How Uber Drivers Cheat Riders by Not Picking Them Up—And Still Get Paid [Roundup]

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About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. @ Gary — United Million Miler recognition is not consistent. For my SO’s very recent Million Miler flight, we planned months in advance to connect at a hub (IAH) with a long layover before an international departure on a PAID Polaris ticket. ZERO recognition until we pointed out the big event. Pathetic. About what I’ve come to expect from all airlines — NOTHING.

  2. Scammer gonna scam. Time to hold them accountable.

    Separate, but related to the whole ‘credit cards’ thing…

    Anyone else receive the mailer from Wells Fargo today about the conversion to Autograph?

    “Whether or not you obtain a new Bilt 2.0 Card, your card will convert to a Wells Fargo Autograph Visa Card. Your new Wells Fargo card can be activated and used beginning on February 6, 2026, but will not be associated with Bilt or earn Bilt Rewards.”

    “You should receive your new Autograph Card by early February.”

    “There is no application or credit bureau inquiry.”

    “Your Autograph Card will have a new account number.”

    “This change will not impact your Bilt Points balance or how you access Bilt Rewards, subject to Bilt’s Terms and Conditions.”

    Some real ‘mommie and daddie are getting a divorce’ vibes.

  3. I turn on PIN verification under Safety in both Uber & Lyft apps so the drivers cant claim they picked me up without the PIN. I got scammed once years ago, cant believe this is still going on.

  4. This isn’t how Uber/Lyft works at all. No driver is doing this. Go drive rideshare for one day and try doing this then get back to me.

  5. Maybe the “writer” of this “article” should learn something…..anything……about the business before spouting nonsense like this…..an absolute bunch of bull.. Apparently the writer is ignorantly unaware of what the drivers fee is when he doesn’t move and the passenger cancels. Well…..it’s a whopping $2. A driver would have to be the dumbest of the dumb to spend 10, 15, or 20 minutes waiting to collect $2 while not being able to receive another request.until the passenger cancels. Absolute nonsense. Since there are no Uber rides that pay only $2, the only options for the driver would be to either do the ride, or cancel themselves.
    Get a clue.

  6. Had the same Uber scam pulled on me at the Las Vegas airport. Once I realized he was driving farther and farther away I just ordered a Lyft and got the popcorn ready. Dude literally drove halfway to Arizona before finally canceling on me.

  7. Joe, D- I was a Grab driver once, and there are definitely cancellation fees that go back to the driver if the customer cancels too late.

    I’ll take your word for it that it’s only $2, so clearly the driver isn’t getting rich. However, it’s better than $0, if you are just planning on sitting somewhere and catching up on your emali.

    Otherwise, how do you explain the phenomenon that many of us have experienced, where the driver accepts your order but does not move for many minutes? It’s not just traffic- I’ve had it happen late at night. Car breakdown? Can’t happen that often, and if the car isn’t working, why wouldn’t the driver cancel the trip themselves?

  8. @PENILE — Where’ve you been bud? What aliases have you been using, wherever, these days? Got any whacky new characters for us??

  9. The inflight entertainment video seemed to skip over the LCD screens that were mounted every few rows. They rotated from flush horizontal to vertical to show the safety video, retracted, and then were deployed later to show the same movie to all. As far as I know this was only every a narrowbody thing.

  10. Yeah had the Uber no movement issue at Kennedy recently. I ended up getting on the AirTrain.

    Where it backfired a bit – my cell service got spotty, and didn’t see when the original driver cancelled. Uber then reassigned a new driver which I only caught by the time he was at pickup. Apologized to the new driver.

    And had to send a couple messages to Uber chat to get the refunds handled.

    But I would still stick it out against the original driver and not cancel the request.

  11. Now reading in the Reddit comments Uber now has a feature where you can request a new driver and not be charged as a cancellation. Didn’t realize that and glad I am now aware.

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