Uber has been responding to recent negative press coverage with some big updates and changes to the app.

One of the most insane additions to the Uber service, though, has to be the Uber Copter.

The service is now running in New York City, with the idea that people who can afford it will never be late to the airport again.

CNET reports that the service launched earlier this year, but was initially only available to Uber’s top-tier customers.

Now anyone can use it.

The process of booking a Copter ride is easy, which is the most amazing part of the whole service. I arbitrarily chose the Bowery Ballroom as my point of origination and the amazing TWA Hotel as my destination. I entered my chosen time of departure and, in addition to the usual UberX and Uber Black offerings, the app also gave me a new listing for Uber Copter.

For the price of $199.82, the app not only reserved me a helicopter ride from the heliport on the southern tip of Manhattan, but also lined up an UberX car on one side to get me to the heliport as well as a second car to get me from the JFK heliport to the hotel. This was all done completely seamlessly.

The app basically strings together different types of travel to get you to your destination, which is called ‘multimodality’.

Check out the Copter in action:

A trip from Manhattan to JFK Airport by car could take anything between 45 and 60 minutes. With the Uber Copter, you’ll get there in eight minutes or less.

As someone who hates traffic with the burning passion of a thousand suns, I can’t help but see the appeal.

[source:cnet]