Hot Air Ballooning.....

sflash44 · August 2009

Vent!!!! My husband bought me a trip to go hot air ballooning for my birthday. He's so sweet. When we got to the site, we were told to go with another company on their balloon because they had room on their balloon. We think they over booked us. First they stuck us in a van and it was hot and muggy in there and we couldn't roll down the windows. So we went, the pilot cussed the whole time about the chase crew and how they are incompetent and that he doesn't get paid enough to deal with idiots like them. So once in the air for 20 minutes we started to descend and we were above homes about 20-30 feet, oh and the 56 freeway, people were honking at us and we could see their full expressions on their face, not joke!! Once over the freeway we were heading down some canyon near a pond, little did we know that the pilot was going to show off or do god knows what, he decided to dunk the balloon in the pond. (there was one couple there that was friends with him) We didn't get wet, but come on...really?!! I thought we were going to fly high and soar high near the clouds. So once we were done getting dunked in the pond we were dragged up on the side of the canyon to get out and about 10-15 minutes later of flying the pilot ended up missing his landing and crashed into a fence, bending the fence severely. It took us about 15 minutes to get dislodged from the fence and a bush, and we waited for the chase crew to help us out too. After the 15 minutes passed the balloon got loose from the fence and then the chase crew pulled up. Great timing boys! The pilot cussed about that too. We ended up flying high up above houses, literally 20 feet above the homes. All the other balloons flying behind us were nice and high. People were waving at us and little kids were yelling at us. We could hear and see everything clearly. Had I known I was going to fly so close to the ground I would have avoided spending $380 for two people. Once we got past all the homes and the people with parties in their backyard we made it to the park in Mira Mesa with a great and smooth landing. Kudos to the pilot for that! We waited an hour in the dark for someone to pick us all up. The chase crew, geniuses, got the van stuck in dry dirt and blew out their tire trying to get out. So by the time we got back it was 8:45, we didn't get anything that was promised to us and posted on their website. No hors d' oeuvres, no champagne, no photo, no professionalism and no flight certificate. The other people in the balloon were complaining that they should get some kind of refund for the things we missed out on, but we decided to talk with the people in the company. I called and the woman on the phone was rude to me and wasn't kind about the situation at all. I asked to speak to the owners and she said that she couldn't give that out. She said that she needed authorization to give any refund and needed to call me back. She later called and offered me something that was a total joke and I told her that they could do better than that, especially since that was my birthday. I am still waiting for her to return my call and let me know what the boss has to say.

Bottom line: DONT USE HOTAIRFLYER.COM!!!!