Skip the sleigh and Uber home for the holidays

If you meet a few basic requirements, Uber can make getting around slightly easier and cheaper this holiday season. 

When you're a kid, you look forward to the holidays: no tests, no homework, no getting up before you're ready, and depending on your family's traditions, you might even receive presents.

As an adult, though, holidays lose their luster. There are trips to plan, gifts to buy, and heaven help you if one of your bristly relatives launches into a political tirade at the dinner table. 

Uber can't help with your Aunt Bea or your passive-aggressive brother Buford, but it can make getting around slightly easier and cheaper this holiday season--if you meet a couple of basic requirements, of course.

First, you have to have an American Express card (a conventional one, not the pre-paid kind). 

Second, you have to use that card to pay for your Uber rides. 

Third, your Uber driver has to pick you up at one of these airports:

• LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
• Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
• Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
• Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
• Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
• McCarran International Airport (LAS)
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
• Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)

If you meet all of those conditions, congratulations: Uber will help pay for two of your rides between now and December 31, 2016. 

After you've landed and picked up your checked bags, simply open your Uber app, hit the promotions tab, and enter the promo code "AMEXAIRPORT". (Make sure your Amex is set to be the payment for the ride.) The first $65 of each trip will be on the house--though of course, that doesn't include tipping your driver.