Lyft Lawsuit Claims ‘Priority Pickup’ Option, Despite Cost, Does Not Guarantee Faster Arrivals

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Lyft’s premium-priced “Priority Pickup” option is not as beneficial as advertised, given that priority pickups often fail to arrive at the advertised time and sometimes take even longer than a standard—and cheaper—Lyft pickup.

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The 27-page lawsuit contends that although consumers pay on average about $3 more for a Priority Pickup, Lyft consistently fails to deliver on its promise of a predictable, faster-arriving ride. The complaint summarizes that many Lyft users who pay extra for a Priority Pickup, advertised as the ride-hailing option for consumers to “get where they want to go quick, fast, and in a hurry,” essentially pay a premium price for “benefits that they never receive.”

Per the suit, Lyft’s Standard ride-hailing option provides users an average pick-up time and costs less than a Priority Pickup. The defendant also offers a Wait & Save option for a lower-cost delayed pickup with an uncertain wait time, the case adds.

The class action lawsuit says that although the Priority Pickup option amounts to a “laudable promise” from Lyft, the company simply “does not always deliver,” meaning users end up paying extra for a benefit they never receive.

“So, people like Plaintiff end up paying extra for no reason,” the lawsuit states.

Related Reading: Lyft Driver Independent Contractor Lawsuit Investigation

Because Lyft differentiates the pickup times between different ride options down to the exact minute, and not as a range or estimate, the rideshare company should have the ability to accurately predict pickup times and indicate them to customers as soon as they are available, the suit argues. This, however, is not the case, as consumers like the plaintiff have reported unexpected additional wait times after selecting the Priority Pickup option and did not receive a refund of the price premium they paid, the filing illustrates.

Furthermore, the case contends that Lyft’s apparent inability to consistently deliver on its Priority Pickup promise is made worse by its reliance of "dark patterns", what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describes as deceptive business practices designed to “manipulate consumers into making choices they would not ordinarily make.”

For Priority Pickups, the lawsuit says, the dark patterns manifest in Lyft’s pop-up to riders who select tier ride options if they wait to “upgrade” to get picked up quicker for just a few dollars more, or “keep waiting” for the ride they ordered. Such conduct is what the FTC refers to as "confirm shaming," which, according to the case, is a way of using shame or disapproval to deter users from making choices by framing alternate options as the worse decision.

“ … Lyft knows that people ‘in a hurry’ will pay an extra $3 to avoid the risk of getting picked up late,” the suit asserts. “Lyft capitalizes on this association between price and dependability when, in reality, a Priority Pickup ride comes with significant risk because Lyft does not consistently deliver on its advertised pickup time.”

The Lyft Premium Pickup class action lawsuit looks to represent all consumers in the United States who paid for a Priority Pickup but were not picked up within the advertised time during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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