Michael M.
Yelp
Helicopter experience including our pilot, Shane, could not be better. Shane is a professional through and through. He makes the flight safe, fun and entertaining.
The tour is a once in a lifetime experience. If you can afford it, it is absolutely worth it. We did the full Island Tour and it was phenomenal.
However, the staff experience before the helicopter is a mixed bag, which makes it impossible to give this company five stars. Shane is five stars without question, but the business needs to re-evaluate its customer service.
We first booked for Sunday. We arrived early with no pressure. The staff greeted us, took our weights, and asked us to wait. About 15 to 20 minutes later we watched the safety video. After that, we waited again until about 20 minutes before our scheduled flight.
No one told us that anything had changed.
Then the pilot approached and struggled to explain that we could not do the full tour due to weather. This was shocking because the full island tour and Kīlauea were the reasons we booked. If earlier flights did not go due to weather, we should have been told on arrival. Instead, the pilot delivered the bad news and even he said he could not explain the financial difference but instead we were mostly pressured to take the flight we didn't want and were led to believe it was all due to weather.
That should never be his job.
The whole encounter felt like a bait and switch. I understand weather issues, but this was poor communication and a poor customer experience. We wasted an hour only to get information that should have been shared up front. The staff seemed reluctant to let us rebook, which made the situation feel even more uncomfortable. We finally rebooked for another day.
Two days later we came back for our 10:30 flight. Our family arrived at 9:33 due to a missed turn. Check-in was 9:30. Three minutes late. The man at the desk treated my family terribly. He raised his voice, blamed us for being late, and ignored the fact that we wasted 45 minutes two days earlier because of their lack of communication. And the inconsistency in their process was stunning. Two days earlier they did not start the safety video until twenty minutes after we arrived. Today they played the exact same video at 9:30 and then blamed us for being late. What changed? The inconsistency made the experience feel arbitrary and unfair. You should be excited to do this not feeling bad that you are spending thousands of dollars to be berated upon walking in.
Imagine your family excited for a bucket list experience, already frustrated from the first failed attempt, and then being yelled at for arriving three minutes past check-in. It was a surreal contrast. I do not know if the hostility was due to our rebooking or just a bad staff member, but either way, the customer experience needs serious attention. It's beyond horrible.
Shane is amazing. The flight itself is everything it should be at this price. This is entertainment, not transportation, and the cost reflects that.
I recommend flying with Shane without hesitation. I cannot recommend the company's ground staff. They do not seem to care about the customer experience. I now understand why there are bad reviews.
What should be a spectacular vacation highlight is a mixed bag. There is no excuse for the way patrons are treated before they ever reach the helicopter.
