Similar to a reader’s recent issue with Virgin Balloon Flights, I am having problems with another provider, Adventure Balloons. My partner bought vouchers for my birthday two years ago but we have had nothing but hassle, with 11 bookings cancelled due to weather. I asked for a refund last year but the firm is adamant we are only entitled to 40% of what we paid – 32% after the £80 it took to keep the voucher from expiring – and even then it was conditional on there being 10 cancellations.
I have tried everything possible, even complying with the T&Cs on the number of bookings needed to keep the voucher valid while trying to get a refund. Reading TripAdvisor reviews I see I am not alone. GF, Lancashire
Operators claim that for safety reasons the UK’s unpredictable weather makes hot air ballooning vulnerable to cancellation. That said, the voucher rules don’t make it easy for people who want to fly. It seems unbelievable that you have been waiting two years.
Adventure Balloons has clearly employed a statistician to tell you that “the probability of taking your balloon flight on your first attempt, averaged over the whole of our operating areas in 2016, which as you have experienced has not been a good year for weather for our industry, is 29%. Statistically this is a geometric progression, with 77% of passengers flying by their fifth attempt, and three out of 3,000 passengers flown so far this year taking 20 attempts – such is the nature of probability.”
After we contacted the company it said you had been unlucky with the weather but that under its terms and conditions it would not give you a refund. Your vouchers were valid until 25 June 2017 and it has agreed to extend them for free to the end of the 2017 season in a gesture of goodwill “subject to a reasonable effort to fly during the remainder of the voucher’s current life”. We advise readers thinking of such weather-dependent trips to steer clear.
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