Dan Webb

Have any of you heard of US Helicopter? If not, the service started a couple of years ago, and can be really handy. While the airline operates a few routes, its biggest ones are between Manhattan (from the Downtown Manhattan Airport and the East 34th St. Heliport in Midtown) and Kennedy and Newark, and has partnerships with Delta and Continental. The fares usually start at $159. That might sound expensive, but in my opinion, it’s worth it. A cab ride from downtown to JFK can take awhile, but the flight lasts about eight minutes, according to the US Helicopter Website. In addition, bags are checked and passengers clear security at the heliport, saving a decent chunk of time.

Anyway, Delta just announced a new limited-time perk. Domestic travelers who are flying on a full coach fare or a first class fare get complimentary helicopter service to downtown or Midtown on tickets purchased from now to August 29 (travel has to happen by December 31). The tickets have to be booked all the way to the heliports, too. little while ago. I was talking about the new offer with one of my friends, and he mentioned how this really wasn’t anything special, and I decided to look into it. Turns out he was very right.

I decided to make a mock itinerary from Los Angeles to Kennedy to the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on September 17. I decided on four scenarios to compare.

1. Book the lowest coach fare I could find for LAX-JFK and book the helicopter flight separately.
2. Book the lowest fare for LAX-JFK-JRB on the Delta website to see if there was a difference.
3. Book an unrestricted coach fare (Y) for LAX-JFK and book the helicopter flight separately.
4. Book an unrestricted coach fare (Y) for LAX-JFK-JRB as the promotion mentions to see if the price is different compared to scenario #3.

I decided that the flights should be the same. LAX-JFK was Delta 10, and the JFK-JRB segment was US Helicopter flight 118, aka Delta 3534.

Scenario #1 (Lowest LAX-JFK, Separate Helicopter)

So that gives us a total of $329 when booking the cheapest LAX-JFK fare and then booking US Helicopter on its own website.

Scenario #2 (Cheapest LAX-JFK-JRB Option)

So the price is the same compared to option #1.

Scenario #3 (Full Fare Coach LAX-JFK, Separate Helicopter)

Scenario #4: (Full Fare Coach LAX-JFK-JRB)

Yay, equal base fares! But is it really worth all that extra money for that “complimentary” service when you can get it on a cheaper fare class and save $746 (when scenario 4 is compared to scenarios 1 and 2)?

For business class passengers this deal may not be the best, though. For example, booking LAX-JFK-JRB gives this refundable ticket that does have an equal base fare to LAX-JFK:

But building an itinerary using the multi-city tool and using a non-refundable business fare can bring about a cheaper end result, though I have no idea if Delta counts this as a connection or two separate itineraries and what that means at the airport in terms of check-in.

Anyways feel free to look over/critique my research. Overall, though, I don’t think this is the best deal.