Below you will find FAQ’s and policies for World Balloon. Please contact us if you have any other questions.
“We know that this adventure is important to you and your flight experience is important to us. We do everything we can to make sure that you are safe and that you have the best time EVER!! Come, fly with us-you will remember it forever.” -The World Balloon Family
Fact: World Balloon has an impeccable safety record.
Fact: World Balloon does NOT operate the largest fleet of hot air balloons, but we do operate the newest and best balloon equipment available.
Fact: World Balloon is a zero tolerance workplace. All of our pilots, crew and office staff are subject to random drug screenings.
Fact: Our pilots are some of the most experienced FAA certified commercial pilots in the industry.
Fact: We will not fly in unsafe conditions and have a very strict operations guide that all of our pilots must follow that defines weather conditions we will and will NOT fly in.
Fact: Our equipment requires a full FAA inspection annually or every 100 hours (which ever comes first) by FAA certified aircraft inspectors.
Fact: Before every flight our pilots and ground crew inspect the balloon, envelope, rigging and gondola.
Our Albuquerque balloon adventures all begin at sunrise when you arrive at the launch site in time to watch us inflate the balloon.
Shortly after the sun rises over the Sandia Mountains, we will lift off for a peaceful journey down the Rio Grande Valley lasting approximately one hour.
Fact: World Balloon has an impeccable safety record.
Fact: World Balloon does NOT operate the largest fleet of hot air balloons, but we do operate the newest and best balloon equipment available.
Fact: World Balloon is a zero tolerance workplace. All of our pilots, crew and office staff are subject to random drug screenings.
Fact: Our pilots are some of the most experienced FAA certified commercial pilots in the industry.
Fact: We will not fly in unsafe conditions and have a very strict operations guide that all of our pilots must follow that defines weather conditions we will and will NOT fly in.
Fact: Our equipment requires a full FAA inspection annually or every 100 hours (which ever comes first) by FAA certified aircraft inspectors.
Fact: Before every flight our pilots and ground crew inspect the balloon, envelope, rigging and gondola.
Watch us prepare for flight and you’ll see the many safety checks we make.
If you have any questions, please call 505-293-6800, the same phone number we’ve had for 48 years.
We are insured by an American-owned, A+ rated insurance company.
The address to our meeting location is: 6390 Coors Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120. ( Map )
We meet about 30 min. before sunrise. Click here for a sunrise chart , find your month and day. The exact meeting time will be included with your balloon ride confirmation.
A hot air balloon flight is dependent on wind speed and direction, so every flight we make in Albuquerque is different and our landing sites vary from day to day.
Ballooning is an outdoor sport activity, so you should wear whatever you feel comfortable in and the type of clothing that you would expect to wear for a walk in the countryside on the day you fly. For women, climbing into the gondola will be very awkward in a dress or skirt. It is strongly recommended that all shoes worn should have flat soles. Please do not wear flip-flops or open-toed shoes.
Absolutely, there is always plenty to photograph both prior to the flight, during and afterwards. You may bring a video camera also. We recommend that you have a suitable soft case, including carry strap, with you to stow and protect the camera during the landing. Bring extra memory cards and batteries. Panoramic cameras are nice for scenery.
You will be in the air 45-60 minutes or longer depending on weather. Please allow 3.5 hours from the time we meet until we return to the meeting location.
We have a Fleet of balloons at World to accommodate your needs. You can book a smaller private balloon for 2-4 people a larger balloon for groups up to 12 plus the pilot. You can participate in a shared group flight (at a reduced cost) or have the entire balloon all to yourself and your group or team.
We are pleased to accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express, and cash.
We do not accept checks as a form of payment. If you call 505-293-6800 directly, you will save a booking fee that the online companies charge us. Or you can quickly book and pay through the online booking agent.
Our primary goal is to make sure everyone stays safe. We also want everyone to have a good time and enjoy their flight with us. To ensure everyone is safe and has a good time, we will do everything we can to follow safety guidelines related to the spread of the Corona Virus. To do that, we are following the below guidelines:
Again, our goal is to make sure everyone is able to stay safe and yet still enjoy their adventure of a lifetime. If you have any questions about the above process, please contact us prior to scheduling your flight.
All flights are weather dependent.
The Pilot in Command may cancel the flight, or deny a flight for any passenger for any reason and they are the final authority on all flight and passenger related decisions.
All Private flights require a minimum of 2 passengers to fly
All non private flights require a mimumum of 4 passengers to fly. As a result, you will be with other guests on all non private flights
All passengers are required to read and sign our passenger release prior to flight.
For the safety of all our passengers we enforce the following flight restrictions:
All passengers must be 5 years of age or older. Age 5-18 requires parent or guardian to fly.
Maximum weight per passenger cannot exceed 275lbs, passengers may be asked to be weighed for accuracy at check-in.
It is strongly recommended that someone in the party be able to communicate in English.
Expectant Mothers.
Back, Neck, Knee, Hip, Joint, Bone, Osteoporosis or Similar Physical issues within 2 years.
Inability to walk unassisted or stand for one hour unassisted. Canes / Walkers / Wheel chairs / Scooters not permitted.
Recent Surgeries or Other Conditions that may be aggravated during flight and landing.
We want everybody to be able to fly, but to do so safely. If there is anything you think we should know, or you are unsure of prior to your flight date, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss.
We do have a wheelchair accessible balloon that flies a maximum of 4 passengers. Please call 505-293-6800 for information and restrictions. Additionally, we love animals and want them to be safe and protected. This unfortunately means that we do not allow service animals onboard or around the aircraft. Hot Air Balloon burners are loud and will scare many animals. It is simply not safe or prudent to allow a service animal in or around the aircraft.
All flight certificates are emailed within 24 hours of order receipt. If you are unable to receive and/or print the flight certificates via email, please call us and we will mail the certificates via US Postal service. When US Postal Service delivery is requested, we will ship them within 48 hours of order receipt.
Simply present the flight certificates and other paperwork to whomever you intend to give the ride, and have them contact us to schedule, or they may schedule on our website using the codes on the flight vouchers. Since we will not know to whom they have been given, we will not contact you to schedule. It is your responsibility to make sure the recipient contacts us to schedule their ride. Please ask the recipient to have a calendar handy when calling so we can pick a mutually agreeable time. If we are unable to fly the first opportunity for any reason, they can contact us to reschedule at their convenience. Flight Certificates issued by us do not expire unless they are forfeited or were donated by us for a charitable donation. Any charitable donation certificates will expire 1 year after the issue if no expiration date is on the certificate.
Once your reservation is completed, and you have received a confirmation from us, you are confirmed for that specific day’s flight. The email confirmation will include the flight status line number to call before your flight. You are required to call that number at the time indicated in the email to get the status of your scheduled flight. The flight line will inform you of three options: 1. that the flight is a go, 2. on a weather hold, or 3. canceled. It will also provide instructions about how to proceed based upon the flight status. If the flight is on, it will include the meeting time at our meeting location, the address of the meeting location, and hotel pickup information for those who reserved round trip hotel pick up transportation.
Please note hot air ballooning is weather dependent and that we do expect all guests to be in the local area prior to your flight; to avoid being late or missing your flight please make necessary preparations. World Balloon will not be responsible in the event you do not arrive for your flight. This is true even if the flight is placed on a weather hold. If something changes on our end, such as weather, we will amend the flight status line, so please check the flight status line one more time in the morning prior to leaving for the flight location. It is your responsibility to ensure we have a valid contact phone number and you are available. Please arrive at the given meeting location on time. We will leave for the launch site approximately 10 minutes after the meeting time. If you are not present when the balloon is ready to launch, you will be considered a “no-show.” Please see the No-Show Policy . If the weather is unsafe to fly, we will work with you to reschedule your flight.
A “No-show” is anyone who fails to show up for a flight after scheduling a flight. No-shows have a substantial impact on our business. As a result of no-shows we either flew an aircraft only partially full, or we didn’t fly at all. Either way we incurred the same expense to fly whether we were able to fly you or not, therefore a no-show will result in a forfeiture of your flight fee, certificate, voucher or deposit and we will consider our obligation for that flight to be fulfilled. No refund will be possible since we incurred the cost of the flight in your absence.
Please make sure to allow sufficient time for arrival at the meeting location, and call us if you are running late. If you are using a third party certificate of any type to pay for your flight, that voucher will be redeemed and considered used and you will not be entitled to a refund from that third party agency. Should you manage to get a refund from them, we will charge the card you provided us at scheduling for your flight fee. There are no exceptions to this policy under any circumstances.
Weather is always a concern and does force cancellations and rescheduling of flights. If it clearly isn’t going to be safe to fly on your date and time, the flight status line will announce this as soon as the decision is made before the flight. Please call us the next business day to reschedule your adventure. If the flight is on, we will provide specific meeting times and locations for the morning’s adventure.
If the weather forecast isn’t clear for the next morning, we will place the flight on a weather hold and ask everyone to call about 1 hour before the morning’s expected meeting time to get an updated forecast. At that time we will let you know for sure if the flight is on. If we must cancel your flight due to weather, simply call us to reschedule your flight. If you are unable to reschedule, and you paid us directly for your flight, please call us for your options.
If you cancel at least 48 hours prior to your scheduled flight, there is no penalty and you may reschedule. If you cancel with less than the required notice, or fail to show up the morning of your flight, we will charge the full amount to the card on file as a cancellation fee, or your flight certificate, voucher or prepayment will be considered forfeit and you will not be allowed to reschedule that reservation. No credit will be given in any way for cancelling with less than the required notice or for No-Shows .
World balloon was sold on March, 5, 2021. When purchasing World Balloon, our new owner agreed to honor all unexpired gift certificates, and prepaid flights purchased before March 6th. However, it will not be possible to refund any of those purchases. We will happily give you credit for future flights. Please call 505-293-6800 or email [email protected] for more information.
All flight certificates and prepaid flights purchased directly from World Balloon (after March 5, 2021) are fully refundable within one (1) year from the date of purchase as long as either no flight has been scheduled, or you cancel your first scheduled flight at least 48 hours prior to flight time. All refunds will be issued to the original purchaser in the original purchase method (credit card purchases will be refunded via the same credit card) if possible. If not, a refund will be issued via company check. No refunds will be issued to No-Shows , those that show up intoxicated, or anyone whose flight certificate, flight, or voucher has been forfeited for any reason. No refund will be granted after one (1) year from sale. Even if the certificate is not refundable, as long as it hasn’t been forfeited or used, it can still be used. There are no exceptions to this policy.
If you are eligible for a refund, we will process the request within 7-10 business days. If your flight was purchased through any third party, you will have to discuss any refund request with them. We are not able to provide refunds for any third parties for any reason.
We are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you. We will not sell or rent this information to anyone. The information collected includes name, email address, mailing address, payment information and other personal information such as passenger weights that might be required in order to schedule a hot air balloon ride.
We will use your information to respond to you regarding the reason you contacted us and to schedule and execute hot air balloon rides and other services you might contract with us to perform. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request, e.g. to ship an order.
Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy.
You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting us via the email address or phone number given on our website:
We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and off line.
Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a closed lock icon at the bottom of your web browser, or looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the web page.
While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information off line. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
We may make changes to this privacy notice from time to time. You may check back on this page at any time to see our current policy.
If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately via the email address on this website.
For donation requests, please send an email with your request to donations(at)worldballoon.com containing the following information.
1) Name of Charity, 2) Charity Mailing Address, 3) Tax ID#, 4) Website, 5) Description of your cause, 6) Contact person, 7) Contact phone, 8) Contact email. Also let us know if the charity is based in the USA, a 501(c)(3) charity, or a school.
If this donation is part of an event, please provide: 1) Date of the Event, 2) Description of the event, and 3) please tell us how our contribution will be used. It may take up to one week for a response.
Thank you.
Effective Date: May 24, 2018
This Cookies Policy describes the different types of cookies and similar technologies that may be applied by World Balloon.
We may change this Cookies Policy at any time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. If you have questions regarding this Cookies Policy should be sent by email or by writing to us using the contact details set out at the end of this policy.
Cookies are a standard feature of websites that allow us to store small amounts of data on your computer about your visit to a Site. Cookies help us to learn which areas of a Site are useful and which areas need improvement. Cookies also improve your experience by, for example, remembering your preferences.
You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings on your browser. However, if you disable this function, your experience on the site may be diminished and some features will not work as intended depending upon which cookies are disabled.
Our Sites uses both 1st party cookies (which are set by the Site being visited) and 3rd party cookies (which are set by a server located outside the domain of a Site). We use 1st party and 3rd party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for the Sites to operate, and we refer to these as “strictly necessary” cookies. Some cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Sites, and we refer to these as “Performance” cookies. Some cookies enable us to provide enhanced functionality and personalization on the Sites and we refer to these as “Functional” cookies. Finally, some cookies enable us and our partners to serve targeted advertisements and we refer to these as “Targeting” cookies.
Below we list the different types of cookies that may be used on the Sites. To the extent any Personal Information is collected through cookies, the Privacy Policy applies and compliments this Cookies Policy. World Balloon uses Google Tag Manager to manage its cookies.
These cookies enable you to navigate the Sites and to use their services and features. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Sites. They help us to know which pages are popular and see how visitors move around the Sites. If you do not allow these cookies, we will be less able to optimize the Sites’ performance. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and anonymous.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies some services may not function properly. These cookies do not directly store personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertisements on other sites. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. These cookies do not directly store personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device.
Cookies are not the only way to recognize or track visitors to a website. We may use other, similar technologies from time to time, like web beacons (sometimes called “tracking pixels” or “clear gifs”). These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognize when someone has visited our Sites or opened an e-mail that we have sent them. This allows us, for example, to monitor the traffic patterns of users from one page within our Sites to another, to deliver or communicate with cookies, to understand whether you have come to our Sites from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to improve site performance, and to measure the success of e-mail marketing campaigns. In many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly, and so declining cookies will impair their functioning.
Our Sites may use social media features, such as the Facebook ‘like’ button (“Social Media Features”). These features may collect your IP address and which page you are visiting on our Sites, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. You may be given the option by such Social Media Features to post information about your activities on our Sites to a profile page of yours that is provided by a third party social media network in order to share with others within your network. Social Media Features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Sites. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing the relevant Social Media Features.
World Balloon has engaged one or more third party service providers to track and analyze both individualized usage and volume statistical information from interactions with our Sites. Third party service providers may also serve cookies on your computer or mobile device to serve advertising through our Sites and provide other personalization services in accordance with this Cookie Policy. These companies may collect and use information about your visits to our Sites and other websites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services that may interest you. They may also employ technology that is used to measure and track the effectiveness of advertisements. This can be accomplished by the use of cookies or web beacons to collect information about your visits to our Sites and other sites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you. The information collected through this process does not enable us or them to identify your name, contact details or other personal information that directly identifies you unless you choose to provide these.
In addition to the options provided above, you have the right to refuse or accept cookies from the Sites at any time by activating settings on your browser. Information about the procedure to follow in order to enable or disable cookies can be found on your Internet browser provider’s website via your help screen. You may wish to refer to http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/index.html for information on commonly used browsers. Please be aware that if cookies are disabled, not all features of the Sites may operate as intended.
You can adjust your cookie preferences by adjusting your browser so that it notifies you when cookies are sent to it or you can refuse cookies altogether. The Help function within your browser should explain how to do this. Alternatively, you may visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org to obtain detailed information on how to prevent cookies from being set on your particular browser.
If you want to clear all cookies left behind by the websites you have visited, here are links where you can download three programs that clean out tracking cookies:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
http://www.spybot.info/en/download/index.html
http://www.webroot.com/consumer/products/spysweeper/
If you would like to request access to personal information about you, request a correction to information about you or have questions about our privacy policy, please contact us at:
World Balloon
[email protected]
505-293-6800
© 2022 World Balloon