I’ve written about the Bilt credit card before. It’s a great no annual fee card that earns 3x points on dining, 2x points on many travel categories and most interestingly, earns points on rent with no credit card processing fee. Bilt Rewards also has its own status program. Last year, I spent enough on the card to earn Platinum status, which entitled me to certain perks with the program.

This year, a new Platinum perk was added that was kind of exciting. Each year, a Bilt Platinum member can get one free ride on Blade, a helicopter service that most notably flies between Manhattan and JFK or Newark airport. For other passengers, you get a 10% discount on the service when you book via Bilt. Rides generally cost about $195-250 per person before the discount.

I already had our New York City weekend trip booked, but I ended up switching our return flight to depart from JFK so that I could take advantage of the Blade flight (they do not fly to or from LaGuardia). I booked a 3:40pm Blade flight to JFK airport for our 5:30pm Delta departure. My wife’s flight cost around $200 after the 10% discount so we were effectively paying about $100 per person thanks to my free ride courtesy of Bilt.

One thing to note with Blade is a very strict luggage policy. There is a limit of 25lbs per passenger and a steep fee if you go over this weight limit. We only had a two night trip so we had no issues with being under the limit.

Blade has two heliports, one on the West Side and one on the East Side. Logically, if you want better Manhattan views, it makes sense to use the West Side heliport for JFK and East Side heliport for Newark as you will go around and past lower Manhattan using these routes.

We left the Grayson Hotel around 2:30pm which was probably way too early as it only took about 20 minutes to get to the Blade Lounge West, at the 30th street heliport on the Hudson River. It was not the most premium experience as we had to be dropped off and walk down a path to find the departure lounge.

Eventually, we found the entrance.

Inside there was a much better experience. There was a check-in desk where we showed our IDs and received “boarding passes” which were actually very cool logoed snap on bracelets that we could keep after the ride. There was a nice bar and a few seating areas.

When we arrived, we were asked if we minded going on the 3pm flight as we were early. We said it would be no problem as there was only one other passenger waiting, so we knew we’d have plenty of space on the flight.

We did have time for a drink though, and since I noticed they had a bottle of Macallan 12, I went with that. My wife had a glass of wine. I also may or may not have impersonated Arnold by saying “Let’s get to the choppah!” a few times.

Soon, it was time to board. Our bags were taken and loaded on the helicopter. My wife was able to keep her large purse with her and it wasn’t weighed so that could be a bit of a workaround if you are close to the luggage limit. I also think they weren’t being very strict as we only had three passengers instead of the five maximum.

There are five available passenger seats. One seat is next to the pilot and then four are in the rear with two seats facing forward and two facing backwards. I could see it being a bit tight, especially if you don’t know the other two people. I assume couples normally sit across from each other. Luckily for us, the other passenger sat with the pilot so we had the entire back section to ourselves.

We were asked to buckle up and put on the provided wired Bose headsets. Once everyone was set, we lifted off.

I was on the New Jersey side, but it was easy enough for me to lean over and grab some pictures of Manhattan through my wife’s window. We passed along the river to the tip of Manhattan and then passed the Statue of Liberty and Governor’s Island as we rounded Manhattan and passed over Brooklyn and Queens. It definitely felt like we were on an episode of Succession.

We flew over Queens and landed at JFK about five minutes after we took off. We actually touched down at the general aviation area.

Upon landing, our bags were brought out for us and we were escorted through a nearby building and to a waiting SUV. Cold water was waiting for us.

We were driven around to Terminal 4. Traffic was actually very slow within the airport and it took about 20 minutes to get dropped off. Normally, it would be much quicker. We were fairly early anyway and had time to stop into the SkyClub before our flight back to Atlanta.

We had a great time on Blade. My wife was a bit nervous as we lifted off, but that soon passed when she saw the views (and the traffic we missed) on the ride. I definitely recommend taking advantage of this Bilt benefit if you’re eligible. Even if you don’t get the free annual Blade ride, it could be worth taking advantage of Blade if you have a tight schedule, you are traveling at rush hour during surge prices for rideshare or you just want to treat yourself.

If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links.