I’ve reviewed this experience before, but I enjoyed another Blade helicopter ride to JFK from Manhattan and this time I was in the co-pilot seat, so I wanted to share some pictures of the experience.

I reserved my Blade ride in the Bilt app. As a Bilt Platinum member, I get one free Blade ride per calendar year. I also get 10% off additional passengers (or additional rides for myself after the first one). It normally costs around $200 (give or take a few dollars either way depending on the time of day) and you can take Blade to either Newark or JFK from Manhattan (or the reverse). While last year, I included my wife and paid for her ride, I decided that this was a good opportunity for me to use my free Blade ride as a bit of a reward for making it through my court hearing. I’m not sure I’ll make Platinum with Bilt this year, so this might be my Blade swansong until I win the lottery.

In keeping with the Bilt-related theme of the day, I first walked up from my hotel to the Bilt Cafe to grab a coffee. It was way smaller than I expected and had nowhere to actually sit. I did earn an extra 8x on my Bilt transaction there so I guess that’s something. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by, but don’t go out of your way to visit.

From there, I took a short rideshare and arrived at the Blade Departures Lounge on West 30th Street a bit early, hoping I could take an earlier ride than I booked so that I could possibly catch an earlier flight home. Unfortunately, my Blade flight was the next one scheduled so I enjoyed a Macallan 12 at the bar.

There was one other passenger on my flight, but I had already asked about sitting up front and was granted the request. When our bird arrived, I boarded in the co-pilot seat. There was a view out the window and below my feet. I was given headphones (more for noise-canceling) and strapped in for safety.

We took off and flew south down the river and around the southern tip of Manhattan, across Brooklyn and into Queens.

We approached JFK from the west. Unlike last time, the runway near the general aviation area wasn’t active so we didn’t see any close-up views of planes taking off. The flight took about five minutes from start to finish.

We landed at the general aviation area and as both passengers were headed to Terminal 4, we shared a large SUV to the terminal drop-off area, which took about another five minutes. It was certainly a big time and hassle savings over rideshare at 4pm on a Monday.

In the end, the earlier Atlanta flight was leaving from one of the first gates past security in the B Concourse. There were still some seats left, so I was able to catch the flight and get home two hours earlier.

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