I had the chance to try BLADE helicopter transfers in New York for the first time, and it was very cool but it’s not perfect.
I was headed to New York to see the team at Bilt. I meet regularly with loyalty and travel executives.
I’ll remind that I’ll accept sandwiches in a conference room but anything more than that and I make a charitable donation at least equal to the value that I receive.
These sessions are invaluable because I learn a lot, but loyalty executives and media relations people aren’t actually your friends. They have a job to do. I never want to feel indebted to anyone that I’m covering. And I want to make sure that my travels are like anyone else’s – or at least anyone else’s with similar elite status and points available to spend.
I’ve gotten outreach in the past from BLADE’s CEO, but never accepted a free ride. When it made sense, I figured I’d pay to try it out. But it frequently didn’t make sense. I might have been arriving into JFK midday when there wouldn’t be much traffic (so less advantage to the premium service) or flying into LaGuardia where it’s not an option.
Finally my flights lined up, and I had an expiring free BLADE trip credit that came from elite status and it was the perfect opportunity!
- Bilt partnered with BLADE last year. Bilt Platinums get a free trip each year as part of the partnership.
- I booked one-way using my 2024 credit, before the credit expired (you can book travel for future dates past the credit’s expiration)
- And for completeness, I decided to book my return using my 2025 free trip credit as well.
BLADE has some limitations. For this trip I was only doing one night in the city, traveling with just my laptop bag. For a helicopter transfer you’re limited to a carry-on and personal item, the weight limit is 25 pounds, and excess is charged. Full-sized luggage has to be sent separately by car (they’ll arrange this at a fee).
My worries with BLADE are two-fold:
- Late arriving flight, they say they will book you onto the next available helicopter but their trips can sell out. You could wind up in a car into the city after all.
- Weather. Helicopters aren’t going to fly in low visibility. Low clouds will be a problem. On the way from the airport to the city you could wind up waiting for your chopper, having your trip cancel and being sent in a car to your destination (with future flight credit). On the way to the airport this is a bigger deal! If you’re scheduling enough time for a car to the airport, why are you taking a helicopter?
I’ve also mostly stayed away from helicopters, for irrational reasons dating to my childhood. I grew up in New York and one of my earliest memories is reporting on the New York Airways incident atop the Pan Am building. I’ve made exceptions, like heading up into the Daintree Rainforest the easy way.
Years ago, Continental Airlines would let you book a helicopter add-on with business class travel in and out of Newark, and they offered this for 10,000 extra miles on business class awards flown on Continental booked with their Onepass miles as well. I never took advantage of that.
Delta partnered with Blade in 2017, and American in 2019. JetBlue had a Blade benefit for two years that they killed for this year. Their top tier Mosaic 4 elites received four helicopter transfers between Manhattan and JFK or Newark Airport each year.
Bilt’s partnership with BLADE is pretty interesting. You can earn 2x on BLADE spend when linking any credit card through Bilt; Bilt elites receive a 10% discount; Golds and Platinums can walk into BLADE’s departure lounge for free drinks with no need to be flying; and Platinums receive 1 free helicopter ride per year.
One surprising thing I learned recently about BLADE is that most of their money doesn’t come from ferrying passengers between Manhattan and the airports (or out to the Hamptons, etc.). It turns out passengers are less than half their revenue, while the majority comes from moving human organs for medical transplant. They’re the largest provider of this service in the country.
Booking was simple in the Bilt app. I chose my flight for about half an hour after scheduled arrival at New York JFK. Bilt texts you when you land, picks you up by car at arrivals, and takes you to a general aviation terminal. You’re supposed to arrive there 10 minutes before your helicopter flight, though I’ve certainly heard of people being fine five minutes out.
I deplaned, texted them, and booked it to arrivals. Their car took a couple of minutes to arrive after I got there.
It was a quick trip to their terminal. A staff member met the car, walked me inside, checked my ID and weighed my laptop bag (15 pounds with clothes, etc.). Then I had about 15 minutes to kill. I made a quick stop at the restroom, and two other groups of two passengers each turned up for the flight.
They had us queue up single file to board the helicopter. The rotor was already turning. A laptop bag can sit in your lap, they take a standard-sized carry-on. Since we were full, the two groups of two sat in the passenger cabin of four seats and I sat in a co-pilot’s seat. Score!
Everyone put on their headsets and buckled up. We were given a safety briefing, and we took off straight away.
We passed right by a Saudi government jet and right over a couple of Delta planes. Then it was out towards the city.
About 5 minutes later we were landing at Blade’s terminal on West 30th Street. It’s really convenient if you’re staying or at meetings in midtown, but it turns out that even traveling when traffic was limited and with my heading down into lower Manhattan (and with driving to the general aviation terminal and waiting there) to be a time advantage. Plus it was fun.
We landed, were met by a staffer, and headed into the terminal. There’s a bar there and a sitting area. It’s small. Everyone was offered drinks on the way out (and to go cups). Some had car services set up through BLADE. I just called a Lyft when I got there and it was only a minute away. I took a bottle of water to go and made my way out.
From the outside it’s clearly more of a trailer than lounge, but it works quite nicely. Not sure I’d stop off here for drinks as a Bilt elite, but I guess for the novelty why not?
Maybe the strangest thing about the experience though… the day after the trip, I received an email asking me to tip the pilot?
I made it from terminal to hotel in about 40 minutes, even with my Lyft ride, which I thought was fantastic. No hitches along the way. I was looking forward to trying things out in the other direction the next day.
Unfortunately, as you can see from my photos on the outbound, weather wasn’t great. And the next morning about four hours before my flight I got a text and an email that the trip was scrubbed.
During the booking process you can enter an address you’ll be at, and they arrange a car service for you if they can’t make the helicopter trip (this was a $0 ‘upgrade’ when I booked). I responded to the text with a pickup time, and I heard from the driver a few minutes before scheduled pickup. Traffic was bad reaching me and he turned up about four minutes after schedule.
On the ride into the airport saw my inbound American Airlines aircraft delayed. My flight wasn’t posting a delay yet, but I knew that it would, so I rang up American and had them add a backup flight into my booking. By the time I got to the airport I was moved to still another flight because of a longer delay than I’d expected. And I wound up at JFK with around 3 hours to kill before my new flight even without taking a helicopter – and a non-extra legroom middle seat to look forward to.