I suspect the author of the post is glossing over the fact that technically he was informed, he just clicked through the "Surge Pricing / are you sure you want

I suspect the author of the post is glossing over the fact that technically he was informed, he just clicked through the "Surge Pricing / are you sure you want to pay 5x" screen without reading it closely, figuring the email had already prepared him for a slightly higher fare. I infer this from the fact that the post focuses on the email and Uber's pricing decision in the first place, rather than the notification or lack thereof, and then at the end slips in: "transparency is not just a vague email or a short notification".