Virgin Balloon Flights Reviews and Weather
Throughout the hot air ballooning season we receive comments, suggestions and messages of thanks from customers who have flown or are waiting to fly with us at Virgin Balloon Flights. Reviews are much appreciated as the good ones let us know we’re going in the right direction and, occasionally, the not so good ones help us to improve.
Generally the feedback we get is very good like this message from Kyle Barrett and Narelle Summers after their recent flight over York:
‘Thank you so much for our wonderful morning from start to finish. Thank you to Martin our pilot and crew. We managed to capture some wonderful pictures we thought we would share with you.’
Understandably some passengers experience frustration with the ‘great’ British weather which comes through in some customer reviews. Ballooning is a very weather dependent activity and sometimes flights have to be cancelled because of this or other factors outside of our control. Some of these conditions may be high wind speeds, poor visibility, unusually wet ground conditions, low cloud, rain or snow. We know that having flights cancelled can be frustrating, particularly as sometimes conditions can look and feel fine on the ground, but can be unsuitable at height, or the conditions are forecast to deteriorate.
Our highly-experienced pilots base their decisions on the latest forecasts from the MET office and local airports and they will always proceed with a flight if it is safe and possible to do so. Occasionally the weather forecasts we are given prove to be incorrect. This may mean that either we have to cancel a flight at the launch site, or a flight is cancelled when conditions would potentially have been flyable. Obviously weather forecasting is not an exact science, but it is this careful consideration of conditions which makes ballooning such a safe activity.
Many people fly on their first attempt but for others it can take a few tries. It really is down to luck and each year is different. So hot air ballooning can take a bit of patience, but the more bookings you make the quicker you’ll get airborne and we can assure you it will be worth the wait. It is also important to point out that the expiry date on vouchers is a ‘book by’ date, not a ‘fly by’ date and we will look to extend balloon flight vouchers if people experience cancellations near to their expiry date.
So keep your reviews coming in and, if you have any questions, please get in touch.
Ballooning Weather, Virgin Balloon Flights reviews
| 
balloon rides weather, Virgin Balloon Flights reviews
Well I did it at last, after 2 years 2 months my flight went ahead on sunday evening.Was it worth the wait? You better believe it was.A warm, clear summer evening over the Devon countryside,friendly crew & pilot and a good bunch of people
in the basket.It dont get much better. So if you have been waiting a while dont give up.
I am delighted that you enjoyed your balloon flight. Devon is a great location to fly from with amazing views of the countryside and it sounds like you thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind comments regarding the pilot and crew I will be happy to pass these on. We are pleased that you join us in saying to customers who have experienced a cancellation due to poor weather conditions that it is well worth the wait. We look forward to welcoming you onboard again in the future; maybe you could try a different location
If I knew that it will take three years of trying I would have never ever book it with Virgin. This is now beyond ridiculous. People before you book with Virgin check other options there are plenty and cheaper options too, and that actually do go ahead. I have tried from various of locations from around UK, week days and weekends and still no luck. Only stressed. It better be worth my stress and time and money wasted.
Thank you for commenting on our blog. I am sorry that you have been disappointed thus far, but I can only gather from your comment that this has been because your flights have been cancelled due to forecast weather conditions being unsuitable or unsafe according to Civil Aviaition guidelines. Obviously we cannot control the weather and this is the same for all balloon companies. We make it clear on our website that ballooning is weather dependent and therefore it is left customers if they wish to go ahead and purchase a voucher.
In terms of comparing our prices to those of other balloon rides companies, we are not and have never aimed to be the cheapest. Our prices reflect the investment we make in the latest balloon equipment, the most experienced pilots in the country and maintaning a national customer contact centre open 7 days a week.
We do more flights with more passengers (30,000 a year) than anyone else in the world and, although it can take some people longer than others to get airborne the feedback we receive overwhelming clear that it is well worth the wait.
I wish you the very best of luck for your next booking and I hope you this is the same in your case.
Alex
My daughter and I flew last night after after about 5 cancellations since our first attempt back in May. I am glad the previous flights were cancelled as this shows a safe approach the experience.The whole event was fantastic and would highly recommend it to anyone.Please heed the warning about not wearing smart clothes and wear walking boots.We landed in a field of stubble that was quite muddy!
Hi Nigel,
I am delighted that you enjoyed your flight. Thank you very much for your kind comments. Ballooning is very weather dependant and sometimes it does take a few attempts to get in the air, however; I am sure you will join us in saying that it was well worth the wait.
We recommend that customers wear suitable clothing that they don’t mind getting a little dirty because depending on the conditions customer may find themselves in muddy fields so sensible shoes are essential.
Once again, thank you for you kind comments and perhaps we might have the pleasure of welcoming you onboard again the future.
I can see a recurring theme of people being disappointed by cancellations. However, I understand that weather conditions cannot be predicted. The problem I have is that I do not feel 3 months is a sufficient time period to give people to rebook, especially as in my case the 3 months is over Dec, Jan and Feb when there are no flights. I am a doctor and do not get an advanced rota so booking so far in advance is impossible. Customer services are not very understanding and will not budge on extending the expiry. For this reason I will not be recommending this to others.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for commenting on our blog. We do need to ensure that customers are actively re-booking onto flights so we can plan for the numbers we need to fly each month/season. Other companies expect upto eight bookings a year to keep vouchers valid whereas we only require one in a 12 month period. The free three month extensions we then give following weather cancellations only require you to make a booking in that period not to actually take a flight. As you rightly point out we don’t fly in the winter and the unpredictable weather makes it rather pointless for us and for customers. We schedule dates as early as October for the following season and if you were to book in February before your expiry date you should have a choice of dates at least eight weeks in advance. Hopefully this will give you the flexibility you need.
We’re confident our policies, terms & conditions are the fairest in the industry and we’ve flown around 30,000 people again this year so hopefully the system is generally working well.
Thanks and enjoy your flight.
Best wishes and have a lovely Christmas.
Alex
We finally got up on our 5th attempt on 1 June 2011 from Knebworth all I can say is Awsome, early start but flight was fantastic
Roger