Friends,

Back in April, I wrote about taking a Blade helicopter from Manhattan to JFK. It was absurdly cool. A five-minute flight. Skyline views. I felt like I was in Suits, minus all the drama.

But this trip? This time, I went the other direction—literally and financially.

I decided to try the cheapest way from LaGuardia into the city—just $2.90 total—and, to my surprise, it was efficient and straightforward. So much so that I did the same thing on my return back to JFK the next morning—making it from Midtown out to Terminal 4 for $9.25.

Here’s how it all went.

From LGA to Midtown for $2.90
I landed at LaGuardia and skipped past the Uber queue, heading instead for the M60 bus. It trundles west along Queens Boulevard via the historic Marine Terminal that is now home to Spirit’s operation at LGA.

I rode it into Astoria, where I transferred to the W subway line and zipped across the river down to 28th Street Station—literally just below my hotel, the new-ish Ritz-Carlton NoMad (review coming soon).

Door to door: 45 minutes. Cost: $2.90.

That’s hard to beat, especially since Uber was quoting me $95 for a ride that would take about the same amount of time (or more, depending on traffic).

Here are some pics from the journey:

Back to JFK: $9.25 and Easy at Dawn
For the return, I walked 10 quiet minutes from the hotel to Penn Station at 5:30 a.m. where I hopped on the LIRR to Jamaica ($5 off-peak), and transferred to the JFK AirTrain ($4.25). It was smooth, fast, and entirely uncrowded.

Total journey: 55 minutes. Total cost: $9.25.

Uber’s estimate? $110 and 50 minutes.

Here are pics — shout out to the hotel for sending me off with a genuinely kind goodbye plus a coffee to go.

So, Which is Better?

The only loser here is probably Uber, which is nearly as expensive as Blade but takes almost as long as the train.

And while the MTA won’t win any awards for elegance, it gets you where you’re going—and for those who know how to navigate it, the experience is a lot better than most assume.

The Blade experience is unforgettable, and bluntly a pretty fun way to spend $150-250 (fares are variable depending on time of day and demand, as you would expect).

The add-on of Manhattan skyline views from a helicopter at golden hour? Awesome. I mean as soon as I showed my daughters the video from the flight in April my four year old asked when I was taking her on Blade.

And New York’s transit still isn’t the Heathrow Express. It’s definitely not Singapore’s MRT.

But this time around, I was floored by the MTA’s value. With a little planning, getting from LGA or JFK into Manhattan is far easier—and cheaper—than most people think.

It’s a “helicopter optional” sort of thing.

Fly well.

P.S. You can get $50 off your first Blade flight in the USA (and I’ll get $25 off my next one, too) if you use my refer-a-friend code ThomasO943. Sharing in case this is a help to you.

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