30 cheese plate we got for participating. I’ll just pay the restaurant directly next time. UPDATE: They responded saying that the pre-authorization does not actually post to an account; this is true, it was stuck in “pending” in my bank account. However, my bank does take pending charges into consideration when I make purchases. So if I have $125 in my account but the pre-authorization hold is $100, my bank will not let me make any purchases over $25. I’m sure this is different with different banks; but once again, if you are a money savvy diner, make sure you have more than enough in your account to continue your daily purchases while factoring in the fee until the pre-auth charge is cleared.

User from SC, I’m consistently disappointed with most things about this platform. It’s a great idea for rewards but due to repeated technical difficulties, and poor user experience I’ll be deleting it. Restaurant staff don’t receive the necessary training and information to use this effectively. today I sat at a restaurant for 30 minutes while half the staff and management tried to figure out how to allow me to use points to pay. I don’t blame the staff I blame whoever was in charge of training them (blackbird). I offered them my credit card but they wanted to figure it out for the sake of guest satisfaction. The experience using it was so bad that I don’t even want to bother using my other 80$ in points. I also worked at a restaurant when they first got blackbird and even from the business side it’s extremely annoying to use and very inefficient. If you like free stuff and a headache then this is definitely for you. Hope they figure out how to make it better

I urge you not to give this app your credit card info. I dined at a restaurant and checked into Blackbird, but we paid outside of Blackbird. Hours later, I get a charge double my tab. I assume what happened was another party dining shared my very common first name and they put her tab under my name. I called the restaurant as soon as it happened and they assured me the charge was void. However, it posted to my account anyway. The restaurant now says they have no record of the charge. Blackbird is gaslighting me that a friend or family member is using my card without my knowledge - it is so clear what happened here - and they won’t take responsibility for the charge. I had to call my bank and they’re cancelling my card because this app has way too easy access to your payment info. I’ll be deleting the app. Thankfully Blackbird loses access when my card is cancelled because they won’t let you remove your payment info!!!