Hokiefanatic

What are the terms and conditions for earning the 1,000 miles? Do you have to be booked on a UA flight before or after the drive to earn the miles? Do you have to be leaving or arriving from an airport to earn the miles? UA was too vague on the details.

haddon90

UberX won't go anywhere near the terminal now. i've parked down Michelson before at my old roommates office building and walked it. so crossing mcarthur isn't a big deal for me

USHPNWDLUA

[mine] Yeah, not really. He describes it as a linked service that consists of ride-sharing and other car services. Pretty clear to me.

Having presented issues raised by media is a good thing, and I'm glad to know about the concerns over insurance liability. But UAInsider post already states that the app doesn't show über locations where the various flavors aren't legal, so what should UA be concerned about and why should s/he reply to your question? Do you hold your local NBC affiliate accountable because they air ads that make McDonald's hamburgers seem legitimate?

5khours

1. The fear-mongering about Uber is entirely unjustified IMHO. The cars, drivers and safe operation of the vehicles is so much better than regular taxi service that it is laughable. The legal challenges and allegations about safety/insurance are just a smoke screen from the entrenched anti-customer, anti-competition legacy taxi guilds.

2. The only way I see this being useful beyond what's available from the Uber app would be the ability to reserve cars in advance rather than contacting Uber after arrival. I always find it a hassle to book after arrival. The "free" airport wifi interferes with data cellular service, the Uber app needs updating, the data connection is not good, etc. etc. (And in some foreign cities, cars are not available or take a long time). Reserving cars before the trip would be a big benefit.

goodeats21

And opportunity costs for QA, Legal, Marketing, and so on.

It may be revenue neutral...it may even make some small amount of incremental revenue. My point is that chasing negligible adjacent-market revenue while your primary responsibilities are floundering is not a great use of resources.

PV_Premier

^ fix the GPU waitlisting issues, for instance.

teeceedee

Tried using it last night through the UA app. Fairly straightforward.

Didn't end up taking the actual ride, though - had to cancel it twice because the same driver accepted both times and didn't have a cell phone. I saw him drive right past me at passenger pickup without stopping.

Gave up and hopped in a cab

GoAmtrak

It's easy to see why UA is blocking UberX and UberXL in the porting, given their ambiguous legal status in several jurisdictions. While you can get a driver to take you to SFO, there's no official UberX pricing for SFO listed on Uber's SF city page due to SFO's ban on any service that doesn't guarantee that the driver will have a state livery license.

SF Examiner has a story on the UA partnership today:

Coming from SFO, if I want UberX these days I'll take the AirTrain out to West Field Road and request the pickup there.

Wow, now that is truly bizarre. Every driver has an Uber-issued iPhone and I believe they're supposed to keep a personal cell phone at the ready as well.

StingWest

Although I like the idea of some competition to taxis, I was just reading the reviews of Uber, and they are most definitely "mixed". I guess the bottom line is to not rely on it too much!

Also, I think the Uber button takes up too much real estate on the United Android app - surely there's a better flight-oriented use of this space. It would be just as easy to click on an Uber icon right on my Android's home screen.

UA would love for me to use the United app as a window to other non-airline things, but it's just not going to happen!

LarkSFO

I used this yesterday (was going to use Uber to the airport anyway), and liked it.

Is it revolutionary? No, not really.

Does it add a small level of convenience for a small subset of UA flyers? Yes.

As a member of that small subset, I'll take it.

Sykes

That seems like a waste of time. You can request UberX pickup from SFO with no difficulty--many UberX drivers have the necessary SFO permit and only those with the permit or willing to accept the citation risk accept the pickup request.

The bigger problem with SFO is in the other direction--you don't know if an UberX driver is willing to drop off at SFO until you talk to them. UberX drivers are not required to accept fares to SFO because of the legal status.

embarcadero1

Uber is only available where it is legal. In the cities where I've used the service (Chicago, New York, San Francisco, London, Denver, Paris), drivers must be commercially licensed and insured.

As someone who has taken taxis in all of these cities, I can say that Über is a very significant improvement.

The posts about the service being "controversial" sound to me like pointless scaremongering. Yes, Über is bumping up against some territorial taxi and livery services but the only reason for consumers to be concerned is that these pre-existing services are seeking to squelch competition. Has anyone here tried to hail a cab in Paris?

I'm no United fan, but this is an enhancement.

My only criticism is that they should offer a discount for initial use. Otherwise, United is pimping out our use of technology without the benefit that new users get the first time they use the Über app.

dsquared37

In mid-July the driver asked me to sit in the front seat rather than back, which led me to believe there was a grey area in terms of dropoff allowance.

Great ride and cheap with a $30 credit.

UnitedFFinAsia

I'll take the 1,000 miles.

flyinbob

As far as I know, in many states (including IL, as in ORD) it is illegal to operate a vehicle for hire unless they have livery license plates. As Uber vehicles are simple maintained personal vehicles, do they have livery plates? I haven't looked, but it adds even more legal questions to the mix.