Was Sofia Coppola’s Teenage Daughter’s Great Helicopter Escape Possible?

It’s really hard for the kids of celebrities and rich people these days. This week, Romy Mars, the 16-year-old daughter of filmmaker Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars, lead singer of indie-pop band Phoenix, went viral on TikTok she was never supposed to make.

You may have seen it by now: according to The New York TimesThis TikTok was seen by more people than the epilogue The last of us on HBO.

“My dad’s biggest rule is, like, I’m not allowed to have any public social media accounts,” March, posing in her kitchen trying to make a pasta recipe because she’s bored and getting punished, begins in the since-deleted post. “I’m on the ground because I tried to charter a helicopter from New York to Maryland on my dad’s credit card because I wanted to have dinner with my camp buddy.”

Put aside the veil of concession, Nebo’s never-ending conversation, and the teenage inexperience of banter displayed—Romy cracked that she couldn’t tell the two apart garlic and onions– And let’s focus on the real issue here. Do the already wealthy teens get away with chartering their own helicopter rides? Was the only thing standing between Romy and that camp buddy having dinner with her grumpy, credit-card-wielding dad? Would she have been able to continue her journey in another way?

A representative for elite private helicopter service Heliflite told The Daily Beast that the charter company will not insure a private helicopter flight, say, from New York City to Maryland for a minor: The person booking the flight must be over 18, and each passenger must Present an ID.

The actor also told The Daily Beast that the name on the credit card used to book the Heliflite flight must also match the name of the primary passenger on the helicopter flight, so using your dad’s credit card without your dad present definitely won’t fly. , whether you are a teen or an adult in financial difficulty. Minors also can’t travel alone on the Heliflite: An adult passenger must also be present, though the adult doesn’t necessarily have to be the minor’s parent or guardian, the representative said.

Likewise, anyone looking to book a ride through the BLADE helicopter rental company must have a BLADE account, and their Terms of Service also require that all users be 18 at least. The BLADE Terms of Service also state that the Company’s Services are “not directed at children under the age of 13”.

Riptinder Singh, who runs private jet charter services in HeliNYtold The Daily Beast that you must be 18 years old to book a flight and that the flight price, duration and baggage details are all factored in and double-checked.

In other words, it would be nearly impossible to sneak a fun ride through the parents or company.

“We’ve never had this kind of situation where a minor tried to book a helicopter,” Tinder told The Daily Beast. “Sure, people have used fraudulent or stolen cards, but it doesn’t happen often. It’s very rare.”

In addition, when children of the very rich or famous take chartered helicopter trips, Tinder said, “they are always accompanied by parents or nannies. There is always someone with them, they are never alone.”

Better luck next time, Romy! The Daily Beast has reached out to Coppola and Mars for comment.