3 ms·
The difference seems pretty clear: Profit. Uber/Lyft drivers aren't splitting the cost of gas with riders; they're making money from it, as evidenced by the fac
by tbabb 11y ago
The difference seems pretty clear: Profit. Uber/Lyft drivers aren't splitting the cost of gas with riders; they're making money from it, as evidenced by the fact that rates change hour by hour with market demand. They can claim they're not taxis, but their compensation structure says otherwise.
I am not a lawyer, but if Flytenow is truly doing what they say and are facilitating riders and pilots to share cost, then it is hard to argue that it's a commercial endeavor because the pilot still loses money; just like I am not a taxi if I drive you down to LA and we split gas-- how we found each other and whether we are strangers seems irrelevant.
- cameldrv 11y agoThe FAA has a concept of "Common Purpose." You can't share expenses if the pilot and the passengers don't share a common purpose for the flight, that is, there is some other reason than just splitting the expenses for them to go together, for example, they are all going to the same meeting or on the same vacation. Generally the reason is that the regulations are far more lax for a private operation than a commercial operation, and the FAA wants you to be in a position to judge their character and judgment before you decide to fly under regulations where the FAA isn't guaranteeing much itself.