Experience Flights

Start by going to our booking page, select your chosen flight and number of passengers, then choose your preferred date and time option. Fill in the remaining information and submit the booking request. You will not be asked for payment at this stage. After submitting this request, your prospective pilot will be in touch with you to confirm whether they and the aircraft are available during your chosen date / time selection, and, if necessary, will seek to rearrange and agree with you a time that is available.

Once an appointment has been agreed, you will receive a confirmation email from us and we'll also send a link for payment via our payment provider. Our payment provider accepts all major UK credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Payments must be received within 48 hours of your booking being confirmed otherwise they will be automatically cancelled.

Any optional extras that you later decide to bolt-on to your flight, such as an extra 5 minutes flight time to accommodate a diversion, can be paid at the airfield via Chip & PIN machine, Contactless, or cash.

Flights are fully refundable up to 2 hours before the scheduled appointment time, for any reason. To cancel at any time, simply follow the manage an existing booking link, enter your flight details and submit a cancellation request.

Flights cancelled by the pilot due to weather or in the interest of safety are always fully refundable, at any time.

We will attempt to process a refund to the same payment method that was used at the time of booking. It may take up to 5 working days for the funds to be credited to your account. If we cannot process a refund to the original payment method, we may contact you to organise a Faster Payments bank transfer instead. Any such communication will be sent by email and originate from hello@ukflightexperiences.com. Any other communication should be treated as fraudulent and reported to us immediately.

Flights cancelled within 2 hours of the scheduled appointment time are only partially refundable. A deposit of up to £50.00 will be withheld to cover administration, booking costs and transaction fees incurred by us. The remainder of the balance will still be refunded to you.

If you are more than 30 minutes late for your appointment, your booking will be treated as cancelled and a deposit of up to £50.00 withheld as above. The remainder of the balance will still be refunded to you.

Your chosen flight time is not guaranteed until your pilot has confirmed your booking and we've received your payment. If you agree a date and time with your pilot then delay for a period of time before providing payment, the availability of the aircraft and/or the pilot may have changed during that time window. We cannot hold or reserve the aircraft for you before receiving payment in full, therefore, it is recommended that you pay as soon as possible after being sent the payment link to avoid disappointment. If you provide payment and the slot is no longer available, we will attempt to rearrange and confirm another slot for you.

General aviation (i.e. recreational flying on smaller aircraft) is much more affected by meteorological conditions like wind direction, wind speed, precipitation and atmospheric conditions. No flight is ever guaranteed to happen, and safety is always paramount. If the forecasted conditions are not suitable, the flight will either be cancelled and rearranged there and then, or the pilot may suggest waiting until the day before / day of the flight for a more accurate forecast.

In general, choosing to fly in the middle 6 months of the year (April-September) gives you the greatest chance of an undisrupted booking, but this is in no way a guarantee of quality. Flights in winter on clear days can be just as spectacular, if not more so, than any other time of year. Flights in the summer are usually subject to more turbulence, too.

If safety is deemed to be at risk in any way, the flight will be cancelled. UKFlightExperiences provides pilots with mandatory minimum weather criteria, but a pilot who is not comfortable flying at those minimums may still choose to cancel a booking even if it meets UKFlightExperiences criteria. The ultimate decision sits with the pilot and you should never try to pressure the pilot into one decision or the other.

We don't recommend looking at the standard weather forecast to check if your flight will be going ahead or not. There are a lot more factors involved in deciding whether conditions are suitable for flight in a light aircraft, and forecasts for these factors usually aren't considered very accurate until at least the day before. However, we've created a handy weather checking tool for you to get a general idea of what the forecast is looking like without having to continuously ask your pilot.

Yes! We don't get bored of flying the same routes because it's always awesome, but personal touches and small diversions from the planned flightpath to travel overhead a point of interest, hometown or landmark are welcomed. The only thing we ask is that you request this from your pilot in advance to avoid disappointment, because your request may not be possible if it crosses restricted or controlled airspace. You can check this after submitting your booking request when your pilot reaches out to confirm the booking with you (before providing payment).

If you're looking for something more than a small diversion, you can request a fully custom flight for the same cost per hour as any of our pre-planned flights.

Every pilot on UKFlightExperiences meets criteria which exceeds the necessary requirements for the issue of a private pilot licence (PPL). All pilots are verified private pilots holding valid privileges for the aircraft to be flown and a valid medical certificate. In addition, pilots must have a minimum 100 hours flight time, qualifications that enable them to fly in poor weather [IR(R)] and must have flown a certain number of hours in the preceding 28 days (among other requirements as well).

It must be emphasised that general aviation (i.e. recreational flying on smaller aircraft) does not meet, nor does it attempt to meet, the same safety standards as commercial airline operations. In 2021, 187 accidents and serious incidents were reported, of which 89% resulted in no injuries, over the course of a total of 670,000 flight hours. Statistically speaking, this equates to an injury-causing accident once in every 32,500 hours of flying - far, far safer than driving a car on a road. UKFlightExperiences' minimum pilot requirements protect you even further by ensuring a much higher standard of competency.

Pilots on UKFlightExperiences have public profiles so you can get to know them in advance, and every passenger is prompted to leave a public review after their flight has taken place.

Yes, this is a standard part of our booking process. Once you submit a booking request, your pilot is automatically assigned, and any attempt to contact us will be forwarded directly to them instead. It is at this point that you can ask them any questions either before or after payment.

Send a booking request for your chosen flight and agree a time and date with your allocated pilot. Once your pilot sends you the payment link, open the page and choose 'Checkout'. On that page, you'll see a box entitled 'Add coupon or gift card'. Add your gift card number in here, and if necessary, add payment details to pay the remainder of the balance (if your gift card doesn't cover the amount in full).

Then simply press the 'Place Order' button and your gift card will be debited!

Yes, there are restrictions applicable to all three. Please check here prior to booking.

If the date is greyed out on the booking calendar then it's due to lack of pilot availability, aircraft availability or the day is fully booked already.

If you can only accommodate a single day and that day is unavailable on the booking calendar, you can try contacting us.

If the wind is favouring the south-westerly runway, you'll be able to see the takeoff and landing from the car park / café. If the wind is favouring the opposite runway, you'll still be able to see the takeoff, but not the landing.

Yes, we'd love you to be able to take photos and videos of the occasion. Phones do not need to be on airplane mode.

We'd suggest at a minimum that you wear flat, comfortable shoes and a jumper/hoodie/coat in the winter months. An easily removable extra layer might be useful on particularly cold days in spring/autumn too.

A pair of sunglasses is highly recommended at any time of year, even if the conditions seem cloudy.

Turbulence is often at its worst immediately after takeoff as a result of airport obstacles such as hangars and terminal buildings 'chopping up' the wind. We'd strongly recommend holding out for a few minutes so we can climb up to our cruising altitude and see how you feel then - you'd be surprised how much of a difference a couple of thousand feet can make on some days.

If you're still not enjoying yourself and you want to cut the flight short, let your pilot know. Please note that it can take up to 10 minutes to land since we may be subject to air traffic control instructions, procedures and other traffic.

Sick bags will be available if you're not feeling very well.