An amazing experience - this was our fifth attempt to get airborne and it was incredible, floating over the countryside from Launceston and into Devon - viewing a herd of deer in a pine plantation fro... See more
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I'd advise to pay close attention to the comments about the non flight related issues. My 'voucher' expires next week - the flight I had booked last week was cancelled due to the weather. I am now ask... See more
Company replied
We had a memorable trip for my husband's birthday, with great communication in preparation for our flight, and so well organised on the day. It was fun to get involved with getting off the ground, and... See more
Company replied
Absolutely amazing experience from start to finish! Enjoyed helping inflate the balloon ready for launch and the flight was better than I expected - stunning views and the pilot pointed out all the l... See more
Company details
Information provided by various external sources
South West Balloon Flights is the UK's first totally online hot air balloon operator offering flights across the South West of England from as little as £84.99, significantly less than the standard price elsewhere! Purchase a balloon ride to experience a flight from one of our stunning locations and enjoy the magical experience of ‘lighter than air’ flight over some of the most beautiful landscape in the UK.
Contact info
Southbrook House, EX5 2PG, Exeter, United Kingdom
- 01404 821552
- mail@southwestballoonflights.co.uk
- www.southwestballoonflights.co.uk
4.3
Excellent
30 reviews
No recent history of asking for reviews
This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative
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An amazing experience
An amazing experience - this was our fifth attempt to get airborne and it was incredible, floating over the countryside from Launceston and into Devon - viewing a herd of deer in a pine plantation from 1000 feet in the air was awesome - we initially booked evening flights thinking this would be better travelling, getting up! etc. but the last two we booked morning flights - it was much easier to find out the evening before if the flight was going to take place.
21 September 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
We are very happy to see you have had an amazing experience. Morning flights are very peaceful and worth getting up a bit early! Thank you for your review.
A fantastic experience.
A fantastic experience from start to finish. The weather was perfect and the team were very knowledgeable,and friendly making the trip very special indeed. We will definitely be taking another flight.
14 August 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for your lovely review. We would love to fly you again!
Superb Flight
Had a fantastic flight, beautiful early morning weather and great views, very experienced pilot with a great team, would definitely recommend to anyone who is not sure
13 August 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for your review, Kev! We will pass your comments on to the crew and pilot.
A tranquil way to watch the sun rise
We had a memorable trip for my husband's birthday, with great communication in preparation for our flight, and so well organised on the day. It was fun to get involved with getting off the ground, and tidying up afterwards. Thanks for a wonderful experience.
28 August 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Many thanks for your review, Susan. We are very happy to see you have enjoyed a wonderful experience with us!
Serene flight over East Devon
Having a week off together in August we took a chance and booked a flight. Off course the weather is the boss and it was cancelled. I booked another flight a few days later and the same. Then the company rang me yesterday to say that they had a new flight for today and asked if that was ok. Great.
The flight went to plan and the crew had that calm experience you knew you could trust. Only complaint - we could have stayed up there for hours more ;-)
26 August 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for your review! We are glad you enjoyed your flight with us.
Minimal flexibilty
I'd advise to pay close attention to the comments about the non flight related issues. My 'voucher' expires next week - the flight I had booked last week was cancelled due to the weather. I am now asked to pay £100 to extend my voucher so as to rebook next month. Yes I am sure that I haven't had 5 flights cancelled, yet despite us having pre paid for a voucher, and all the problems that Covid has brought with planning and disruption, this company will stick to the small print and offer minimal flexibility to help customers.
23 May 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Dear David, we have been in contact with you via email many times over the last few months to try and resolve this for you. You have tried twice in the 13 months of the validity of your voucher.
Since you purchased your voucher last year we have been fully open and flying thousands of passengers. We’ve already extended your voucher free of charge to allow you to book on once again after the original 12 months of your voucher.
We have many ongoing costs whether we fly passengers or not and this is why people need to pay to extend if they haven’t tried at least five times in within the validity of their voucher.
This is explained in our terms and conditions on the initial email that you received from us on booking. We’ve also explained this to you numerous times. We are very sad that you have to write a negative review on us when you haven’t even experienced a balloon flight and we have done our best to help you to get onto a flight.
We had an amazing morning balloon ride…
We had an amazing morning balloon ride to celebrate our dad's 60th birthday. The crew were really friendly and welcoming. The pilot put us all at ease and was a fountain of knowledge. Couldn't recommend them enough and will be booking up another ride for the next big family birthday.
11 November 2021
Unprompted review
From Start to Finish…..
From start to finish, brilliant day. Well organised, an incredible journey over the Devon countryside. Loved being able to help prepare the balloon and basket and then after the flight, helping to pack it all away.
No downside, except that we would have stayed up in the balloon longer! Will fly again soon.
8 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for your review Martyn, great to hear you enjoyed the day as much as we did! We look forward to flying you again in the future!
Flying high
We flew in June having had our flights delayed due to Covid. They SW Balloons extended the voucher with no issue. We were lucky - we flew the first time we booked and the whole process was fantastic. They got all the passengers involved in the set up and take down of the balloon. This does take time but it is easy to see why. They were also happy for friends and family to come and see the launch.
Our flight was amazing. We had a fabulous pilot and all enjoyed the champagne at the end.
5 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Such good luck to get the perfect weather on your first attempt, we are so happy you finally got to enjoy your flight with us after having this delayed. Thank you for your review Ben!
A memorable day 😊What an amazing experience
What an amazing experience, I can understand why you have to wait for the right weather, but I can tell you its well worth it for the spectacular veiw & smooth flight. May I add the pilot was brilliant, very informative, funny & very skilled at his job. Thank you for memorable day 👍
5 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for your review Julie, we will pass on your comments to your pilot! We're delighted to hear you enjoyed your flight with us.
The actual balloon flight was good but…
The actual balloon flight was good but everything leading up to it was not. You are not allowed a refund even when your flight has been cancelled numerous times, I also paid to have text updates which I didn't received one in 2 years. They were supposed to advise of up coming flights and problems but had to go on their website to find information, so this all lead to being disenchanted with the whole process.
4 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for your review Michael.
Our flight vouchers are non refundable and we do feel this is made clear throughout the booking process. This is also in our terms and conditions which are available on our website and were emailed to you when you purchased your vouchers. You do also have a 14 day window after purchasing where we would have been able to refund you if you had decided that you do not agree to these terms and conditions.
We do have the option of paying to receive SMS updates, these messages are sent out advising when we have last minute balloon flight spaces available. These are sent out as and when we have spaces. You would not have received any messages regarding availability in the year that we were unable to operate during Covid, and this season has been a busy year for us, you did not receive SMS messages about last minute availability as our flights in your location were fully booked. We are sorry you feel let down about the lack of availability messages sent out, and this is something we will be reviewing for the future.
We do understand that cancellations due to the weather can be frustrating for passengers. Ballooning is extremely weather dependent and it can take several booked flight attempts in order to get a day where it is suitable to fly. We do only cancel flights when it is unsafe to conduct a flight and this is done with passengers safety and enjoyment in mind.
Thank you for the feedback you have left, this is very useful to us and please be assured we will be taking all your comments on board. We are glad that you enjoyed you flight on the day, and we are sorry that you feel let down by some aspects of the booking process.
Great experience
Amazing flight, friendly staff. Easy to reschedule online after weather cancellations. Overall a great experience and would definitely fly with them again!!
4 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you Hannah, we look forward to flying you again!
Great experience and wonderful team
Great experience and wonderful team of people to help the flight go so well. Obviously weather dependant so we had to wait a while for our fight but it sure was worth it! Would not hesitate to recomend and we will hopefully be flying again sometime soon.
3 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for you review Andrew. We're so glad the weather finally behaved and you got to enjoy your flight with us!
Excellent experience and friendly…
Excellent experience and friendly staff. Lovely toast at the end of the flight and felt like it was worth the money! Such an incredible view and didn’t realise how much wildlife I would see. Highly recommend!
2 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Wildlife is one of our favourite things about ballooning too! Thank you for your lovely review.
When shall we do this again totally brilliant
We had a fantastic time with a our balloon ride it was an amazing experience I purchased this for us as a treat for my husbands birthday for both of us and he thoroughly enjoyed it great pilot fantastic views we even had an impromptu fly over from the Red Devil’s , champagne and everyone sang happy birthday to him totally brillliant x
2 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
We're so happy we got to celebrate this occasion with you! Thank you for your review Nicky you were a delight to have as passengers!
We recently enjoyed an excellent flight…
We recently enjoyed an excellent flight from Tiverton. The whole experience was well organised and enhanced by being involved in the set up and packing away of the ballon. Our pilot was fun, friendly and very competent. Thoroughly recommend the experience
1 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
We are delighted to hear you enjoyed you flight with us Marion! Thank you for your review.
Enjoyable experience let down by customer service
The flight, pilot and ground staff were all excellent and keen to provide the best experience for the 16 passengers in the basket. Unfortunately this wasn't backed up by the office staff who seemed to be put out whenever I called and who did their best to get me to use their outdated and difficult to navigate booking system rather than assist me to reschedule the booking on the phone, and their overall attitude did make me consider asking for a refund on more than one occasion. I'm glad I stuck with it though as the flight was very enjoyable and as already mentioned the staff on the day were very customer focused and intent on making the experience enjoyable.
It's important to note that you are not purchasing a balloon flight but a voucher, this has some implications as to your rights if you do want to pursue a refund. Also the flights are very weather dependant and so may be called off last minute and this may happen to you several times so if you are booking to mark a special occasion you can't be guaranteed your flight will take place on the scheduled day, week or month.
I would potentially use South West Balloon Flights again but I would really encourage them to try to motivate / enthuse their office staff into being more customer focused as their attitude does impact on what is supposed to be a special occasion.
1 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for taking the time to write a review, we do feel that reviews are a great way for customers to understand a company, and we are sorry you feel let down on this occasion.
It is advised on our website when purchasing that South West Balloon Flights is an online only service and if you are looking to make bookings over the phone we recommend that you book through our sister company Aerosaurus Balloons. With South West Balloon Flights you are required to send all queries through the website and to use the online flight diary to book flight dates, this is why you would have been directed to book through the website when calling. The reason that South West Balloon Flights is online only is to offer flight vouchers at a lower price for passengers. With Aerosaurus Balloons, flight vouchers purchased through this company are valid for 12 months instead of 9, include complimentary champagne, and you are able to book flight dates over the phone. We do also have the option for South West Balloon Flight passengers to pay £25 to transfer to Aerosaurus Balloons if they change their minds about booking through an online only service.
Thank you for your comments as these are very useful for us. We will be taking these on board and over the winter we will be reviewing the way South West Balloon Flights operates. We are looking at changing operating procedures so that vouchers have a longer validity and bookings can be made over the phone, much the same as Aerosaurus Balloons. We are glad that you enjoyed your flight on the day and we do hope that you will consider flying with us again in the future.
Very professional
Very professional. Enjoyed it very much and felt safe in the hands of the Australian guy who took us. Would recommend.
1 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you Debra!
Great day out
Great day out, what a brilliant experience floating through the air. The crew and pilot were lovely and all very knowledgeable. Definitely happy to have had this experience.
1 November 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Thank you for your review Graeme!
What a palaver
I am absolutely disgusted with the customer service here. I purchased a balloon flight online and no where on their website did it state there would be up to 16 people in the basket at one time! Upon reading this on the information I was sent after purchasing I decided that this was not what I thought I was purchasing and asked for a refund - I do not feel comfortable during a coronavirus pandemic to be in a basket with 16 other people - this should of been made clear on their website. The refund was quite difficult to get. It took 5 emails and two phone calls. I was finally promised a refund on the Friday but I received an email from them on the Friday as to excuses of why they couldn’t refund. I replied explaining I don’t feel confident in them and I will be contacting trading standards. Immediately after my email they processed a refund BUT they had deducted £30! When I asked why they refunded me £30 short of the full amount I paid, apparently this is an admin charge for processing the refund!! UPDATE - after leaving this review the £30 was refunded but I was asked to take down this review in which I do not agree with so to be fair to both parties I am updating my review to say that I was refunded the full amount eventually.
20 August 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from South West Balloon Flights
Hi Bethany,
Thank you for taking the time to write a review, we do feel that reviews are a great way for customers to understand a company and as such should be honest and accurate. We are sorry you feel let you down on this occasion.
It is made clear on our website that our flight vouchers are valid for shared passenger balloons, there are also pictures of our balloon flights available to view so that you can gain some context about the sizes and spacing, and images of our balloons are also available to view on our social media channels. You purchased 2x Anytime flight vouchers with us, valid for our shared passenger balloons, to the value of £284. We do understand that there was some confusion and that you were under the impression that this was an exclusive flight for just the 2 of you. As a company we only run shared passenger balloons flights, and advise passengers who are wanting to book private flights to do so through our sister company Aerosaurus Balloons. Prices for these flights start at £750 for a private flight for 2 passengers.
As with most purchases, you do have 14 days from the date of purchase to change your mind and obtain a refund. We are of course happy to do this for passengers and is in our terms and conditions that this refund is minus a £15 per person admin fee. When you requested a refund over the phone with us we did advise you of this charge, which you had no objections to.
You purchased your flight vouchers on 15/08/2021 and we refunded you £254 on 20/08/2021. As we have previously explained to you it does take our team time to process refunds and we do not feel that 5 days from the date you purchased the vouchers from us is an unreasonable time frame. It is true that you emailed us multiple times during these dates, however we do feel it is unfair that you are claiming this refund was difficult to get from us, as we kept you informed throughout the process and we do feel that we acted in a timely manner for you.
After we had refunded you as per our terms and conditions, you then went on to make various untrue and inaccurate accusations against our company and were extremely rude over the phone to members of our staff. At the end of this phone call we then agreed that we would refund you in full, and you were refunded the further £30 admin fee.
We are sorry that you are not satisfied with our service on this occasion. However, we do feel that we provided clear information about our balloons and services throughout the booking process, on our website, and during our phone calls with you. We have also refunded you in full for your purchase, so we do feel that your one star review is not an accurate representation of the service we provided you.
Thank you for your feedback.
With best wishes,
South West Balloon Flights
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