This New Service from Uber is Beyond My Means

by Gary Leff

Scott Mayerowitz passes along a new service from Uber.

This is a new service in New York for getting out to the Hamptons. $3000 buys a helicopter ride and SUV rides on each end for up to 5 people.

Now, I love Uber. I think the concept is great from a consumer standpoint (car shows up with a couple of taps on your phone, you can even watch it as it approaches you, and there’s no cash transaction at the end of the ride). I think it’s a great concept from an entrepreneurial standpoint as well (utilizing down time from existing car services).

But I admit that UberChopper is going to be beyond my means — I’ve never even flown in a helicopter.

  • Continental used to offer a 10,000 mile add-on to transatlantic business class award tickets, you could fly from Manhattan to Newark airport. Since I’d book awards and look for more aspirational products than Continental’s BusinessFirst I never took advantage of this option.
  • I considered a helicopter tour last year when visiting Iguazu Falls, but helicopters can only operate on the Brazil side of the falls and I didn’t want to make the trip over from the Argentina side where I was staying.

And so even Uber, which makes private car service attainable for me, isn’t quite bringing helicopters into my life.

    You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. Don’t miss out!

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Pingbacks

Comments

  1. Way beyond my means, too, but you should totally book a heli ride next time you are somewhere scenic like Hawaii. Even my daughter has done flown in a helicopter…twice actually. 😉

  2. I actually think this would be really popular, especially if they add in Atlantic City! There are private planes for around $2k to the Hamptons (and a bit more to AC I think) that are relatively popular. There was a Gilt.com or similar site for AC for $1k and I *BRIEFLY* considered it for my bachelorette party before common sense sunk it.

  3. Way beyond my means too… but sure would be a fun way to escape the city this weekend.

  4. $600 a head to say you did it, at least just once? Come on, we’d all be tempted…

  5. Doesn’t seem all that outlandish, especially for the richies who live in the Hamptons…if you’ve ever made the trip in a car you know just how long it takes, and then if you add in traffic you’re in a mess.

  9. What? You mean the FRA first class lounge doesn’t have a helicopter to take you to your flight?

  12. At $20/signup you must be getting close. Of course, you’re going to have to take us all with you!

  13. One of the more affordable and worthwhile helicopter tours is in New Zealand at the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. It was just over $400 together for both my wife-at-the-time and myself. Including a landing on the glacier.

  14. Now if there was just some way to redeem miles for the Uberchopper service!
    Back in the mid-80’s Pan Am WorldPass offered chopper service to its First Class revenue and FC award pax from it’s NYC east side terminal to JFK. I know because I took it once to catch a FC award flight JFK-LAX-SYD. Uber cool.

  15. Choppers are cool! (Flew on commercial HEL-TLL a few times) At 3k a pop, it’s outlandish, though.

    Private jets are also cool – had one on a med-evac. The insurance footed the bill of that, luckily.

Comments are closed.