How much does it cost to take a helicopter from Manhattan to JFK? — featuring Charles On Travels (Blade)

0:00 Today I'm heading from Manhattan over to JFK airport. And there's a lot of different ways that you can do that. But the wanding today is one I'm very excited for and something that I thought was only reserved for the mega rich cuz today I'm going by helicopter. So today I'm traveling by blade helicopter. But

0:15 how much does this cost? Is it all worth it? And how does it compare to other standard alternatives like getting an Uber or the subway? Well, let's find [music] out. So, right now the Uber app is telling me that it would cost me about $175 to get to JFK and it'll take about an hour and

0:32 a half in the traffic at the moment. So, let's see how Blade compares to that. Now, one thing I've not yet mentioned that is a very important consideration of this is you do obviously need to get yourself over to the Blade Lounge. Now, you might be staying very nearby, in which case it's convenient, but if

0:47 you're not near to one of their lounges, then that's a pretty important factor to consider in the decision of coming or not. I'll be departing today from Blade Departures Lounge West, which is located on West 30th Street. Now, I decided to walk down today and it took me about 45 minutes from where I was staying. Now,

1:01 obviously, I could have got an Uber. I could have got the subway. That would have cut down the time, but it's a lovely day today and I fancy the stroll cuz I had plenty of time to kill from when I checked out of my hotel. Bit of an aside, weirdest hotel checkout experience ever. Um, I had to speak to a

1:13 robot and request the check out from there. >> Thanks, Charles. Your checkout is confirmed and you're free to leave. Please don't forget your belongings. So, after that check out, a bit of a walk over to and along the Hudson River, past the Intrepid before finally arriving over at the Blade Lounge.

1:30 Now, the entrance to the lounge is not exactly very glamorous, but once inside, I was warmly greeted into a nice modern space. My bags were weighed and thankfully came within the £25 limit. More on the luggage allowance once we get going. And I was also given a wristband that will

1:49 serve as my boarding pass. I took a seat with views out towards the helicopter landing pads and I was offered a drink. The lounge does have a bar with alcoholic drinks available, but today I just opted for a cappuccino. Bathrooms are available in the lounge and they were pretty quirky, very

2:04 interestingly decorated. They have Japanese style toilets as well and they even have the added touch of having blade branded hand towels. The time passed very quickly here watching the occasional arrival and departure and all of the staff working in here were incredibly friendly. It

2:21 wasn't too long before my helicopter arrived and it's very exciting to get going. Myself and the two of the passengers today were given a pretty quick briefing about what to do to board the helicopter. We were asked to follow out in single file, take our seats, strap on our seat belts, and put on our

2:35 headsets. So, let's get out there. These helicopters can seat up to six, but thankfully it was just the three of us today, so there was a bit of space for some leg room and a place to put our backpacks. I do think it would have been pretty tight in there with more people. And within no time, we were taking off,

2:58 heading south down the Hudson round the southern tip of Manhattan before turning east over Brooklyn towards New York JFK [music] airport. And along the way, of course, got to take in those incredible views, the Manhattan skyline, including the One World Trade Center, [music] and also got good views of the Statue of

3:14 Liberty. Although, I will say the side of the helicopter rack does matter. I definitely got better views of the Statue of Liberty on my side of the helicopter, but the guys at the other side definitely got better views of most of the Manhattan skyline. Just a few weeks before this trip, I had actually

3:27 been setting sail on a similar route on a cruise ship. But seeing all of this from above was absolutely epic and something I'd really recommend if your budget can cover it. So, how do you go about booking this and how much does it actually cost? Well, you can book this via the Blade website or their app. And

3:42 it's worth noting that they operate a number of routes, not just this one to JFK. From New York, for example, you can also go to Newark, the Hamptons, even Atlantic City. [music] And in Europe, they operate flights between Nice and Monaco that I'd be pretty interested in trying out. They also offer charter

3:57 routes all over the place, but those are incredibly expensive, significantly more than the shared rides like the one I'm taking today. The price of these rides to JFK start at just $195. Honestly, not a huge stretch above what you might pay for an Uber, but that is a per person price, and it can get a lot

4:13 more expensive, especially once you factor in extras. The first extra that they try and charge you for is ground connections. Starting at $150, this will transport you between your hotel and the Blade Lounge. I'm sure it's convenient, but not at all worth it compared to the cost of an Uber. But by far the biggest

4:30 extra cost and inconvenience is [music] baggage. I'm traveling today with just a small carry-on size case, which I had to check in with them, and a personal item size [music] small backpack, which I got to carry on the helicopter. And this is the maximum amount of luggage that's allowed as standard. And both of those

4:45 couldn't exceed a maximum weight of £25. So, not a lot. Any baggage above this amount will set you back another $150 per item with check luggage size cases being transported separately [music] by taxi. So clearly if you're not traveling light then this isn't going to be a very sensible option [music] for you. So

5:02 based on all those extra baggage fees clearly traveling light is very important on these helicopter trips. That's why I personally decided to carry on my Navigator T66 lightweight backpack from TomT. This met Blade's size and weight requirements for a personal item, and it also does meet the carry-on

5:17 requirements of budget airlines, too. It's a really fantastic bag with a lot of great organizational features, from the straps to easily compress the bag to reduce its size, all the different pockets and sections to keep things separated, and I love the way you can access the main section of the bag in

5:32 two different ways, so it's always really easy to quickly access everything that you need. It's also a really comfortable bag to wear, or if you don't want to carry it, it can easily be hooked onto the handle of your suitcase. Also, and I know this is a bit of a weird one to call out, but I do

5:45 genuinely think it's got the best quality zips of any bag I've owned, but if you want to travel even lighter, you might consider the Explorer T-21 Sling Bag. Like the backpack, this also has great organization and zip sections. It's got a hidden back pocket for keeping valuables safe, and it's durable

6:01 and water resistant. You can order your bag from TomTop via the link in description or that QR code on screen. And now let's talk about how much exactly I paid for this helicopter ride and how you can get a bit of a discount if you want to try this out yourself. Even the standard fair for mine today,

6:17 not paying for any extras, was $325. However, I did get a $50 discount that brought this down to $275 or $29 based on the exchange rate at the time. [music] When you have an account with Blaze, they'll give you a referral code that people can use for the $50 discount. And I grabbed this discount

6:34 for an old novice video. So, thanks for that, Null. [music] I now do have my own referral code as well. So, if you did want to use that and get yourself a $50 discount, I'll put that on screen now and [music] also in the video description. It'll also give me a $25 credit if you use it, and I'll be able

6:48 to use that on a future trip, which will make that Monaco flight [music] a bit more possible. But is it all worth it? Well, as an experience to try out once, I'd say definitely. I had a brilliant time, and I think the price I paid for that experience was very reasonable. But as a

7:02 general commute that I'd repeat, then I'm less convinced. The inconvenience and cost to get into the Blade Lounge negates a lot of the touted speed and convenience. And those luggage restrictions make it pointless for anything other than a short trip where you're traveling light. And it becomes

7:16 even harder to justify for more than one person. But to properly put this to the test, let's get this journey finished, get over to the airport, and we'll then pick things up in this video a few weeks later when I'm going to be arriving back in JFK to see how the subway and Uber experiences compare to this. We'd had a

7:32 really smooth landing from our flight and we were then escorted over to a waiting car where our bags were loaded for us. As I was heading to a separate terminal from the other passengers, I was sent in my own car, but this drive would be shared if we were off to the same terminal. Unless you paid Blade the

7:46 very small fee of $100 for a private ride. From takeoff to landing in our helicopter, it had been a total of 8 minutes. The drive from where we landed to get over to the entrance to Terminal 7 at JFK, 12 minutes. Very nice car. they picked me up in. But it does feel a bit ridiculous that I'm still spending

8:04 longer in a taxi than I did actually on the helicopter ride. But let's now see how that compares to actually getting a taxi the entire way or just hopping on the subway. So back in New York just a couple of weeks later, it's time to head to Manhattan via the subway. So first up, you need to connect via the Jamaica

8:21 Air Train. You can just hop straight on and ride all the way to Jamaica Station and tickets are paid for with contactless and you only need to pay at Jamaica Station as travel within the airport is completely free. So don't worry about needing to tap in or buy a ticket if you're departing from JFK.

8:36 Once at Jamaica Station, you then tap to pay or there are ticket machines if you prefer to use those. You just follow the signs for the subway after that. Again, you can just tap in using contactless payment. Super easy, very convenient and pretty cheap, too. The ride over was absolutely fine. No weird or crazy

8:53 people. Uh just one man who was passed out and drooling. Um but everything and everyone else seemed completely normal and it was all clean as well. Um it wasn't the most convenient thing in the world with a suitcase I will say. And this was a relatively small suitcase I was traveling with today. Um so if you

9:09 did have more luggage, not the best option. Uh but neither is Blade either. The total cost of traveling on the subway, well, it was just $11.40 or just £868. And that includes the cost of Jamaica Air Train as well. So, definitely the most affordable option. Uh, worth noting, of course, that is per

9:26 person. So, if there was a big group of you, potentially factor that in in how that compares to the cost of an Uber. And after the stay in New York, I did make my way back to the airport via Uber. Now, the time of day and the days of the week can have a big impact on traffic and pricing for this option.

9:41 Today I was departing at 6:30 a.m. on a Wednesday. And pricing wasn't too bad at this time, a hell of a lot more than the Subway, but a lot less than Blade. The Uber comfort price wasn't much more than Uber X. I went for that. And the driver arrived within about 20 seconds of ordering the Uber and had no issue

9:55 loading my case for me. And I was doortodoor in under an hour. It was mostly a comfortable ride. The only exception being when another car nearly sideswiped us and my driver let out an explicive and racial slurfilled route of road rage. But, you know, aside from that, very relaxing. Now, all three of

10:10 these methods of travel can be great in different circumstances. Traveling during times when traffic's quiet or traveling with a lot of luggage, get a cab or an Uber. Traveling during rush hour with minimal luggage or need to keep cost low as possible, then the subway will be just fine. Traveling solo

10:25 with limited luggage and want an incredible experience, give Blade a go. And don't forget, if you do try out Blade, you can use my code to get $50 off. Thanks for watching and hopefully I'll see you in the next one.