News and notes from around the interweb:
- Another way Uber plays you – on those airport trips, make sure to check more than one destination airline, price may vary by as much as $20 even to the same terminal. I guess they figure those Delta flyers sure are premium!
I was booking an Uber from my home to JFK Terminal 4 and noticed something really weird. When I selected Delta as my airline, the fare was about $30 higher than when I selected Virgin Atlantic, even though both airlines operate out of the exact same terminal (T4), and I checked this multiple times, at the same time, using the same pickup and dropoff locations.
After I came across this, Thrifty Traveler tested and found similar results.
[W]e confirmed the fare difference between Delta and Virgin Atlantic for identical rides. While the exact gap will vary by time of day, traffic, and demand, we saw similar discrepancies of $15 to $25.
From there, we tested the theory at other airports:
At our home airport of Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), the fare differences were smaller, but still present. Selecting Delta vs. American Airlines for the same drop-off spot (Terminal 1) showed a difference of a few dollars on multiple tests.
- When plans change, sell your nonrefundable vacation.
SpareFare and competitors like Roomer, Plans Change and Transfer Travel let people buy trips from others who would otherwise watch them go unused. The sites earn commission (12% in SpareFare’s case) on the transaction with the rest going to the seller, and they avoid scams by holding funds from the seller until after the trip.
First time hearing about this for me. There’s platforms for buying someone else’s non-refundable vacations at a discount.
There’s always a trade to do. pic.twitter.com/xi4tP3sF7W
— JUNK BOND ANALYST (@junkbondanalyst) August 10, 2025
- 15% off purchase of GHA Discovery Dollars until September 1. Some hotels now allow applying Discovery Dollars at booking towards prepaid rates, so you don’t have to give up the lower rate to redeem these. However you don’t earn points on the portion of your bill paid with Discovery Dollars. And these do expire. There’s a discount opportunity to be had, but I’m not a buyer even though I’m a fan of the program.
- Should California try to bring back aerospace manufacturing? The ‘why’ it’s gone is clear, and the reasons it was driven out are problems more broadly in the state, but I’m not sure I agree that California’s future ought to be in its return.
- Register for IHG’s promotion to earn 10,000 bonus points every 2 nights stayed, up to 30,000 points, for reservations booked and completed by September 30
- No matter what your politics, they should stay out of air traffic control communications.
BREAKING: Israeli pilots on an EL AL flight to Paris today were greeted by a French air traffic controller who said: “Free Palestine!” over the radio as the plane was approaching Charles de Gaulle.
This week it was reported that France stopped renewing visas for ElAl’s security. pic.twitter.com/vFwVqa2XbW
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) August 12, 2025
When taking rideshares at JFK, I’ve just hopped onto the AirTrain to T8, then gotten a Lyft or Uber (or a Yellow Cab *gasp*).
The IHG promotion brings you to a page that says you need to register but provides no way to do so or indication that you’re already registered.
@1990 — Savvy! How about LGA? Might be doing it later this year; I’m almost always driving, choo chooing or Vamoosing to NYC so could some local expertise.
@L737 — LGA is less of an issue, because there isn’t construction anymore. The problem at JFK right now is that T1 and T4 basically have you get on shuttle bus to a ride share parking lot, unless you pay for Black, which can be like $150-200+ to Manhattan, which is absurd. Like, average fares should be under $100 for entry-level rideshare to most of NYC; Yellow Cab is flat $70-75 (depending on time of dat) for JFK-Manhattan. Of course, bus/AirTrain/subway/LIRR, etc. is less expensive. From LGA, if not using rideshare, I personally prefer the Q70 to E train at Roosevelt, but it’s not ‘for’ everyone… And a ‘trick’ for Newark (EWR) is to take the PATH (or Amtrak/NJ Transit, etc.), then bus or ride share from the Newark ‘Penn Station’ (not to be confused with the one in Midtown) to the airport (especially comes in handy when the Holland or Lincoln tunnels are backed up.) To each their own though. Others will disagree with me, have their own preferences. Some probably have their own cars, park at the airports. Psh.
And if I were visiting from anywhere the Acela goes, I’d recommend the train, because the +1 hour shuttle flights (like DCA, BOS to EWR, LGA, or JFK) so often get delayed and cancelled. Like, 3-4 hours even on a Regional Amtrak seems like a better idea, if visiting NYC and don’t need a car. I just wish we had even more expansive high speed rail to further destinations; NYC to Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, etc. really should all be reachable within 5 hours if we did this right. It’s a bit of a pipe dream, because auto manufacturers (and airlines, and oil and gas industries) would lobby hard against it, but one can dream…
Sensible. Those seeking an elevated flying experience by flying Delta likely are seeking an elevated ride experience from Uber and are willing to pay for it.
In these days of Google maps it’s not a bad idea to take the yellow cab. I recently did that at Düsseldorf airport and saved more than 50% of what Uber was charging me.
@1990 — Thanks for all that! Those rideshare prices you mentioned are rough, yikes. I definitely don’t mind taking public transportation to the city either even if it takes a lot longer. I’m planning on flying out of LGA to try the Cap 1 Landing when it opens, but I definitely agree the train is much more convenient in many cases. Will debate whether to fly in or not depending on if I tack on some destinations before or after so good info just in case!
@Denver Refugee — Heh, be a good time for @Matt to make another appearance.
@L737 — Ah, it would be worth it to fly out of LGA Terminal B for the Cap 1 Landing. As far as getting to/from the airport, especially if time, comfort, and privacy are not an issue, yeah, the one-time $2.90 for the subway (and Q70 bus) is hard to beat.
But the sexual assault is on the house!
should the southland bring back aerospace manufacturing?
the question should be – for the purposes of national security – should the united states have 2 viable manufacturers of commercial aircraft?
@ 1990 — Why T8?
@Gene — Only 1-2 stops from T1/T4, if you take the ‘yellow’ line that loops around the terminals (as opposed to red or green lines, which go to Jamaica or Howard Beach, etc.) Whereas, if you’re flying jetBlue (T5), they’re also doing the ride-share shuttle, so you could also go to T7, which isn’t doing shuttle to ride shares either (like T8). Of course, give it a few weeks/months and it’ll all be different yet again. They’re really ripping apart JFK these days. When’s the last time you went through there? For me it was August 3, so probably all the same for now.
I wonder if these informal studies varied the sequence of requesting different airlines. I would expect the second request to cost more than the first request to the same destination, as the algorithm infers higher demand.
@ 1990 — Thanks for explaining. Yeah, last time we visited JFK T4 (on Delta), we got the lovely surprise of riding on that friggin bus for what seemed like forever at about 1 AM after a multi-hour delay. It was a bad end to a bad travel day.
Our recent visit to Newark was even worse (also on Delta) — 5 hour delay, 1.5 hour wait for an uber, the worst uber car in the history of the world (I kid you not), 2 AM arrival at HR Jersey City, 6 AM departure from Jersey City back to EWR, 26-hour SQ mechanical delay, horrible hotel room in lower Manhattan, SQ cancellation, auto re-booked from SQ J to LH Y+, 3 hours on the phone to get rebooked to LX J + SQ J, and lastly flights from JFK-ZRH-SIN, arriving a mere two days late! What a disaster! It would have made great content if I had my own blog!
One could ask instead if the United States should prioritize alternative means of domestic transportation, such as revitalized Class 4/Class 5 (60-80 MPH) passenger rail?
Anecdotal evidence is not proof that they are charging different rates based on airline. You can search repeatedly and get different prices each time without changing anything. Demand shifts rapidly at airports, like when a cluster of flights arrive. Stop spreading this stupidity. Bring proof, not conspiracy theories.
@Gene — Oh my… both of those experiences, especially the latter, would have me ‘staying home’ for a while. Newark has had a rough time this past year; it’s getting a little better, but, apparently, it’s not ‘there’ yet. You’ve ‘paid your dues’ 10x over, it seems. Yikes!
@Mantis — You, of all people, are gonna preach to us about ignoring ‘conspiracy theories.’ Oof. Now I’ve seen it all… tell us again about ‘DEI.’ It’s always pot calling the kettle black with you on here…
I have said this before- UBER price discriminates on who you are. It happened to me at SFO. They (UBER) does this- and I think they are evil. In fact, I would love them to come after me because I still have the records from when it happened when I took an UBER from SFO to the same Hilton Hotel, downtown San Fran, and I was *quoted* a higher price (~$15) than the colleague standing next to me, and we even refreshed it several times, and we were both frequent uber users.
The difference? I tended to get Uber black more often. (And yes, we did request the exact same non-Uber Black ride).
I deleted the Uber app then. I only use Lyft and regular yellow taxis (which were stupidly more expensive and not on time back then but our now much better, especially time and $$ when you arrive at an airport and want a quick drive to wherever you need to go.)
-Jon
The IHG says
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10K POINTS EVERY TWO NIGHTS (UP TO 3X)
Please try again. If you continue to have issues with registering for this offer, please contact Customer Care for assistance
Good for you! I have been loyal to REVEL for years now due to their cheaper prices and EV rides! Now I discover, much to my chagrin, that REVEL is no longer in service. WHY? I must ask, as it sounds like they’ve simply been muscled out. I have a September flight out of EWR, for which I’d planned a REVEL RIDE, but now I must reconsider….. What has happened to free competition in our cities??
@Jon Biedermann — I’ve had similar experiences. Other than to use the Platinum/Gold monthly credits, I stick to Lyft (or Yellow Cab/public transit) in NYC. There are others, like Revel (and Via, before it), which used to be a decent third option for rideshares, but, unfortunately, their quality has suffered in recent months. If @Russell Cook is correct, that Revel has also gone bust, that’s not a surprise to me. Haven’t seen too many of their light blue cars around lately.
I blame Tim Dunn.