Balloon Fiesta Booking

  Read The Small T’s & C’s (especially if booking for the Bristol Balloon Fiesta) – We booked the Sunday evening flight for this years balloon fiesta, and paid a premium for it (an extra £100 each). We travelled up from Portsmouth to made a weekend… read more of it, going to the fiesta on the Saturday and seeing the mass assent on Saturday evening, then watching the ‘nightglow’, which were both spectacular, then enjoying sightseeing in Bristol on the Sunday morning and heading for the fiesta in the afternoon.
As it transpired, the wind direction wasn’t good for flying in the afternoon, as it was blowing out toward the Bristol channel (not ideal when in a balloon), so the flight was cancelled last minute (nobody’s fault, we fully appreciate that safety is the number 1 priority). So we were told to contact First Flight during the week to make alternative arrangements. Which we did.
We thought we may be able to carry the flight over till next years fiesta (as we’d paid the premium), even if we had to pay a bit extra to but no, we were told we could only book a date within the next year to ‘use our voucher’, (or pay another £50 to carry it over till next year – but NOT the fiesta dates) no refund of the £200 premium (for the both of us) we paid, we were just sent a copy of the T’s & C’s explaining that there were no refunds, nor could we carry the voucher over to next years fiesta. So yes, our fault for not reading them properly, so we’re just warning others, if your flight is cancelled because of the weather, you have to shoulder the costs of getting to Bristol (or Bath or Cheddar) to use your voucher. In the end the balloon flight cost us over £1000, what with hotels & travelling expenses.
We could have booked a balloon flight local to Portsmouth for £400, but it was the draw of the fiesta that took us to Bristol.
On the plus side, the flight we did end up taking was amazing, we would recommend everyone to do it at least once. Richard, our pilot, was great, had lots of ballooning stories from around the world. We felt safe, even though we were both very nervous beforehand. Getting us to assist in inflating (and deflating) the balloon was good too, made you feel part of it all – “all part of the experience” Richard told us with a smile. When we were in the air it was breath-taking, the view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the gorge, the colourful houses, SS Great Britain, the whole of Bristol city below us amazing, serene, peaceful, people waving at us from below, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
So yes, do it, especially if you live close to Bristol, but otherwise think carefully about getting there and all the other associated costs if you need to rebook. And read the T’s & C’s

  First class trip from First Flight  – From the beginning booking a flight to the flight itself first flight were first class. Very informative and helpful and dealing with a person not an automated online platform was… read more great.
There were Amazing views over Bristol and beyond, we did an evening flight in September so we were able to catch the sun setting and the weather was clear.
We had to reschedule a few times due to the weather but Nick and the team were very accommodating.
During the flight Nick was very knowledgable about the area and took the time to answer many questions.
Finishing up with a bottle of cider when we landed was a nice touch. Would highly recommend!

  Perfect sunrise over Glastonbury  – Although initially hoping for an evening flight over Bristol we took advantage of the better weather in early morning and had a sunrise flight out of Glastonbury. It was absolutely… read more magical, rising into the air as the sun came up over Glastonbury Tor. Nick filled us with confidence and pointed out various points along the way, ending in a perfectly gentle landing and celebratory champagne toast. Can’t wait to do this again. Thanks Nick and the team.