Uber is continuing to charge South Africans additional fees for rides to and from the airport without making it readily apparent to the user.
In July this year, an individual wrote to MyBroadband alerting the site to a fare discrepancy they experienced when using an Uber to travel home from Lanseria Airport in Gauteng.
Unbeknownst to them, the rider received two extra charges on their tab which they only discovered after checking the details of the receipt, namely a R20 “Lanseria Airport surcharge” and a separate R10 “Airport Surcharge”, raising the quoted price of R179 to R209.
MyBroadband contacted Uber about these payments, and it responded this week stating that individuals may pay an additional cost to the driver for inconveniences such as a parking fee to enter a venue or a long return trip after arrival at their destination.
“Additional charges may apply to your trip, including tolls, surcharges, or other fees. These charges are automatically added to your trip fare,” Uber told sister publication MyBroadband.
“Please note that charges added to your trip fare may not exactly match the amount paid by your driver. For example, you may be assessed a surcharge when a driver pays a toll when returning to your city of origin, or for pickups or drop-offs at an airport.”
These additional charges may be retained by the driver, paid by the driver, or passed through to the airport or other third parties, said Uber.
Regarding the rider’s initial complaint, Uber said that after reviewing their bill, it concluded that the customer was incorrectly charged and that they would be refunded.
“We have investigated the matter, and it appears the rider was charged more than the usual fare for the trip, for which the rider will receive a refund,” said the company.
“We apologize for the technical error and will take the necessary steps to correct this issue to ensure no other rider encounters a similar situation.”
Despite this official statement, the same user reported that they had been charged the exact same fees for a trip from Lanseria Airport to Fourways as recently as Monday, 11 September, indicating that they were either incorrectly charged again, or that Uber only refunded the previous payment due to the public attention it received.
Where the money goes
According to one Uber driver, the additional fees such as airport surcharges go directly to Uber and are not, in fact, paid to the airport or the driver as they are claimed to be.
They said the initial reason for these hidden payments was talks of a tolling system being implemented on the Lanseria Airport route specifically for Uber operators, and although this never came to fruition, the surcharges were still added to standard fares to compensate for the impending costs.
The driver also noted that the fee description was recently changed from “Lanseria Airport surcharge” to “Airport Parking Fee,” despite the fact that Uber drivers do not park in the airport, but rather a short distance away on the roadside to wait for fares.
There are also inconsistencies with Uber’s airport fee process, as the same individual who was charged a R30 “Lanseria Airport Parking fee” on their first trip was only charged R20 on their return journey.
While Uber did clarify that charges added to your trip fare are only estimates, it has yet to provide an explanation on why there are any surcharges at all considering the proposed tolling system never materialised and that Uber drivers do not pay anything extra for dropping off customers at airports.
Keyword: Uber breaks silence on “secret” airport fees in South Africa