Charleston intern commutes by plane to New York, says its cheaper than rent

Sophia Celentano has received admiration and criticism for her incredible 1000km commute. Photo / TikTok, @sophiacelentano48

An American student from Charleston, South Carolina, has made international news for commuting by plane to a summer internship in New York City.

When Sophie Celentano was offered the internship at advertising agency Ogilvy Health, she wasn’t going to let anything get in her way. Even more than 1000 kilometres of distance.

Since she needed to be in the office only one day a week for the internship, she crunched the numbers and realised it would be cheaper to fly to and from New York once a week than to rent an apartment in the city.

So, on June 6, she posted a video to TikTok documenting her first commute, which involved waking up at 3am.

“You might be wondering, ‘Sophia, if you’re working nine to five, why the hell are you up at 3am’,” she said while putting on makeup in a bathroom.

“That’s a great question,” she added, before explaining her plan.

@sophiacelentano48

super commuting slay #corporateintern #marketingintern #nycintern #summerinternship #supercommuter #fyp #foryou

♬ original sound - Sophia Celentano

“Because I only have to be in the office one day a week, honestly, it’s cheaper for me to stay at home in Charleston for the summer with my parents and just pay for plane tickets one day a week than to live in New York full time.”

In subsequent weeks, her commute has tended to cost US$200 ($100 on round-trip flights and $100 on airport transfers). Speaking to news outlets, she said this was still much cheaper than rent in or around New York.

Local news outlets quickly caught wind of the incredible lengths Celentano went to make her internship work and she has since been interviewed on several national broadcast networks.

She has continued to document her commute and daily life on TikTok and has since shared that the internship is paid.

However, many say the lengths she has gone to are still too far, even for a paid internship.

“As someone who works for an advertising agency … this is not worth it,” one person wrote. “I work at an NYC advertising agency and it’s absolutely not worth that hassle,” another added.

Some simply expressed disbelief at the feat; in particular the early wake-up time.

“This is unhinged,” one person commented. “There is no amount of money you could pay me to wake up at 3am to commute,” another wrote.

When asked about the environmental impact of her commute, Celentano said it was not her responsibility to improve aviation.

“If any engineers wanna get to work on more sustainable forms of transportation that’d be great,” she wrote in one video.