Company Details

My issues were handled by Lynn in a prompt and professional way which would lead me to dealing with your company in the future. Than you Lynn you are a credit to your company and colleagues.

The entire booking process is backwards. I MUST pay before I can book. So I don't even know if I want to book, as I don't know availability. Once I've paid, the page shows all the launches without any sort of easy filtering. Not as a calendar. No mechanism to identify where/when like every other sensibly constructed website dealing with bookings (hotels, planes, trains, etc.). So, site 1 in the morning on Wednesday, site 2 in the evening on Wednesday, site 1 for Thursday evening, site 3 for Thursday evening, etc. So many cards. And no obviously sensible filtering/ordering. Maybe I'm biased as I am an infrastructure developer for a company that provides clients with a ticketing platform and the UI/UX is THE most important aspect to having repeat customers!!!! It is truly awful layout. When I booked, the only difference in the confirmation email about the "when" of the booking is 1 letter difference. A or P .. for the "AM" or the "PM". The rest of the email tells you who to call to confirm, but it is NOT tuned to your specific booking. The email actually tells you when to call if your flight was in the morning AND when to call if your flight was in the evening. That effectively invalidates the majority of the email as why would you care about when to call for something you're never going to call about? A snippet of the email. ====================================================================== Flight details for voucher number: 927306 Flight Date: 19/07/2024 Flight Time: AM (see approximate times below) <<<<< This is the ONLY thing I can see on the email that indicates the time of my flight. 1 letter difference. ... 1. IF YOUR FLIGHT TIME IS CALL YOUR FLIGHT LINE AT THIS TIME: AM & DAY Flights from 11pm the night before your flight PM Flights (September to March) from 12 noon on the day of your flight PM Flights (April to August) from 2pm on the day of your flight ====================================================================== The "one size fits all" approach is NOT a good way to help people who want to use your service. They know when I booked my flight for. So the email should only contain very specific elements directly related to my interaction. Considering they are trading under the "Virgin" labelling and logo, there is a HUGE expectation that the customer is always put first. But the approach this company has, it seems to be an approach that you use if you don't care. You can buy a ticket and then find you have to travel hours to get to a launch site and then due to the weather, never actually be able to fly and so you waste all your time and money. I have had to move the flight several times in the past as the weather kept saying "no". I do NOT blame AirXcite (T/A Virgin Balloon Flights ... so this is NOT "Virgin" as we know it, just someone licensing the name I guess!) for the weather. I have paid £360 for the 2 of us. I had brain surgery and so wanted to cancel the flights as there was no real point in waiting for recovery. But AirXcite bought the company I had originally bought my tickets from and so I couldn't cancel. I had to use the tickets at sometime. Eventually, I was OK to have the flight but every time I've booked it was cancelled due to weather. Try again, cancellation after cancellation. The last time I booked, I unknowingly made a mistake of booking a morning one instead of the an afternoon one. Never wanted a morning one. Ever. My partner is a night worker. It simply would not be feasible for me do to so. I did NOT know I'd booked the wrong one. And so, did I notice that the "P" had become an "A"? No. I did not. And so, again, the flight was cancelled due to weather and when I came back to try and rebook I was confused as the tickets had been used? I didn't know how that's possible as I was sat at home, having just printed the tickets out to take with me. That's when I noticed the wrong letter. The rest of the email is agnostic to the time you've booked. And so I emailed them, explaining that I must have made a mistake due to my surgery (mostly I'm OK, but I don't know when I'm not until something I expect goes wrong and, as a computer programmer for over 30 years, this sort of thing ... me making a mistake with all the training and skills I'm paid for failing me ... I'm effing stressed!!!). They said I didn't attend the flight I booked. I tried to explain that I had wanted the same day and time that I've been booking before, and why and that the UI didn't seem to provide any mechanism to confirm this. And so considering there is always availability, the "gesture" that they made was I can pay £80 per ticket again to join the forever cancellation ride. So, 2 hot air balloon rides, that is a VERY short time experience, is going to cost me over £500. And there is STILL no guarantee that I can fly. Simply because of the weather. Frustrated that 1 letter is all it takes to waste money.

It was a magical morning flight

It took 4 attempts to get the right weather but that's the first good thing. You know the pilot is not taking risks. The basket was full. 16 of us. Another good thing. Many hands make light work. We all assisted with unpacking the balloon and inflation. And packing up when we landed. Overall the experience was fun. Lots of laughs. Good banter. Our pilot gave clear safety instructions and he made sure people were listening. Another good point. We didn't fly at more than 600ft and we covered about 11 miles by my estimation. Great views. After a smooth landing and packing up we were treated to a drink. One bottle of proseco shared amongst 16! And a carton of orange juice! We waited about 45 mins and were picked up by a mini bus. All in all a fun day. Well organised. Safe. Not overwhelming but very enjoyable. PS If you are afraid of heights, don't be. The feeling inside a balloon is totally different to looking down from a tall structure.

Incredible experience!! Nothing like I was expecting, surreal how stunning it was 👍❤️

Got my experience as a birthday gift. Booking was simple, and loads of information on the site. As its dependent on the weather, it was cancelled 3 times, but so worth the wait. An amazing experience from start to finish. Don't give up as its am amazing experience

Pilot and co-helpers were friendly, very clear with instructions to us all and so helpful giving my husband a bit of a lift in and out of the basket. When we were given the flight as a gift two years ago he could easily have climbed in and out but not so last month. This is our second balloon flight with Virgin, it was as memorable as the first!

The balloon pilot and crew were so friendly, and getting people involved in both getting the balloon ready for flight and in the packing it back away which was a great part of the experience. Had an amazing flight, our pilot was very knowledgeable of the area and had many amusing stories, from take off to the perfect landing it was such an amazing experience.

It was amazing, the pilot was knowledgeable and experienced and was as excited as the passengers. The only downside was the many times we booked over the 4 years and the cancellation,s which involved traveling and finding it was cancelled on the morning when we got to the flight site, on one occasion we needed to book a hotel in order to get there in good time all to no avail a not antisipated expence, having said the when the flight actually happened it was brilliant

Perfect weather and located in a stunning part of the country. Great company and excellent crew.

We were lucky to have a memorable summer evening flight from Billingshurst to near Dunsfold. The sky was clear, the air was warm and everything went according to our expectations. Both take off and landing were very smooth and controlled thanks to our pilot Chris who is highly skilled. He also kept us informed about what we were seeing. We were so fortunate to be able to get a flight in on first attempt, as others on the same flight had tried fifteen times to get a flight. All together a wonderful experience.

Even though it took years to finally get a flight which was frustrating but understandable as the conditions need to be perfect and safety is obviously paramount, when we took off for our morning flight and drifted across the Hertfordshire countryside, it was worth the wait. A great experience.

This was an amazing experience and well worth the wait. The downside was we spent two years booking because we only had limited availability and the pilot had to cancel six times due to the weather. It was great. Launch site at Wadhurst not ideal after heavy rain but a great can do attitude meant we did!!

An amazing experience, everything was perfect and all the crew were very helpful and professional. We felt very safe and would definitely do it again. All safety precautions explained fully. The Pilot gave lots of information during the flight pointing out lots of places we could see, thank you for making it so special

From the very welcome to the flight to the champagne at the end the whole experience was superb. The weather capped it all. It was a birthday pressie for my wife, who is scared of heights, but at 4000ft and looking straight down she said that this was "excellent ". Sums it all up really

Amazing experience, flying with Nobby from Bath. Went so much further than expected in the hour we were up, felt totally safe and he was extremely informative . Planning on going again from Wales next time .

From start to finish this was a wonderful experience. Bought as a gift from my wife so thankyou. Nobby our pilot was a pleasure to deal with, very informative and knowledgeable. The fact that we helped with the pack up was a laugh and meant that there was no waiting around for the support vehicle to pack up on our behalf. Thanks to all involved.

Such a lovely experience, Pete the pilot and his crew were great! Would definitely recommend!

Great flight, amazing views, well worth going

What an amazing experience with Peter and his crew, I was so nervous but would do it again in a heartbeat. Absolutely loved it, no cancellations booked it and everything went smoothly, happy Memories made. Thank you