Alec Baldwin falls for Statue of Liberty tour 'scam'

Alec Baldwin and family went from royally screwed to the royal treatment this weekend when a kind-hearted Staten Island ferry captain brought them up to an off-limits roof deck.

The captain gave the Baldwin brood the VIP perch — with eye-popping views — after the actor regaled the ferry crew with a tale of woe about being ripped off by scammers who sold them fake tickets to the Statue of Liberty for $US40 ($A59.50) bucks a pop.

Once Baldwin and his wife Hilaria realized the tickets only got them a long bus ride to New Jersey followed by a boat ride around the harbor — not to the wold-famous Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island run by the National Parks Service — they bailed and jumped on a free Staten Island ferry instead.

Baldwin, Hilaria and their children were allowed on to the off-limits roof deck of their ferry Sunday, which is allowed at the discretion of the boat captain, the city's Department of Transportation confirmed to the New York Daily News on Tuesday.

The actor, who in 1988 played the role of a cheating, blue-collar Staten Island working man to Melanie Griffith's star turn in Working Girl, was personally escorted to the vessel roof deck with his family by the captain.

"We're glad to have the Baldwin family on the Staten Island Ferry, especially after their reported experience with the 'Statue of Liberty' vendors," DOT spokesman Scott Gastel said.

Mayor de Blasio's office put out a press release warning about the nefarious ticket sellers on Tuesday in response to the Baldwin's troubles.