84% of Riders Never Compare Uber vs. Lyft—And They’re Getting Ripped Off [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. Au contraire, Gary… (pronounced the French way; with the guttural “r”). These days, in NYC, when using a rideshare, I check, not 2, but 3! apps now, Lyft, Uber, and Blacklane, thanks to that $100 Blacklane credit from Citi Strata Elite (used your link to open, bud!) Lyft is still usually cheapest.

  2. Oh, and your comment about the SAS devaluations was exactly my thought when I first read about it over at LALF. Was like, oof, the 900 or so folks that got their million miles must be upset…

  3. I always compare among Uber, Lyft, Bolt, Grab, Careem as applicable in a market before booking a ride. But there are some situations where a regular taxi can be cheaper than these mentioned app offerings — for example, when I am heading back to CDG after the FT Moderator Do this weekend and have to get back into Paris during rush-hour, a fixed fare regular taxi may be the best value of the choices available to me at CDG.

  4. Uber and Lyft are extremely scammy. Have a credit or promotion? We’ll quote you a higher price!

    Starting to feel like everyone would be better off if we use the app to get the driver, then offer the driver to cancel the ride and pay them cash.

  5. @GUWonder — Agreed on fixed-fare taxis in many places ($70-75, JFK-Manhattan has saved me more than a few times.) What’s going on with flyertalk these days?

  6. I was one of the people who got 1 million points from SAS from its million point promo. This devaluation is disappointing, but I anticipated a worse devaluation and this one really does very little (or almost nothing) to dent into my returns from my doing the 1 million point run. I will get my pound of flesh and then some out of SAS anyway via EC 261/2004 claims. 😉

  7. I can only hope, 1990. A US-equivalent of EC 261/2004 would be a gold mine for me — better than the game of trying to get bumped from overbooked flights 20-30 years ago. SAS makes it so easy for me. 😀

  8. I have Uber cheaper than Lyft for 90% of my rides, and almost 100% of rides in some cities. That’s without counting the 20% off I get buying Uber gift cards from Costco. After years of checking both, I now often do not bother checking Lyft when the Uber price looks normal.

  9. @GUWonder — As I’ve said many times on here before; we need actual air passenger rights legislation that includes a baseline of compensation for significant delays and cancellations within the airlines’ control, like the EU and UK’s 261 laws, and Canada’s APPR. As you’ve witnessed in Europe, it doesn’t bankrupt airlines (Ryanair still flies those dirt-cheap fares and is EU261-bound). Instead, in the USA, we’re beholden to the abuses of major corporations; we practically give them zero-interest loans by purchasing tickets months in-advance, only for them to have a ‘staffing issue’ and cancel without much notice or recourse. Oh, rebook or refund; no, man, pay me $200-600, and rebook or refund. Watch how fast those incentives create greater reliability, efficiency, and ultimately better companies here, too. And we get paid.

  10. I also check out taking a free hotel shuttle bus to get close to where I am to go. For example, it’s possible to take a free hotel shuttle bus to get close to where a meeting is to be held this weekend. And free beats Uber when the timing is right, right, nsx?

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