Bailey BalloonsReviews 

36
TrustScore 4 out of 5

4.2

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My partner and I flew today, 25/05/23, and had the most amazing experience flying over Taunton. Whilst we had a number of flights cancelled due to the weather conditions, when we were able to fly, it... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

AVOID THIS COMPANY. I booked a flight as a gift for my sister as a treat for passing exams after a very difficult year and didn't get a chance to fly as all 7 flights I booked were cancelled due to po... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

We really enjoyed our flight. Our pilot and all the crew were great. Very exciting to fly over Bath and through the valley towards Trowbridge. Unbelievably we actually flew over our son out walking... See more

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

What a great experience! Had a superb flight from Llanarth over the beautiful Monmouthshire countryside. Our pilot Mike was fantastic and ensured a smooth take off and a relatively smooth landing... See more

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4.2

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TrustScore 4 out of 5

36 reviews

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4.2

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(36)

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Just Amazing!!!

My partner and I flew today, 25/05/23, and had the most amazing experience flying over Taunton. Whilst we had a number of flights cancelled due to the weather conditions, when we were able to fly, it was just incredible. We loved every moment of our exclusive flight. Our pilot and ground support were just brilliant. This was our first ever experience of balloon flying and would high recommend. We're very happy customers and will certainly be back to fly again.

May 25, 2023
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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

AVOID THIS COMPANY

AVOID THIS COMPANY. I booked a flight as a gift for my sister as a treat for passing exams after a very difficult year and didn't get a chance to fly as all 7 flights I booked were cancelled due to poor weather, which isn't a shock living in Wales. I had to use holidays each time I booked as I work full time. If you are retired or able to book at short notice it may be easier but for me it was an absolute waste of time money and energy. I went to my account to try and book an eighth flight to find my booking had expired I didn't even get an email or notification to advise my account expired. £240 down the drain and a waste of annual leave. This company must make a killing from all the people who dont get to fly. Absolute waste !

May 3, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

What a great experience!

What a great experience! Had a superb flight from Llanarth over the beautiful Monmouthshire countryside. Our pilot Mike was fantastic and ensured a smooth take off and a relatively smooth landing!
The flight was perfect in the autumn sunshine with fantastic views.
Would highly recommend Baileys Balloons.
Ps Please note that you have to be prepared to be flexible when you book this experience, we flew on our 4th attempt, but boy was it worth it!!

October 7, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your review, Chris! We are very happy to see you have enjoyed your flight with us and we will pass your comments on to our pilot. The weather is unpredictable, but we are glad to see it was worth the wait!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The whole experience was great

The whole experience was great. I especially enjoyed looking down on trees and seeing the amazing shapes the branches and canopy make.

October 7, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your review, Simon! We are glad to see you enjoyed your flight with us. It offers incredible views!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Wife had a great time on the flight

Wife had a great time on the flight! Couldn't stop talking about it, made memories for life. Highly recommend it.

May 13, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

We are glad to see she has enjoyed her flight with us! Thank you for your review.

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful countryside from the air

Beautiful countryside, fantastic pilot. Altogether a really great experience, well organised and great fun.

May 14, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your review, George. It is a beautilful way to see our countryside!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Took of on our second attempt

Took of on our second attempt. Great pilot made the flight fun. Excellent landing, stayed upright until the balloon came down.
Would use them again. Booked through red letter days.

June 16, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for leaving us a review, Martin!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Unforgettable experience!

No words could ever describe the feeling you have when floating in a giant basket in the air. I could not recommend this enough, no matter how scared of heights you could be, it has been a magical experience, and surprisingly very peaceful!
The crew and our pilot for the night, Mike, were all so friendly, welcoming and professional. Mike was a great guide throughout the flight, showing us many areas and hidden gems, while still letting us enjoy the experience. Great balance.
The views were breathtaking, a delight for photography fanatics. It was lovely to see the areas you know from a different view, and spotting wildlife enjoying their evening.
I felt very safe, and in good hands from start to finish. Bailey Balloons looks well after their passengers.
It was a once in a lifetime experience!

June 3, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your lovely review!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible service, waste of money

AVOID THIS COMPANY. I booked a flight as a birthday gift for my partner in April 2021 and didn't get a chance to fly as all 7 flights I booked from April 2021 - October 2021 were cancelled due to poor weather, which is no one's fault. The final flight I booked in April 2022 was moved forward on the day by almost an hour - meaning I was unable to leave work early enough to make it in time. Staff refused to move my flight to the back up date I had previously booked - and informed me that I had lost my right to fly.

After leaving a review explaining my experience, a staff member rang me asking me to delete my reviews on exchange for being placed on a shortlist to fly, which I accepted. I was contacted once the night before a flight 7 that was taking place nearly a 3 hour drive away in Wales ( I live in Bristol) at 6AM. I was obviously not going to be able to make this flight due to having work the following morning, so I declined. I never heard from Baileys Balloons again for the next 6 months. I then emailed requesting a refund again, but have been refused. Baileys Balloons will happily take your money (£280 in my case) but do not care if whether you actually get what you paid for or not. Please don’t waste your money with this company and and fly with someone else instead who cares about your experience as a customer and won’t rob you!

EDIT: The Wales location I was offered a flight on, which is in fact a 2.5 - 3 hour drive and not the 45 minutes claimed in Bailey Balloon’s response. They also claimed that I that I failed to contact them on the morning of the April flight which is another fabrication. I contacted Bailey Balloons who told me if I didn’t make my flight that I’d lose my right to fly and my money.
Very interesting that they’ve flagged this review because it makes them look bad. Perhaps if they treated their customers with a little respect and they won’t have negative experiences like this?

April 7, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Dear Dominique,

Thank you for your feedback.

We feel reviews are a great help to prospective customers and as such, should be accurate and honest. We are a family run business that has won awards for customer care and take every negative review or complaint very seriously.

It is in all the information sent over to you at the time of booking that the meeting time can change by 1 hour either way if the weather conditions dictate that this is necessary, this is also on every booking confirmation that you receive from us when booking your flight date. We ask that all passengers take this potential change into account and it is the responsibility of the passenger to make sure that they have left enough time to be able to attend their booked flight.

On the day of your flight the meeting time did need to be brought forward by 45 minutes due to the wind direction. An email and text message was sent out on 09.50am on the morning of your flight to advise passengers as early as possible that if the flight was confirmed then the meeting time would be changing. This gave you 7 ½ hours notice of this change. We had 2 flights due to fly from Bristol on this evening and all other 26 passengers booked for these flights received these messages and turned up on time. In this email we also ask that you contact us immediately if you have any problems, so that we have enough time to try and fill the spaces for you if you absolutely are not able to make the flight. We did not receive any communication from you that morning. We recevied contact from you after the flight had already been called on and confirmed as going ahead, which does not give us any opportunity to attempt to fill your spaces for you.

If you do not turn up for your booked flight date and time as stated on the weather line, then you invalidate your vouchers and lose your right to fly. This is the case with any activity and with any form of aviation. It is entirely unreasonable to not turn up for your flight and expect us to put you on a future date free of charge. Please do also keep in mind that as a result of not showing up for your flight, this flight did also go ahead with less passengers than intended.

I believe after speaking to my colleague you were placed on our short notice cancellation list as a gesture of goodwill, usually your vouchers would be void and you would not be offered spaces on a future flight. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee if or when we will have last minute spaces open up and this is not a guarantee of a flight. I believe we did offer you last minute spaces flying from our South Wales launch site (NP15 2AU), please do keep in mind that this is not far from Bristol at all and is only a 45 minute drive, and that booking onto a morning flight from any of our launch sites will always require an early start.

We are sorry that you are not happy with the response from the company on this occasion however, we do feel that we gave clear instructions and information throughout the booking process. We cannot continue booking passengers who do not turn up onto new flights, and we do hope that you can understand this.

With best wishes,
Bailey Balloons

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Up and Away

We got to fly on our second booking, late change of plan due to the lack of wind meant a 20 minute landrover ride to an alternative site was not a problem. The flight with breathtaking views was smooth and almost serene; we felt secure and comfortable at all times. Baileys Balloons staff were kind and polite and, once the ground crew found us, very friendly. All in all, a lovely experience.

September 20, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your review, Ruth!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Making memories

The most amazing experience at Bristol Balloon Fiesta, super communication, warm welcome and the best flight, memories made!

August 25, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you, we are so happy your enjoyed your flight at the Fiesta!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Really enjoyed it

Really enjoyed it, two of us 8 and 68! I'm not very agile but was given time and help to get into and out of the basket!
Clear safety rules.
We felt included and part of the flight

August 12, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you so much for your review!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Beware vouchers not being extended after COVID

My wife wrote this review a couple of months ago on another platform but sadly it has not ellicited any response from Bailey Balloons...

I can’t remember the last time I felt compelled to give a negative review but on this occasion I feel justified. In July 2018 I splashed out on two Gold ‘Any Time’ vouchers as a present for my husband’s upcoming birthday in August. Due to adverse weather conditions each of the flights we booked in 2018-2019 were cancelled, 10 in total. On one occasion in May 2019 we thought all systems were go, duly arrived at Victoria Park, helped with the preparation, had our safety briefing and almost got as far as climbing in the basket only for the pilot to decide he was not happy to fly. Therefore helped with dismantling and packing up of balloon. Other balloons had already taken off successfully that evening. I have no problem with cancellations due to the weather, it is out of everyone’s control; but I would point out that none of the cancellations were made by us. Then came Covid at the beginning of March 2020. We received an email that month saying it would not be possible to book flights until further notice due to Covid. The further notice did not happen; at some point and I am not sure when, I did check the website to discover the smaller balloons were going up but the larger balloons were still not flying. After waiting and waiting I finally decided to pick up the phone last week and spoke to an operator. On listening to my query she put me on hold to refer to her ‘managers’; on coming back she said our vouchers had expired therefore we would have to pay a further £70 each if we wished to extend their validity. She would not take on board that we had not been informed of flights being reinstated and frankly sounded like a robot and repeated the same line over and over again. Maybe I should have been on the phone once a month over the past 18-24 months and hassled. An expensive lesson learnt, a lot of hassle admittedly on both sides but never had the good experience at the end.

RESPONSE: We were notified by email at 13.13 on 23/03/20 that all flights were cancelled due to COVID (quite understandable) and were told we'd receive an update at the end of April. This was the last email we received from Bailey Balloons so we have categorically never been notified that flights have resumed.

August 5, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Dear Peter, thank you for leaving this review.
Please be aware that we resumed flying as normal in May 2021 and all passengers were contacted regarding this in March 2021. The information that flights had resumed was on our website and all our social media channels. We have done everything we could have to ensure that this information was available for all passengers to access. In addition, we extended flight vouchers for all passengers free of charge until October 2021 to give everyone an extra season to book onto flight dates with us after Covid. We do feel that the provisions we have made for our passengers are very fair given the circumstances over the last couple of years, and we have been happy to do this.

We do ask that passengers have attempted to fly at least 5 times within a season in order for us to extend the vouchers further free of charge. Usually if you have not made any attempts to fly and have not purchased a voucher extension by your expiry date, then your vouchers do become void. On this occasion we gave you the option of purchasing a voucher extension despite your vouchers having already expired, and this offer was declined.

I am sorry that you are not satisfied with our response however we do feel that it is unreasonable to contact us 1 year after we have resumed flying and to expect us to then extend your vouchers further again free of charge, especially when this has already been done once and no flight attempts have been made during this time. Unfortunately there does need to be a point where we no longer offer extensions free of charge if no flight attempts have been made and we do hope you can understand this.

With best wishes,
Bailey Balloons

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

A must-do for the bucket list!

We had an absolutely perfect balloon trip with Baileys a couple of weeks ago. At first we were a bit disappointed as the wind direction meant we couldn’t fly over Bristol as planned, but our flight over Bath and the surrounding countryside was magical. The staff were friendly and highly competent, we felt very safe and we loved it! Hope we can go again sometime, thank you

June 30, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your review Rachel! Ballooning is very weather dependent and sometimes we do very literally have to 'go with the wind'! Thank you for your understanding and we are delighted you enjoyed your flight.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Amazing - best way to see sunrise

What a magical experience, everything was just perfect! Good clear communication, really easy to book the date I wanted online. Everything about the flight was amazing, it was a mix of total excitement and utter peace. Mike the pilot was brilliant, and the whole team worked hard to make it seem effortless from the moment we booked to when they dropped us back at our car. Completely recommend, - they say this is a once in a lifetime experience but we will defo be doing this again. Totally addictive and has to be the best way to see sunrise.

June 16, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you so much for your review Jules! We will pass your comments on to your pilot and crew!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Unforgettable experience

My mother and I flew with Baileys Balloons a few weeks ago and had the most unforgettable experience. Mike, Mark and I believe the ladies name was Jules were all very friendly and professional.
Our evening flight departed from Llanarth Village hall and on arrival we saw the balloon and basket arrive which added to the experience. There was about 16 passengers and we were all involved in getting the balloon inflated and ready for take off.
When it was time, the Captain, Mike swiftly instructed everyone to climb into the balloon and we were up in the air in no time.
The flight itself was unforgettable, complete serenity and fantastic scenery of the black mountains and surrounding area. As we were flying the grounds team Mark and Jules followed us to meet us wherever we should land, to take us back to the original start destination.
We were a little nervous about landing after seeing some off-putting videos on youtube, however there really was nothing to be worried about. Mikes landing skills were impeccable and even though we were holding on for some serious impact and the basket dragging along the floor, we were pleasantly surprised to only be greeted with a couple of bumps to a complete stand still.
Champagne or orange juice was offered to everyone to celebrate safe landing and just like the beginning, the entire team helped to squeeze and load the deflated balloon back into the trailer. There was the option to purchase some in flight photos which were put onto a USB stick to take home.
I highly recommend flying with Bailey balloons and can't wait to fly again one day in the future! Thankyou very much

June 6, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Hi Emily, thank you so much for your review! South Wales is one of our favourite locations to fly, the views are amazing. We look forward to flying you again!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Our flight was from South Wales

Our flight was from South Wales, and what an enjoyable experience it was from start to finish, the whole team were great! If your looking for that special something you must give these guys a go, you won’t regret it!

May 17, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you so much for your kind review Susan!

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

What a great time I had This is my 2nd …

What a great time I had This is my 2nd flight I have now done an evening and morning one
The crew keep you upto date if your flight is going ahead.
On the day the crew make sure everyone are OK.
The crew are amazing So friendly and funny
Once up the pilot gives you locations etc and takes picture
I would certainly recommend Bailey

May 13, 2022
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your review Anne, we look forward to flying you again!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Unforgettable experience

Unforgettable experience. Everything about the flight was perfect. We were lucky enough to fly in our first booking. Weather was perfect, a lovely still warm June evening. It was so peaceful and incredible views. Crew were friendly, informative and helpful. This was a Christmas present for my mum and one she will not forget. Would have no hesitation in recommending Bailey balloons.

November 5, 2021
Unprompted review
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Reply from Bailey Balloons

Thank you for your kind words Sharlaine we really appreciate it! It looks like you got some great photos during your flight as well!

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