Adventure Balloons Avis 

I have been trying to book with this company for a number of months. Because of the pandemic I can understand that things are difficult. I cannot understand why their website says that they are booking in Herts and Bucks at the end of June and they are not. All help gratefully received before my voucher runs out.

A wonderful balloon experience over West Sussex. Everything was fully explained in the email attachments and we were lucky enough with the weather to get a flight on our first try. The pilot and helpers were very professional and fun. It was an amazing experience. We paid for the memory stick photos and to have ones of us in the air was wonderful. However I feel that a few more photos taken during the preparation, packing up and the champagne would have been a better value for money. Still a 5 star experience!

I contacted Kent Ballooning a few months ago to organise a flight to propose to my partner. Louisa at Kent Ballooning was so incredibly helpful and supportive at helping decide what type of flight would be best based on our specific situation. I felt very valued and that I was given all the time I needed. In the end I opted for a sunrise VIP flight.

In between booking and the actual day the communication was really comprehensive, taking into consideration the ever changing situation with the virus.
I had booked a flight a couple of months later (my choice - sooner flights were available) and when the day came around unfortunately the weather had taken an unexpected turn for the worse so we had to postpone. Louisa was helpful beyond words as getting us booked into another date very shortly afterwards, and she was very careful not to spoil the surprise for my partner.

The flight on the actual day was absolutely amazing. Michael our pilot really took his time to explain everything we wanted to know, and we both felt very safe and enjoyed the whole experience. Face masks were worn by all 3 of us during the whole flight, but this really didn't take anything away from the experience, and helped us to feel safer as we were all in a close vicinity of one another.

After the flight we received our video really quickly, and it is going to make a great memory in the years to come. Needless to say I got a yes on the day!
If you are looking to take a flight as part of a group, or you wanted to indulge in one of their VIP flights then I honestly could not recommend Kent Ballooning more.

I did a lot of research before choosing them myself and I am very glad I did

Just had a morning flight with Adventure Balloons.
Absolutely Brilliant!
I can not fault the whole experience.
Booked late September and flew early October as booked. A chilly but beautiful morning. The flight was amazing piloted by a truly top notch pilot ( Kim H ). Took off from West Meon and landed at Lasham airfield as the pilot had hoped to do. A near perfect landing.
Both the pilot and the recovery driver were fantastic.
I would definitely recommend Adventure Balloons to anyone looking to fly in a hot air balloon.
This is a long established company and I will definitely be flying with them again.

Great morning flight with Justin and Bill. Very smooth landing. Well done from peter and margaret

I am so sad to have to write this review. My husband bought the balloon flight for us as a family of 4 to celebrate my 60th birthday which was last June 2018 and would have actually flown on this day if it hadn't been cancelled. As it was then my husbands 60 we didn't get round to rebooking until April when we booked two more flights which were cancelled before our voucher expired. We were then told we would have to pay £120 to extend our voucher for 4 people. Disgusting when you have already paid for four people and we cant control the weather. WELL we have now done the flight from Kent for a sunset trip following 8 cancellations. We arrived at the designated meeting point which we were told was marked (NOT). We had to ask people who worked nearby where the balloon would take off from. Then our Pilot arrived late after bad traffic on M25. The balloon and driver arrived even later. Our Pilot Ravi and driver, I think Andrew, obviously do not usually work together no agreement as to how things should have been done. Once the balloon was inflated the actual flight was good. HOWEVER the GPS didn't work (someone else's fault who had used the balloon previously) so Ravi tried to keep in contact with driver by phone. Once we landed we were told that there would be no photos as they had not been taken due to a fault. Again due to equipment being left by someone else not working. (Surely this should have been checked) How disappointing. Also a small point, but balloon was not a celebration balloon as shown but one that said British School of Ballooning on it!! We then had about a 1hr 30 minute wait for the coach to pick us up. This also had no sat nav and had to be guided back to where our cars were by a fellow balloon passenger. WHAT A SHAMBLES.
not a professional experience at all. We have previously done a balloon ride from Leeds Castle in Kent and this was a much more professionally run company.

Thank you for such a great experience one that I will be doing again bill and justin made you feel involved in the hole whole experience loved every minute thank you ..

I have flown with adventure balloons twice now after both experiences where brought for me as birthday presents.
absolutely loved the experience, yes we had a few cancellations, but thats the risk you take with ballooning, you can't guarantee the good old british weather! and they always consider your safety first.
We flew from south and north hampshire sites and the teams both times were friendly & informative, even recommending a good place for breakfast to go afterwards after being up soo early. The manner in which they have to talk to the land owners is professional when a disgruntled land owner complains about them landing there, unfortunately relying on wind power doesn't give you much choice of places to land! and I thought they dealt with the situation very well.
The champagne after the flight was lovely.
Definitely the best way to fly.

I purchased 2 places on a Surrey midweek flight for my wife as a birthday present. In the following 12 months, all our flights were cancelled the night before due to rain and/or wind conditions. This is laudable for safety reasons but is obviously frustrating. We are both retired so a midweek morning flight should be fine for us but for anyone working this late notice must be very disruptive indeed. We persevered and after a phone call to their office, our voucher was extended without an additional charge for a further 12 months. During the 18 months since I purchased the voucher, we had 13 weather cancelations. Never mind - lucky 14??? Well, we finally got the text to call into their Weatherline for a flight on Monday 15th July. We called the number only to hear the weather review for Sunday evening. After about 15 calls to the number I had a brainwave and called the other number for areas north of London. Sure enough, there was the information for Kent and Surrey. This was about 00:30 on the morning of the flight and we had to get up at 4am to get to the take-off for 5:30. We made it as did 7 other passengers and the pilot, 2 ground crew and the balloon. However, the other 6 booked passengers didn't arrive having not thought to call the wrong number. Guess what, the flight still had to be cancelled because of insufficient people making flying dangerous for the size of balloon. Annoyed? Frustrated? yes, but glad the pilot was still considering safety rather than cost. Having returned home we got a text saying we should rebook online for a "replacement" flight on 29th. I went online, no such flight existed. So, I called the office number and had a very poor customer experience with a telephone clerk who clearly does not enjoy her work. No apology, no sympathy, no empathy, just "I’ve put you on the flight for 29th". I said that after 18 months and 14 cancellations I wanted them to extend our voucher to any day of the week to increase our chances of actually flying IF the 29th didn't happen. She said she'd put a note on our account. An hour or so later I got an email "Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your morning flight on the 15th July. Please accept our apologies for the confusion as the pilot put the message for your flight on the wrong Weatherline (01252 844316) by mistake instead of the 01252 844315 number and sent a text to all the Surrey passengers saying call the Weatherline now.
I have spoken with our Managing Director and he has advised me to take you off the flight on the 29th July and give you a full refund. Please call the office with your debit/credit card details so that I can process the refund of £230.00. Again, apologies for the error."
Not what we asked for and no choice in the matter. At least we have our money back - after 18 months. Hence the 2-star review rather than the 1 star most people seem to give.
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Having seen the response I've decided to reduce my review to a single star after all. We certainly don't recall them "always being courteous" and it took a lot of persuasion for them to extend our voucher the first time. They would appear to have an answer for everyone and anything that goes wrong but beware, the phrase "customer service" is alien to them.

Shocking company with no human sympathy at all, avoid booking with then. Worse experience I've had. Did not allow us to book a date and refused to refund any money. The company will be investigated soon.

Complete waste of money. Spent circa £200 on a flight for two with champagne. Two years on, we cannot book a flight either due not having availability or bad weather. Voucher expires in a few days and was told that we have to pay another £80 to extend it, even though we've tried using it three times but the flights were cancelled. Please avoid and go for well known and trusted brands who value their customers. Their website is a disaster too (see screenshot below). You end up either calling or emailing as it doesn't work well. How on earth are you still in business?

2nd year in and still waiting. Fantastic summer last year and saw Virgin flights on the days our was cancelled.
Customer service: invisible. They text to say they’ve cancelled. Do not contact you to rearrange. The consequence is that if you don’t rebook In time, you lose your money.
The quality of telephone support is unsupportive, not bothered that you are disappointed after so many cancellations.

You won't fly but your money will.
My family gave me a Red Letter Day voucher for a hot air balloon flight with adventure balloons for my 70th birthday. I registered the voucher & started a long journey. 1st cancelled no pilot. 2nd missed flight due to 2hr hold up on motorway. 3rd booking mess up. 4th bad weather cancellation 5th another booking disaster. 6th & 7th bad weather cancellation. When I tried to book number 8 I was told my voucher was now out of date. I'd have to pay extra to extend same(maybe to repeat all again or just wave goodbye to my gift. Refund? Not from this company.

Its an absolute scam. I see the balloons every day from my house, and see when they can or cant fly. Having taken my money, and no response on the phone, the same response by email. Read the small print. What they don't tell you is out of a year they only fly April to October, and thats not every day. EIther take a day off work ora kid out of school and tough on you. Defo poor service at the least and a total scam at its worst. Am going to the local authorities on this one..

Terrible service. Frequently cancel balloon trips due to ‘high wind’ when there is absolutely no wind. Not even a light breeze! Avoid

We've had several flights cancelled due to poor weather which I understand. However 1 was cancelled due to operational problems on a day with perfect weather conditions (conveniently on a balloon festival day, so I assume the pilots went there).

Since purchasing this in 2016 I've had a baby who's been unwell so after feeling uncomfortable leaving him with family I decided to book a flight, only for it to be cancelled again. I emailed Adventure Balloons and finally they agreed due to my circumstances to offer a refund. Which would amazing as myself and my husband could have a night off, only to find that they take 42% admin fee!!!!! I don't really understand how they can say this is a reasonable fee in their T&Cs.

I'm waiting for them to reply but i will be taking this further under the Consumer Rights Act as an unfair/excessive term.

I would do your research before purchasing a balloon flight with Adventure Balloons.

it took us 18 months to get a date where the weather was appropriate - ok... I guess thats being safe and how it is. I didnt question the need to ensure the conditions were spot on - I did question how they handle what must be a continually growing backlog of bookings. anyway, we finally got our date. on the one hand it was wonderful, on the other hand it was totally without any health & safety considerations at all... and .. yes we had a pilot who seemed very knowledgeable, but - there was NO crew! not one person other than the pilot. so thankfully he didnt have a heart attack.!! and, we were ALL relied upon to inflate, deflate and stow the balloon. when I say relied upon, I mean - every single person was needed. I have rubbish knees, a bad back and a gammy arm. I did what I could.. but.. as light failed.. I finally said no more. then I felt really guilty cuz fellow passengers were still engaged in what amounted to a work out..my other half worked his **** off, despite having spent his week lugging stuff.. there were many instances when us punters were called upon to perform roles that verged on scary in the inflation / deflation process. fine - but we werent aware this would happen. we ended up , hours later, finally aware that we were gonna meet a minibus to take us back to our cars, and to get to the minibus we had to cling to the side of the basket, which was resting on a flat bed trailer attached to a landrover..every gateway meant that everyone had to clamber off or they'd be knocked off..all of this would be fine if we had in ANY way been warned.... (some people had partners, friends, dogs, etc waiting for them back where we took off from - and yes more fool us.. I now know more about the mechanics of ballooning but beforehand I didnt and it wouldve been nice to have been warned)..the whole thing felt like a shambles although of course those who planned it knew what it entailed so it didnt come as a surprise to them. I hasten to add, we really enjoyed our flight. it just felt quite shocking either side to be called upon by necessity to sort the balloon out. it was huge and daunting. and the aftermath was especially tiring - it was quite late by this stage... dark in fact. by the time we were offered a glass of fizz we had all gone beyond the desire.. The flight itself was somewhat dwarfed by the logistics either side. everyone is required to sort the balloon out. again, not remotely a problem if we'd been warned (and saying on the website that participation is encouraged, or else we can sit back and take photos, in NO way prepared us. despite being people who are keen to get involved and help). the flight was a thrilling intermission (despite the lowness of the basket!!) amid a load of hard work and helplessness. which would have been fine had we been warned. Actually no, I'm not sure it WOULD have been fine. it was really hard. it was unexpected. and I couldnt walk the next day without a stick. occassionally the pilot ventured to say.. oh if you're not up to it dont do it. which made me feel like a failure! it is physically demanding... VERY physically demanding. and no one should go into this without expecting the flight to be the least of it. you will be crew and you will have to be there till the end sorting the balloon out. fine, again. but, no warning isnt fine.

PS I had been feeling just as all those below have stated also - impossible to book... getting an extension costs.. basically the UK isnt suited to ballooning.. so how could they run their business this way, etc. at one point, we called to check they had seats (even tho they say they always do) and were told that actually no.. silly us.. how dare we even suggest such a thing. the region we were booked in under doesnt necessarily have seats. so we changed. the person on the phone was pretty shirty. I stress the flight itself was awesome. but.. but but but

PPS not that I remotely needed a certificate... but.. just read other reviews... hmm! they sound... a bit... planned! and the pics taken - obv had to purchase. but.. 20 quid?! was that necessary? so we got a memory stick with 5 or 6 pics of our lot and masses of pics of other flights. ?! informative apparently. arg. tis a shame all round because the flight itself was amazing. I was left feeling very confused.

Disgraceful customer service.

My wife and I were very kindly bought a voucher by our friends for our wedding, unfortunately we couldn't redeem it in the summer holidays as we had already booked our honeymoon so booked for the autumn half term (we are both teachers so can't take extra holiday and couldn't book earlier), that was then cancelled, season starts again in April so we booked for the holiday following that, which was again cancelled, and now our voucher is going to expire.

The person on the phone just repeated the extension policy to me and made no effort to take in into consideration our work circumstances.

A pathetic effort and a sad waste of money by our friends.

PLEASE DO NOT BOOK - as you will see from the other reviews the chances of actually having a flight in one of these balloons is slim even on the hottest day in May! (cancelled due to wet ground conditions!!!). Another flight cancelled as no pilot available!!! After 12/13 attempts of flying we cancelled and did not get all of our money back even though we had to do all the work in booking future flights and paying the extra for a possible (impossible) weekend flight date. Please use another Company who guarantees a refund after so many flight cancellations.

i didnt actually fly.

I received this as a gift from my friends for one of my 50th birthday presents it was probably one of the best presents i could of received. But i made some mistakes which were punished harshly by this company.

Firstly when i received my voucher from my friends they give me just the voucher and not the terms and conditions so i had no idea that if you hadnt tried and been cancelled by the weather 5 times you would lose your voucher.
Secondly i decided that i wouldnt fly straight away as i had received many gifts that i would use first and save the best till last.
Thirdly i hadnt realised what very very strict weather conditions there were on balloon flights you need better than perfect weather to fly and then it may be cancelled due to no wind!
So come june this year i tried for the first time to book my flight cancelled due to weather. Tried again mid june cancelled due to weather. Tried to book early July, sorry you cant fly and due your voucher expring on 5th July if you want to extend it Will cost you another £80 to extend for a year, but as we are such nice people we will extend it for one week but this is your final chance, if you dont fly then you will lose the voucher. Oh ok then thanks not really convinient but i will come back one day earlier from my holiday in Croatia thats how keen i was to do the flight. so checked the weather for the 17th July when we were on holiday and it was perfect weather but again was cancelled. So this is the third time cancelled which cost three days leave because you have to phone up at 11 the night before to see if the flight is going ahead. I cant book and cancel leave that easily, not that kind of job. So now i am face with a dilemma pay £80 to extend or forget it. So i decided to phone up their weather every day to see how often they fly, so i did that every day for a month from the 17th july till the 16th Aug. Guess how many times they flew during this period three. The 1st Aug, Sunday 6th Aug(but i couldnt use this as i didnt have a weekend voucher)and Wed 16th Aug. You may of also been abler to fly on the mon 14th but the information line was not updated.
Anyway remember they only fly from april to sept. so your chances of actually doing a flight are very limited.
I do not want to call this company a rip off but it appears there inflexiblity and harsh terms and conditions mean that many many people are not able to fly and lose their money.
And the worst thing for me is that i have to look my friends in the eye and say im sorry but i was not able to use their present and they had wasted their money.
Very Very Harsh