Profiteering is generally applied to cases where allocative efficiency is increased (those who are willing to pay the most are used as a rough proxy for those w

Profiteering is generally applied to cases where allocative efficiency is increased (those who are willing to pay the most are used as a rough proxy for those who need it the most). That's where the "economically sound but unethical" thing comes in, since you're not actually providing any more of the direly needed good, you're just shifting around who gets it. In this case, raising prices is pretty much directly increasing supply, which is a net good for everyone (you're avoiding the case where someone wants to pay X and someone wants to sell for X but there's no avenue to do so). Agreed that from a PR perspective for those who can't grasp simple economics, they should release their data on surge factor vs drivers on the road.