Weather and Delay Policies
How can I check my flight status?
If your flight is delayed or canceled due to weather or any other circumstance, you will be notified by Team BLADE via email, text, phone, or in-app notification. You may also see your flight’s status by viewing Your Upcoming Trips.
What if the weather is bad?
From time to time, your flight may be delayed due to weather, unforeseen mechanical issues, temporary flight restrictions, and airport/heliport congestion. If your flight is canceled or delayed, you will be notified by Team BLADE via email, text, phone, or in-app notification 1 hour prior to departure.
What can cause a cancellation?
Flights may be canceled due to wind, precipitation, fog or low visibility, lightning, low clouds, or storms. Outside temperature does not always affect flights. Pilots make the final determination as to whether a flight will occur or whether one in progress will be diverted to another airport. While weather conditions for flight must be within FAA regulations and operator rules, pilots may unilaterally choose to cancel or divert a flight based on their own judgment of the safety of the immediate and forthcoming weather conditions.
What if my flight is delayed?
BLADE will notify you of any delays or cancellations due to weather at least one hour prior to your scheduled departure time. For flights scheduled to depart prior to 8:00am on Monday mornings, BLADE shall send notifications of weather delays or cancellations no later than 9:00pm on the preceding night.
In the event any Flight in excess of 50 miles is delayed more than 2 hours – or, for flights departing from the Hamptons to New York City on Monday mornings, 1 hour – you have the option of 1) booking on a different flight at no additional charge or 2) canceling your flight and receiving BLADE credit.
Why was I asked to switch aircrafts?
In order to minimize the passenger impact of cancellations and delays due to weather, unforeseen mechanical events, temporary flight restrictions and airport congestion, BLADE may reassign you to a different aircraft than the type on which you originally purchased your ticket. Such reassignments may include moving between helicopters, seaplane and turboprop aircraft. If for any reason you decline to accept the alternate aircraft, BLADE will credit your Account for the originally-purchased fare.
My flight was rescheduled for an earlier takeoff?
If BLADE has to move your flight to a time earlier than your scheduled departure time due to weather, unforeseen mechanical issues or Temporary Flight Restrictions and you are unable to make the newly scheduled flight, BLADE will credit your Account for the originally-purchased fare.
Which aircraft can I take to avoid weather delays?
Each type of aircraft has different inclement weather-flying capabilities.
- Superior: Seaplanes (Aqua, Aqua Xcel, Aqua Ultra) - Seaplanes have greater flexibility when taking off in inclement weather and have a lesser chance of weather cancellations than helicopter flights during the morning because of their increased IFR capability. They also have a higher likelihood of flying out on Monday mornings in New York because they are based in East Hampton on the weekends.
- Superior: IFR Helicopter (Sikorsky S-76 C++) - Helicopters operating under Instrument Flight Rules can operate when the cloud ceiling is over 500 feet along the entire flight path, subject to Air Traffic Control delays. The Sikorsky is also a great option for those looking to land on the West Side of Manhattan on poor weather days.
- Solid: VFR Helicopter (Xcel, Agusta) -Helicopters operating under Visual Flight Rules can operate when the cloud ceiling is over 1,500 feet and visibility is greater than 3mi along the entire flight path.