An Indian-American woman is making headlines after she shared that she chose a helicopter ride over a conventional Uber trip to beat the New York City traffic. Khushi Suri, an employee at Kleiner Perkins, was planning to travel from Manhattan to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens. She had two options: an hour-long Uber ride and a 5-minute helicopter trip. Because the difference between the two transport choices was only $30, she decided to take the latter option as it significantly reduced her travel time.
She also posted a screenshot comparing the cost and time of taking an Uber versus flying on a Blade helicopter. While an Uber ride would cost her $131.99 (Rs 11,000) for an hour, the Blade helicopter ride for the same route costs $165 (approx Rs 13,765) for 5 minutes.
”60 min Uber or 5 min helicopter ride – literally a $30 difference,” she wrote along with screenshots of the prices and also tagged Blade Air Mobility.
See the tweet here:
Her tweet went viral, with more than 4 million views, with many people taking to the comments section to share their thoughts.
One user wrote, ”Is this real? I honestly just want to ride in a helicopter.” Another commented, ‘You gotta go with the helicopter just for the vibes.”
A few also criticised her. A fourth user said, ”Regular citizens raking up helicopter CO2 emission just to go a few miles is sick!! humans have lost the plot.”
A fifth added, ”Important missing piece is that the blade doesn’t pick you up or drop you off at your start and end point. You still need a full end-to-end solution and that’s where the more cost efficient options like eVTOL (joby, archer) will integrate with Uber. Blade does a portion of the trip. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great but not apples to apples comparison you are making.”
In the comments section, Ms Suri also mentioned that she had messaged Blade founder Rob Wiesenthal on Instagram around five years ago and has been a fan of the company ever since. Blade Air Mobility, based in New York City, mainly uses helicopters for passenger routes and provides helicopter service between Manhattan and JFK.
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