Terms and Conditions
Voucher Purchase
- What these terms & conditions cover. These are the terms and conditions on which we supply vouchers and gift vouchers (Vouchers). The Vouchers provide the opportunity for you to book hot air balloon flight attempts (Flights) with us. You may order Vouchers which may be used to make such flight attempts in accordance with paragraph 4.
- If you do not agree with our terms & conditions, you have a right to cancel your purchase within 14 days of purchase.
- Why you should read them before making your purchase. These terms tell you how we will provide our services to you, how you and we may end or change the contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information.
- Hot air ballooning is very weather dependent. By purchasing Vouchers you accept that flights are subject to change, cancellation and postponement on short or no notice. In some cases flights may need to be rebooked many times. Although many passengers fly at their first attempt, it is more typical to have several flights cancelled due to unsuitable weather before successfully flying.
- Non-refundable. Other than in the Cooling Off Period, or as provided for in paragraph 6, Vouchers are not refundable (except for our London and our Plus vouchers which are refundable less a £35 per passenger fee).
- Cooling Off Period. We will provide a refund on any Voucher purchased direct from us, provided you notify us by email of your wish to cancel within 14 days of purchase. A refund less a £10 handling fee per passenger will be made to the person who paid for the gift voucher. If you make a date booking for a flight attempt within this cooling off period, regardless of whether such date is within this period or later, we will be deemed to have provided a service and even in the event of a subsequent cancellation caused by weather, no refund will be made.
Our obligations to you
- The voucher will entitle you to participate in a hot air balloon flight experience at a date, to be arranged, within 12 months of its purchase including the preparation and inflation of the balloon for flight, a flight in a hot air balloon and the recovery of the balloon at the end of the flight. Our balloon flying season (Excluding London Flights) runs from April to October.
- The voucher is not redeemable for cash. As an alternative to a hot air balloon flight experience as defined in paragraph 1 above, you may during the 3 months following the purchase of the voucher and providing that you have not booked or attempted to book a flight, choose items from the company’s range of merchandise and ballooning memorabilia including carriage to the face value of the voucher.
- Hot air balloon flights are completely dependant upon the weather and are regulated by the Air Navigation Order. It may be necessary to postpone a flight at any time if in our judgement the conditions are not safe or the flight would not be permitted under the Air Navigation Order. We will give you as much warning as operational procedures allow of any postponement but in order to ensure your safety we reserve the right to postpone a flight at any time up to the moment of launch. If all flights are suspended due to operational restrictions beyond the Company’s control, such as Foot and Mouth disease or Avian Flu, validity of reservations will be extended by the period of such restrictions.
- It is intended that the balloon will be in the air for approximately 1 hour but the pilot has ultimate responsibility for deciding the duration and conduct of any flight and the appropriate time and place of any landing. We cannot guarantee that a flight will follow any particular direction or duration. No refunds will be given for flights of less than one hour. Certain launch sites may have operational limitations on use and in these situations another launch site may be used.
- If we have to postpone your flight on 5 or more occasions during the flying season which is April to October and your voucher is then valid for a period of less than two months we will extend the validity period of the voucher to include the next three months of the main flying season. If this extends the validity of the voucher into the main flying season of the next year, the voucher will also be valid for the intervening months. If the validity period of your voucher expires and you have not tried to fly on at least 5 occasions during the main flying season we will extend the validity period by a further 12 calendar months from the date of expiry for a fee of £40 per person provided that this payment is made within 30 days following the expiry of the voucher. The provision of an extension does not affect your statutory rights and the standard Terms and Conditions apply. Extension fees are non refundable.
- We will make you a refund less our reasonable administration costs (see Clause 7) if you die or it is certified by a doctor that there is no possibility that you will be or are medically fit to fly (other than by reason of pregnancy) during the validity period of your voucher.
- Our administration costs are £35 per person and this represents a reasonable aggregate of our administration costs per passenger.
- If you are unable to fly during the validity period of your voucher because you are pregnant we will extend the validity period by 12 calendar months.
- Ballooning activities intrinsically involve the possibility of physical risks greater than those encountered in daily life even though they are conducted under the supervision of pilots who exercise all due precautions to ensure safety. By taking part in such ballooning activities, passengers are understood to be fully aware of these risks.
- We carry insurance cover for any legal liability we may be found to have to you for any injury you may sustain, or for damage sustained by your belongings during the course of flight, or during embarkation or disembarkation. However English law in some circumstances sets maximum limits on our legal liability to you that you might regard as inadequate to compensate for any loss, whether for death or personal injury or damage to your personal belongings.
- We do not accept liability for any costs or expenses you incur if we have to postpone any flight, where the reason for the postponement is beyond our control.
- We cannot supervise vehicles parked at the meeting point for a flight and vehicles and their contents are left at your risk and no liability is accepted for any loss or damage to your vehicle or contents unless it is due to our negligence.
Your obligations to us
- Your voucher is valid for a period of 12 months from the date upon which it was bought. The expiry date is shown on the voucher. If your flight is not taken within that time you will lose the right to participate in a flight unless you have booked flights on five occasions during the main flying season, which have had to been postponed for operational reasons or the validity period of the voucher has been extended for some other reason under these Terms and Conditions.
- You must contact us within 3 months of the purchase of the voucher to discuss booking your flight. If you do not do so and do not take your flight within the validity period, the voucher will expire at the end of its validity period and you will lose the right to a flight.
- It is the responsibility of the passenger to make contact to rebook a postponed flight. In the event of a flight being cancelled due to adverse weather conditions or for any other reason, the current range of alternative dates will be available on the company website(s).
- You must telephone the weatherline to check that the flight has not been affected by adverse weather conditions in accordance with your flight confirmation email.
- You may postpone or change your flight reservation either on our web site or by telephone during our working hours or by email, not less than 5 days before the flight meeting time of your flight. If you provide proof of a positive covid test within the 24 hours immediately after your booked flight date, then we will accept cancellation up to the time of the flight.
- If you do not give notice of postponement in accordance with clause 5 above or do not attend in time to take part in your booked flight, you will not be entitled to a re-scheduled flight nor to any refund.
- We are not qualified to express an opinion confirming that you are fit to fly and you must ensure that you are fit to fly. You must not fly if you are suffering from any serious medical condition, or have recently undergone surgery. We may ask you to provide us with a certificate of your fitness to fly from your doctor or specialist. You must not fly if you are pregnant or under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
- Our paramount consideration is your safety and the safety of others participating in the flight and you must obey all requests and instructions issued by any of our representatives and take particular care to abide by any safety instructions given. The pilot has complete discretion as to whether to allow you to take part in the flight and will refuse to allow you to do so if in his opinion you would be a risk to the balloon, to other passengers or to yourself. In these circumstances you will loose your entitlement to a flight.
- We will only fly children over the age of 8 years and whose height exceeds 1.4 metres. A child under the age of 16 years will only be flown if accompanied by a responsible adult appointed by the parent(s) or guardian. In the interests of safety and operational requirements we cannot undertake the carriage of passengers whose declared weight exceeds 18 stone (114kg).
- We welcome the participation of disabled people in our experiences, though we recognize that to be able to participate safely in a Hot Air Balloon Flight certain disabilities may present greater difficulties than others. We are committed to ensuring that customers with disabilities are given every opportunity to participate, so we require that you tell us about any disability or medical condition, even if YOU do not consider that it is a disability, at the time of ordering. Such information is needed to allow us to respond to our duty of care for your safety. This enables us to do our best to meet the participant's particular needs if possible.
- You must wear appropriate clothing as advised to you in your balloon flight map pack which we send you at the time of voucher purchase.
