I went on a helicopter tour with HeliNY on the 2nd of February 2019 while on a trip to New York. Both my partner and I were very excited; I haven't been on a helicopter before so we were hoping for a great experience. When we got there, we sat down and waited for our flight time after going through the general procedures of putting bags away, putting life jackets on etc. While sat there, we saw a couple come in (who ended up being on our flight) and we witnessed one of them take out a wad of cash out of his pocket ($150/200 ish?) and handed it over to one of the employees in hand attempting to be subtle. We joked and said they probably paid to get the best seats on the flight. We then went through the safety briefing which said that seats were decided by weight and the lightest people go in the front and this is done for safety reasons. The employees then went on to further reiterate this but, to our surprise, that couple are the people who are chosen to sit in the front. Now, of course, they may have weighed less than us, however seeing as my partner is clinically underweight and the couple were both taller than both of us, there is little to no chance that they both weighed less than my partner. Afterwards, the rest of the tour was aimed at them. We were sat on the left so as we went through the tour, Manhattan was on the right and New Jersey was on the left at first until we turned around. The pilot said there was nothing to see on New Jersey's side and so continued to point out the Manhattan points of interest but assured us we'll see it on the way back. However, on the way back, all he pointed out was then areas of interest on New Jersey's side and nothing from Manhattan’s, evidently having conveniently suddenly remembered that New Jersey was interesting on the way back. The most frustrating part of this whole experience was that if said couple had paid this company or one of the others at the helicopter site directly rather than giving the employees cash in hand, from roughly the amount they seemed to have given, they would have gotten their own private helicopter flight. Also, the fact that the employees took the bribe shows me that either the safety video is a lie and people aren't seated according to weight or the employees were willing to put the safety of everyone within the helicopter at risk. I was appalled by this behaviour from all members of the staff and it left a really sour taste in our mouths throughout the entire experience. It ended up feeling like a complete waste of time and money and frankly gave a really bad impression of New York in general.
Одговор домаћина
Feb 2019
Hi Zirnuke,
In regards to our staff accepting cash payment, we accept other forms of payment besides credit card prepayments such as cash or travelers checks. With the high price of the tours seeing other passengers pay with a large sum of cash is not unusual.
We fly different types of helicopters and each have their own criteria regarding the weight and balance and how to safely seat each passenger. Because safety is a priority for us we do not offer the option for passengers to confirm a window seat by paying a surcharge.We also cannot guarantee seats in advance as final seating is determined by the weights of all passengers on the flight. When passengers are of similar weights the lightest person may not always sit in the front due to various reasons such as special requests when able. When we receive seating requests, we will always do our best to accommodate them if possible, at no additional charge.
I apologize that your pilot did not point out the New Jersey and New York points in both directions on this flight. Our pilots are advised to direct your attention towards landmarks on both sides of the helicopter in each direction. Their number one priority is safety and while communicating with the Air Traffic Control Tower, this can sometimes mean they have limited time to point out landmarks. We have advised our chief pilot of this issue and he will follow up with your pilot.
At HeliNY our goal is to give all passengers the best experience possible in a safe, reliable environment. We would never put passengers lives at risk and give people preferred treatment because of financial incentives.