For some, the Ryder Cup in New York was a premier sporting event. For many locals, it was an inescapable display of extreme wealth that buzzed, hovered, and roared right over their homes, sparking a firestorm of online frustration.
The scene on the ground was intense. A small airport in Farmingdale found itself playing the role of a parking lot for over 200 private jets, as reported by Business Insider. An airport operations coordinator simply described the situation as “hectic, very hectic.” That was just one location; an aviation data firm projected the area could see as many as 3,000 private flights for the tournament.
And if the jets weren’t enough, there were the helicopters. A Reddit post revealed that 15 landing zones were operating directly on the golf course. The cost to skip traffic for a 15-minute flight from Manhattan? A jaw-dropping $1,575. Each way.
Photo Credit: Reddit
For people living nearby, the weekend felt less like a party and more like a siege. The noise was a constant complaint. One Westbury resident said, “This was non stop for over two hours!” Another person was simply woken up by the sound at 5 a.m. on a Saturday.
The frustration goes beyond noise pollution. The environmental price for this kind of travel is enormous. A single private jet can produce as much pollution as 177 cars in a year, and private flights from the U.S. account for over half of those global emissions. It’s a pattern of excess seen at other elite gatherings, like the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the pushback is growing. Disney heiress Abigail Disney bluntly called the practice a “cancer,” arguing it’s “not that hard NOT to fly a private jet”.
On Reddit, users captured the raw feeling of watching the spectacle from the ground. “I feel like this level of personal wealth is obscene,” one user wrote.
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Another highlighted the stark contrast with their own life, adding, “But hey i’m picking up overtime shifts so I can enjoy eggs and a roof over my head.”
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