On a summer 2019 trip to New York City, I decided I wanted to try Blade – one of several helicopter services.
They take you to the area airports and vice versa. I was flying out of LaGuardia and found a coupon for a discount. So I decided to give it a shot.
But first I had to get to the pier – about a 15-minute Lyft ride from West 20th Street.
I was already losing time. With little traffic, the trip to LaGuardia from West 20th can be 25-30 minutes.
I was running ahead and asked Blade if there was an earlier flight. There was and they moved me onto it for no charge.
That also allowed me to move to an earlier flight home on American.
Branding matters
Interesting, too, that I went straight for Blade. There were maybe another 5 companies at the pier.
While marketers are putting less and less emphasis on branding, I only knew of Blade because of branding.
I had never even heard of the other companies out there.
Branding matters and does help with lead generation. Just saying. Blade made money off me after all!
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Use my code – ChristophT220 – for $50 off. Book here.
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I hung out in the Blade lounge for a few and we then boarded the 6-minute flight.
Landing at LGA happens in a remote area – near where Uber picks up passengers. A black car waits there and gave me a ride to Terminal B to clear security for my American flight. There was no security at the pier at all.
Overall, it was a fun experience and I would recommend it to do once. It didn’t save any time in my case. Maybe it does during rush hour or when there’s an accident.
I was sitting on the right side and was looking away from Manhattan. So my view was so so. The Manhattan view was better.
An hour after landing Blade emailed to see if I wanted to tip the pilot.
Overall, a fun experience. I probably won’t do it again to save time, but to save money while taking a Lyft.
Nonetheless, if I were right by the pier it could be an option, plus I would recommend looking at the other services to see what their prices are.