We’ve all been there: at an airport after landing from a long-haul flight; at a bar staying out late with friends; leaving from a packed concert or sporting event, and we swipe open the Uber app. Seeing an absurd number, you close the app, try again, and the number’s only getting higher. So you turn to the person you’re with, have them book the same trip home, and it’s significantly lower, sometimes a fraction of the price.
You may not be alone. Some Uber riders are accusing the company of charging higher fares when an American Express card is selected in the app, reviving long-running concerns about how opaque ride-hailing algorithms decide what each customer pays.
The latest wave of complaints appears to have been sparked by a viral video showing an UberX ride in Atlanta priced at $33.05 when the rider selected an Amex card, then dropping to $20.33 after the rider switched to a Visa card. Similar claims have since circulated across Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, FlyerTalk, and credit-card forums, where users say fares appear to rise when Amex cards, Uber Cash credits, Uber One memberships, gift-card balances, or business profiles are attached to their accounts.
American Express markets Uber credits as a premium cardholder perk. Platinum cardholders can receive up to $200 in Uber Cash annually, distributed as $15 per month plus a $20 December bonus. Uber’s terms say riders must add an eligible Amex card, select it as the payment method, and enable Uber Cash to redeem the benefit. The same terms say American Express shares certain card information with Uber, “including the Card type,” for benefit fulfillment.
That has led some cardholders to argue the benefit may be offset by higher fares. “It really undermines the benefit of receiving that $15 monthly credit if I end up spending an additional $15 per ride,” one Reddit user wrote in an Amex Platinum thread about the viral video. Another Reddit user said switching from a Chase Sapphire Reserve card to an Amex Platinum card raised an airport ride estimate by roughly $12 to $16, or 17% to 27%, before the price dropped again when the user switched back to Visa.
The pricing debate
Questions about Uber’s dynamic pricing go back years. In 2017, a FlyerTalk thread discussed if the “Amex Platinum make[s] Uber trips more expensive.” A user in the forum said trips began costing roughly 15% more after linking an Amex Platinum card, while another said rides became 13% to 17% more expensive after switching from a previous card to Amex Platinum. “Looks like the advertised credit is a trap,” that FlyerTalk user wrote.
Neither Uber nor American Express has responded to Fortune’s requests for comment.
The rideshare company has denied that payment method affects fares in an April 2025 story about related gift-card complaints. Uber spokesperson Zahid Arab told SFGATE, “Uber does not personalize fares for drivers or riders.” Arab added that “Uber’s pricing tech does not set different prices for riders according to the payment type they use,” and said fare changes are driven by real-time conditions including demand, estimated time and distance, traffic, and driver availability.
Allegedly getting charged more for gift cards and low battery
Other users have claimed that Uber charges more when riders have Uber Cash or gift card balances. That SFGATE story chronicled Bay Area resident Rupinder Summan, who said that “like nine times out of ten” his phone showed higher fares after he loaded Costco gift cards than his wife’s app did for the same route at the same time. A travel blogger said a regular airport ride seemed unusually expensive after he had a $15 Amex Uber credit in his account, and one reader responded that a regular $20 Uber ride rose to about $30 after loading discounted Costco Uber gift cards.
Forum commenters have drawn parallels to other Uber benefits as well. In a Reddit thread about Uber One, one commenter asked, “what if Amazon increased prices exclusively for Prime Members?,” after the poster said a home-to-airport fare that was usually around $54 became $68 after signing up for Uber One through Amex Platinum. In another Uber thread, a commenter claimed American Express users “often see higher rates” and advised riders to try a different card.
In 2023, Belgian newspaper Dernière Heure tested two phones in Brussels and found a ride quote of €17.56 on a phone with 12% battery, compared with €16.60 on a phone with 84% battery. Uber denied using battery level to calculate fares, though former Uber economist Keith Chen previously said the company had found low-battery users were more willing to accept surge pricing, according to Vice.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com