An airline freebie?

Delta is offering free helicopter service to or from Manhattan and New York's Kennedy airport for first-class and unrestricted economy passengers on domestic flights purchased through Aug. 29. The service will be run by US Helicopter, which runs 27 daily flights between JFK and a midtown heliport at East 34th Street and one in downtown Manhattan near Wall Street. For those who travel economy with restricted tickets, the eight-minute flights can be purchased for $159 each way. Delta already offers complimentary helicopter service year-round to its BusinessElite customers. Bloomberg News reported that Delta's domestic traffic fell 7 percent in June, higher than its planned 6.2 percent reduction in passenger traffic on US routes.

PAUL MAKISHIMA