virginballoonflights.co.uk

4.4
4.4 Based on 189 reviews

Virgin Balloon Flights is the largest commercial hot air balloon rides company in the UK and has been taking passengers up, up and away on the airborne experience of a lifetime since 1994....

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Average Rating

4.4

/
5

189 Reviews

5 Star
83%
4 Star
2%
3 Star
1%
2 Star
1%
1 Star
14%

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Jermaine Foster
Lynn was friendly and responded quickly…

Lynn was friendly and responded quickly to my query

5
Date of experience: Jul 23, 2025
Eadwulf Howard
Disappointed and cynical?

This is just my take on this, only today me and my wife travelled to Whitchurch with me being totally unaware of where I was going and what I was going to be doing, all I knew was my wife had arranged a treat for my 60th birthday but I wouldn’t know if whatever she had planned would go ahead as it depended on the weather.I was baffled until at 2pm she received a text message to give her the bad news that a balloon trip had been cancelled due to bad weather (up to that point I knew nothing about it)!However, the weather was sunny with clouds and a bit of a breeze? Which then made me wonder how “perfect “ does the weather need to be for your trip to go ahead. Then you realise there is an expiry on the Virgin voucher, and become aware as you try to book alternative dates that this could become farcical and very expensive and depending how cynical it makes you, it actually crosses your mind that this could be the perfect scam depending how difficult it is to reschedule, the season (weather issue again) etc etcI will definitely be monitoring our progress with this including the weather forecasts and availability, because unfortunately my wife wouldn’t have realised the potential problems at the time of booking, but I could tell she was really disappointed today.We both want this to work and if it does, I’ll be the first to rate our experience, but if it does leave my wife out of pocket and feeling like she’s been had, then I will do what is required to burst their bubble!Otherwise we have to trust whoever it is that gains the most!!?

3
Date of experience: Jul 22, 2025
Mortimer Kelly
Terrible company

Terrible company, flights always cancelled last minutes so wastes your time and even if goes ahead they can move the flight far away from where you booked potentially leaving you no way to get to the new location at 5am if you rely on public transport.

1
Date of experience: Jul 21, 2025
JB85
Our amazing balloon flight

My husband and I had a fabulous evening from start to finish. It was our first time of booking so consider ourselves to be extremely lucky to have been able to fly straight away.Mike Petteford-our pilot, Caroline and the fabulous ground crew were all amazing, very helpful and extremely professional, creating confidence and trust along with a little humour.We waited until the small gusts of wind subsided then we took to the skies. My husband Tim even was able to assist in inflating the huge balloon!There were 16 of us on the flight all of different ages which was really nice as we are both in our 60's.The flight lasted approximately an hour and took us all over Bristol with perfect views of the city and surrounding areas .The flight was so calm and peaceful-we could have stayed up there all evening!!We landed in a farmers field near Pucklechurch-the farmers had previously been asked if this was okay and we met and had a glass of fizz with them after packing away the beautiful balloon.We were taken back to Ashton court in a mini bus driven by dear Caroline who kindly took Tim and I down to the road as we had to get transport home as hadn't driven.We would do this again in a heartbeat and honestly recommend it to every one interested.

5
Date of experience: Jul 17, 2025
Alberta Lewis
All around a horrible experience from the moment I bought it

Booked a Virgin hot air balloon experience directly through Virgin, booked the flight 14 times over a 4 and a half year period in multiple locations and every single time the flight was called off for multiple reasons. Then I got fed up in the end, tried to get a refund deservingly so and Virgin told me I could only get store credit so they essentially keep my money regardless of how crappy service they provided. Furthermore, when I put a review on their website and another location they deleted my reviews within 3 days to lie to future customers about the ecperience. Horrible experience. £450 wasted. Never book through them.

1
Date of experience: Jul 15, 2025
Reba
Total scam

Total scamTotal scam, do not buy anything from virgin, bought balloon flight for my boyfriend bday last April and every single flight was cancelled by the pilot due the weather even when was amazing day, after 7th cancelation I requested for full refund and I got £20 less as virgin explained they charge me for some kind of fees, I never signed any contract with them as payment was made by the phone and no one talk with me through all details, so I don't think if they had any rights to charge me for anything after all especially if I never could fly because of constant cancelation from their side, for me this is a big scam if you think of this if they charge every person £20for cancelation they making right money on it! the worst company never again and will be telling everyone to do not buy thisscam scam scam!!

1
Date of experience: Jul 07, 2025
Orlando Morgan
Beware of this experience, as you may never go and lose your fee.

This was something I'd been looking forward too, since having it as a 50th birthday present from my wife back in 2023. However after numerous cancellations due to weather conditions and rebooking, I should of eventually gone up June this year. On the morning of the flight, I contacted the number to check all was ok, only to be told they were using another take off site and not my chosen one. I had no way of getting to this other site on this particular day and there was absolutely no reason for them to change take off sites, they state it was due to weather conditions. No in fact, I since found that the flight was never arranged to take off from my preferred site and was always going to be from the back up site. So be aware, that even though they give options for your preferred site, it may never be arranged for there.I did contact them direct to try to sort before the flight went, but they were not interested and kept saying the reason for the back up site was due to weather, this was NOT the case at all and as said, I did find, that it was NEVER planned to take off from where I had booked. I have also emailed and sent letters since, but they choose not to respond, as they have no interest once they've took your money.Thanks for nothing and I hope your happy with the money you gained for doing absolutely nothing. Edit: And as you see from the below response, they have no interest in sorting anything out, just the same info about safety. I know all about the safety aspect, as I had numerous cancellations over a 2 year period. But this particular flight was NEVER arranged to leave from my designated/preferred site. This is the bit that they won't admit too.

1
Date of experience: Jun 18, 2025
Damian
Please please please avoid

Please please please. Do not book this if you are thinking of buying it.They constantly cancel the flights which ofcourse is due to the weather conditions. Ive had my ticket now for 5 years and they just cannot refund me. They constantly keep extending my expiry date. Honestly I've lost count how many times I have booked with this hot air balloon place now. It is not Aug 2025. Summer is over so I will have to wait till next year to book again. Like I don’t have anything else to do in my life.

1
Date of experience: Mar 28, 2025
Peleg Brown
Virgin ballon flight is a disgusting…

Virgin ballon flight is a disgusting service they kept cancelling my flight four times and then they said the flights are non refundable and did not wish to exchange them for another experience. Will never use this company again

1
Date of experience: Dec 19, 2024
Nia Rogers
We have been trying to fly for a yeah a…

We have been trying to fly for a yeah a half. Then we booked, we were meant to leave at 5 am to go to the location, but as my husband is diabetic he had a “diabetic attack” so we could not go as we had to rush to the hospital. Little did we know, this was the actual day the balloon flight happen. I contacted customer service and briefed them about what happened, didn’t even ask for a refund, asked for another flight to which they said no, as it is our fault that we could not come. Appauling service, would not recommend to anyone.

1
Date of experience: Jul 31, 2024

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