Aerogelic Ballooning

Went on a girls trip to Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Unfortunately festival flights were $$$$$ We found Aerogelic Ballooning online. They offered a festival week discount. It is a few miles from the fiesta but when you're in the air you will see lots of other balloons. The balloon holds 20 people and they schedule 40. While the first 20 go up, the rest follow in the chase vehicle. After they land the group switches. It was an amazing experience! (See photos) The pilot, Shane has been flying for 25 years and his family works with him. Everything was smooth from ordering tickets, to meet up, and of course the actual ride. Things to remember: 1. Get there early so you have time to make a pit stop and still leave on time. 2. If you notice a giant slit in the balloon while it is being inflated....Don't Panic. It's just a vent (thanks Dakota) 3. Stop and enjoy the amazing sunrise views in Albuquerque from high in the sky!

I would give this place -5 stars if I could.This hot air ballon company has wronged my husband and I. They're was a miscommunication error when my husband was trying to schedule our flight. When we went online to call them to schedule our flight we picked "New Mexico, Albuquerque and found a phone number to call. We assumed that it was to the Albuquerque location but it was ACTUALLY to the Phoenix, Arizona main location. Neither did the lady my husband talked to named Misty or my husband knew that when the flight was scheduled. So come the day before of we are trying to get in touch with them to confirm our flight no luck straight to voice message. The morning of we look at the email again and see the location for the balloon flight is at "the Starbucks on I-7 and Happy Valley Rd". (I posted a pic of the location directions they sent us) I mean you'd think a legit business would give you an actual address but. When we asked about the address we found out that our flight was scheduled for the Phoenix, Arizona location at 3pm. We were devastated! We're road tripping from Kansas to Nevada and we thought what a great idea to stop in Albuquerque NM and enjoy a hot air balloon ride a first for us both. Now before we both completely lost it my husband was trying to work with Misty to see if we could find a solution both parties would be happy with. We first asked for a refund.Misty told us flat out "No" to the refunds and that they were basically gonna keep our $100 deposit regardless of the communication error being just as much my husbands fault as well hers. She said that the whole refund was out of her hands and jurisdiction. Now mind you we were driving around the mountain area of New Mexico so the call got dropped twice. Every time my husband called back politely and apologetic about the spotty reception Misty got upset and offended because she thought he was doing it intentionally. She said that it's his and his phones fault and basically blamed this whole situation on my husbands lack of understanding. Whoa now! You call that you're customer service?!?The fact that this employee can not work with us but instead is against us makes me question the integrity of this business. Misty did nothing to help us feel that we made the right decision in choosing them. My husband worked hard to urge her to help us see if there was anyway we could reschedule. She finally told him to call this guy named Glenn who runs the Albuquerque location.So we did, we called Glenn. When we told Glenn our story we had hopes that maybe we found someone who would show some kindness and help us. WRONG!!! Glenn said well you got two choices 1. You can be on stand by and just check back with us daily to see if we have any open spots available. Your standby would last for 6 months and it's only good at the Phoenix location. I don't recommend this because it's very unlikely you'll get a flight.2. Just accept you're out $100.Like seriously?! Can you believe that?!? I said to my husband there's no way we can win so he can make the decision. Sure enough my husband decided on the standby because after moving out and the holidays we just can't waste $100. Glenn said "Okay I'll be sure to let Misty know since she is the boss, the manager of operations." Whoa whoa whoa back that up! You mean to tell me that the MANAGER OF OPERATIONS IS UNABLE TO ISSUE A $100 REFUND?!? Smh what kind of place are you running here?!?!So we're both confused, upset and I myself am now crying my eyes out because the whole point of us being here just got cancelled. And now we're $100 out. This is some sneaky snake like business you have running here. I personally don't even want to business with this place anymore but understand my husbands strife. Why would I want to trust this place after the horrible customer service I just experienced.Soooo Misty calls back to confirm that we're doing the standby thing. Now here's the icing on the cake. My husband after talking with Misty points out so that another poor couple or family doesn't encounter the same problem we did, that the phone number we found online for the Albuquerque location was incorrect and was actually for the Phoenix location. Guess what she said? "Oh we know you guys actually aren't the first couple whose had this kind of mistake"ARE YOU FRICKEN KIDDING ME??!!?!?!?!?!?!?!???!!Livid just livid!!! It's a Whole big scam a con for them to keep your money.NO HELP from MISTY or GLENN and almost an admittance that this business will intentionally set your reservation up for failure just to keep your hard earned money.Worst experience of my life!!! Still crying and upset about it!!! I honestly don't know if I even want to get in a hot air balloon anytime soon knowing this is a possible experience.THEY TOOK OUR MONEY FOR THE EXPERIENCE WE DID NOT WANT. NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THIS DISHONORABLE PLACE.

This Hot Air Ballooning company is actually headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, but they have a small Albuquerque, NM branch.Amazing service from customer service as well as our pilot and balloon tracker. We booked a last minute hot air balloon for 2, and it was $175 each. Payment was paid after the flight. We called an hour before this place closed, and it was the only Hot Air Balloon company still open at 7 or 8pm and still had reservation space less than 24 hours before. The lady who spoke with me, Tara, kept me updated as she was trying to contact a pilot last minute. I'm so glad she was able to find one for us!The total duration of the activity was ~3 hours, with 1.5 hours on the balloon. Setup took about 30-45 min, the ride was about 1.5 hours, and pack up was about 30-45 min. We had a gorgeous view of the sunrise and the Rio Grande during our ride. Our Pilot, David, was extremely friendly and informative about the history and geography of everything out balloon was passing, and he was a 2x state champ as well! Kirk, our tracker, was also very friendly and informative. We concluded the trip with a champagne toast and appetizers. Kirk even took photos for us and put them on a USB drive, free of charge.Some tips: -Check the weather and dress accordingly-Try to wear closed-toed shoes, longer pants are recommended too (this is all because you can't be sure what type of terrain your balloon will land on!)-Bring a hat because there could be a little heat from the gasoline aboveI'd highly recommend these guys!Will update with the high quality photos later on, but posting some from my phone.

I purchased a hot air balloon ride for myself and my husband during Balloon Fiesta week 2018. Booking was made in June, 2018 for October 9. Nowhere on their website did it say anything about being split into 2 groups for 1 balloon or mention that if you were a poor sucker to be put in group 2 that there was a good chance you might not get your ride. That is exactly what happened even when I asked "Mike" that morning while waiting to depart for the launch site. To add insult to injury, the ride in the chase vehicle was a smelly old van with purple window tinting that you could not even see out of. The driver ran multiple stop signs and yellow lights, making me fear for my safety. My guess is that this "volunteer" did not even have a license to drive passengers. Even worse, we were expected to stand around and watch those who got the ride they paid for celebrate what a great time they had while just wasting our vacation time. Final insult - they told me I did not book through them and had to get my refund through Adrenaline and when we called them, they could not even provide an immediate refund. I do not receive my refund until 3 days after my vacation ended, on October 16 and it was a paper check that my bank held for 3 days. Bottom line - HUGE RIPOFF!