Flightwise cheap Lessons

typera12

Check out the deal flightwise are doing 54 for a half hour & 99 for an hour must book within 2 days heres the link http://www.dealrush.ie/today.php?id=833

GoGoGadget

This is a really good deal but be very careful that you use it!

Vouchers are a brilliant source of money for any business and flight schools make a packet off them just because people don't use the vouchers within the given time frame. I've heard one place (not a flight school) call it free money...

This voucher is Valid from: 12-Sep-2011 and Expires: 30-Dec-2011, a lot of people struggle somehow to use them within 12 months never mind 3.5 months.

Again it's an excellent deal but be sure you use it soon or the person you're getting it for uses it soon!

John_Mc

Flightwise have 2 aircraft and are always busy. I've read reports on here of people complaining about not being able to book a flight within months with the vouchers, but then their friend ringing back and booking a flight without the voucher no problem.

I took my first flight with them and booked a second 3 weeks in advance. I showed up on time on the day and they told me it'd be another 2 hours. I walked straight into NFC and was in the air in 20 minutes :rolleyes:

Beware. If it's too good to be true...

GoGoGadget

Yeah one thing that got me was the 3.5 month limit!!

Usher in Sligo did something similar and that was about a 6 month limit which I thought was already tight considering the odds of most folks using it within that time, 3.5 months seems very tight.

Yeah I've heard of that alright. Best thing to do would be to book a slot with your voucher and if you're getting messed about then get a mate to call for you the next day but don't mention the voucher, after your flight give them the voucher.

On the other hand if you have to book it through the voucher place and you're having issues, book a flight direct with the school without mentioning the voucher and call the voucher place back to book again, if you're having issues tell them you have a slot booked and you want to use that slot.

Flightwise seem like a decent outfit from what I know so shouldn't be a problem.

Eever

My boyfriend bought this voucher the last time around and hasn't been able to use it. Every time he rang they said they're too busy, or the phone wasn't answered, or he was told someone would call him back (which never happened). The voucher has now expired but he'll be pursuing it anyway as the only reason it wasn't used within the time frame is because they were giving him the runaround.

xflyer

One problem with voucher bookings is that most people want to fly at the weekend or in the summer the evenings. So you will have trouble getting a slot at times. The best option? Book for a weekday morning. If they tell you it's booked up then then ask for the following day etc.

Having said that these vouchers are a real gamble. The next three months consist of variable weather and short days. You could book a day every week and still miss out. A cynic might suggest that it's no accident. They have to know that a proportion will never be used. But also it's the off season for flying so there should be availability.

Vouchers are free money.

GoGoGadget

Sorry to hear about that Eever, don't give up and it's important to name and shame. I would seriously consider the small claims court if they were proactively putting you off and you feel they had no intention of fulfilling their obligation to you. Keep a record of all your correspondence to date and send a letter by registered post explaining the situation. If you're still being ignored then it's only a few quid for the small claims court.

Yeah if that's the case just book the flight without mentioning the voucher, after the flight hand them the voucher and say your goodbyes, should be no difference in importance between cash or voucher customers unless they're trying to pull a fast one.

Flight schools are pretty quiet now so there should be no reason not to get a midweek slot within a week or two.

brian higgins

Hi Guys,

Brian Higgins here Manager at Flightwise as I have previously said our vouchers once contacted prior to the expiry date can be booked for a date after that.If cancelled for any reason other than the student failing to show on a perfectly flyable day they remain live in our system until flown off. Small point of correction Flightwise operate 3 aircraft currently,the biggest disruption to flights this year has by far been the weather and all clients are made aware of this at time of purchase.We operate a tracking system on all calls which are documented and retained to facilitate call back and rebookings. If anyone is having difficulty getting a response please call again to check progress on your booking.

Look forward to flying you all in the near future.

Regards,Brian.

No.username

Have a quick read of this http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73530255 before you go ahead with it! As mentioned by posters above, its very hard to get through to Brian, let alone get a flight.

GoGoGadget

When i told him i have a voucher and would like to book a lesson, the first thing he asked was "is it a living social voucher?" When i said yes, he told me that i would have to wait at least 6 weeks, and i need to email him with my availability, and i would receive a text in 3 days with a booking. This was a kick in the teeth, it felt because i got the voucher at a discounted price i was being treated differently to those who didnt. But he insisted it was nothing to do with that, and that they were just busy. My friend who also got a voucher decided to ring and ask if there was availability for the weekend, when asked was he using a voucher he said NO.... He was told there was a space for him on saturday (just 4 days away)

ALARM BELLS!

Xpro

Before i started my PPL i rang flightwise once or twice trying to get a price on the course, got no answer so off i went a with different fto.
To be honest, why run a bussiness if you are uncapable of doing it right, little bit unprofessional it appears to be.
And this vouchers are not worth a shi$$, maybe someone should contact the company selling the vouchers about misleading product:eek:

GoGoGadget

Does anyone know how the deal works between the company advertising the vouchers and the company supplying the product?

I mean if the voucher company sells 300 vouchers but they only pay the company supplying the product for the actual vouchers redeemed and the voucher company hold onto the 'free money' from unclaimed vouchers?

Or does the company supplying the product just get all the money from vouchers sold in say 6 weeks?

I presume the company advertising the vouchers make some sort of commission, either a percentage off each voucher or something similar.

It would go a long way into explaining who's stands to benefit most from unclaimed vouchers.

Nonoperational

I always thought the deal company (ie dealrush) benefited from the unused vouchers.

Delancey

OP - be guided by the experience of others who had vouchers..........

TW Mr Tayto

GoGoGadget wrote: »

Does anyone know how the deal works between the company advertising the vouchers and the company supplying the product?

I mean if the voucher company sells 300 vouchers but they only pay the company supplying the product for the actual vouchers redeemed and the voucher company hold onto the 'free money' from unclaimed vouchers?

Or does the company supplying the product just get all the money from vouchers sold in say 6 weeks?

I presume the company advertising the vouchers make some sort of commission, either a percentage off each voucher or something similar.

It would go a long way into explaining who's stands to benefit most from unclaimed vouchers.

The school get paid once the voucher has been flown, unless you buy direct from the school.
That's why they ask you to make sure you bring your voucher.
They won't get paid if they don't give the actual voucher to the gift company.

That being said, it's always better to buy from the school.
1. There is no middle man to add cost.
2. If the gift company go bust, the voucher can't be flown: because the school won't get paid. eg: TopGifts

I know this is an old thread but I'm getting seriously pissed off with this company.

They recently did the Living Social voucher offer again so I decided to buy it as a present for somebody else.

I rang up to book and was put straight through to Brian and he said he can't book me because I hadn't paid for the voucher but once I buy the voucher he assured me I could book it for the weekend I required. The reason it was very important to get that weekend was because the person I bought the present for is only going to be in Dublin that weekend.

I then purchased the voucher, proceeded to ring the company to be told Brian is unavailable and will contact me as soon as possible.

A week later I had heard nothing, rang again to be told Brian is still unavailable but he'll contact me ASAP.

Rang again 3 days later, again Brian is far too busy to take any calls and he's the only one who will take bookings.

Sent an email last week with no response and rang again a few days ago to vent my anger as it's utterly ridiculous to have to wait 3 weeks to find out if the dam date is available or not.


I really hate this B*&%$*T and companies that try to abuse people, don't offer a service if you can't honor it. Vouchers are such a dangerous thing especially with a bunch of cowboys. If it was something I bought for myself I probably wouldn't care so much but the fact that it's a present and Brian assured me he would book me the Monday after just got to me.

_dof_

I had a similar issue trying to use a voucher with them, rang a few times, and didn't get called back, I mentioned that the voucher was going to expire but they told me that even if it expired, they'd still honour it, and someone would call me back.

Nobody did, so a few months later, when I saw a new round of Livingsocial voucher available, I emailed them to mind them that I still had a voucher, and pretty shortly after that I got text messages with a date for my lesson.

So, they did indeed honour my voucher, it was for the 1 hour lesson and I have to say it was brilliant. I had previously done a few of those introductory lessons in a few places in Ireland and once in England, for light aircraft and microlight, and I have to say the Flightwise lesson was by far and away the best.

The instructor (whose name I've forgotten unfortunately) was excellent, we had a preflight briefing going through the controls with a model plane, then out at the plane, did a preflight check and got introduced to the controls and emergency procedures etc.

Then off we went, and as soon as we were away from Weston, I took the controls for the entire flight, right up until we approached Weston again. We covered level flight, climbing and descending, turns with aileron and rudder, trimming, power adjustment, even carb heat, he explained everything that I was doing, I found it excellent.

As I said it was the best lesson I've had, it was definitely a case of the instructor instructing, not just filling in the time with one of these introductory lessons, which can often be the case I think.

happy_head

Wow these guys are complete cowboys. Im having the exact same problem with trying to use my voucher. I never thought i would say this but im "going to ring Joe Duffy" on monday. How do living social still allow these A-holes to sell vouchers. On the thread metioned above someone mentioned Living social will refund, anyone know if this is true?

Shannonsider

Sorry to drift off-topic but is there any contingency made for the pilot going AWOL mid lesson? Are you left to land her??

Dogwatch

Shannonsider wrote: »

Sorry to drift off-topic but is there any contingency made for the pilot going AWOL mid lesson? Are you left to land her??

At a couple of thousand feet up in the air, WHERE is the pilot going to go??????

moonshadow

unconcious :eek:

andy_g

I though i would sit back and watch this for awhile but being honest every voucher that has been purchased thus far is being honoured by flightwise.

When the vouchers went up for sale there was a surge in bookings and hence why it is taking so long to get through from what i heard.

Also flightwise are trying to keep their regular customers/member happy by blocking specified day/dates for other instruction.

It's like going to the revenue office and taking a number you take your seat and wait in line.

Then someone else has a number thats after you but jumps ahead of you claiming their infront of you, look at it from that point of view.

Running a business can be tricky in this climate and the fact flightwise are short of instructor for looking into other ventures.

Again this if from a very reliable source of mine but im not naming names here for obvious reasons.

Please feel free to discuss the voucher sytem by all means but please dont start saying X is an ass for Y reason.
No one knows whats going on in the backround of any company.

Andy

Shannonsider

Dogwatch wrote: »

At a couple of thousand feet up in the air, WHERE is the pilot going to go??????

What if they get a heart attack or stroke or end up unconscious?

Dogwatch

Shannonsider wrote: »

Sorry to drift off-topic but is there any contingency made for the pilot going AWOL mid lesson? Are you left to land her??

Dogwatch wrote: »

At a couple of thousand feet up in the air, WHERE is the pilot going to go??????

moonshadow wrote: »

unconcious :eek:

Shannonsider wrote: »

What if they get a heart attack or stroke or end up unconscious?

AWOL (in my book) means ABSENT without leave............If what you are suggesting happened, I hope you were paying very close attention to what they were saying.........Then again a stealth parachute is a possibility:p:p:D:D:eek::eek:

veetwin

Also waiting for flightwise to get back to me about this voucher. Had a lesson on a voucher earlier this year and have to say it was excellent with the instructor actually teaching me how to fly and not just going through the motions. He basically takes off and lands and you do the rest. Nice guy too. (Patrick)

I think they sold something like 800 of these vouchers so obviously it's going to take months to get through all those. It was made clear that they were going to sell that many when people were buying them so they could not expect to be accomodated the next week or whenever.

@ shannonsider if the instructor does pass out then you will have your first opportunity to land (crash) the plane. Thats assuming you can find your way back to Weston!

xflyer

Shannonsider wrote: »

What if they get a heart attack or stroke or end up unconscious?

Well here's a training video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F49v_p7FwcQ&feature=relmfu

Study it carefully before you go.:D

cuterob

I had a voucher and rang and they said they'd get back to me but didn't.. didn't really bother me cause I just presumed they were busy or something so I rang the week after..I rang on a tuesday and they werent flying cause of wind but they booked me in for 2pm on the thursday..it was nice weather and I rang ahead to check if they were flying that morning.. when I showed up at 2 they were ready to go..remembered my name from the call and all.. it was great value and the flight was excellent.. people just have to be persistant is all

happy_head

Andy, did you lock the other thread because your very good source asked you to? What exactly does "locked pending review" mean? And how long does it take to review?

Thanks

andy_g

happy_head wrote: »

Andy, did you lock the other thread because your very good source asked you to? What exactly does "locked pending review" mean? And how long does it take to review?

Thanks

Like any other forum here on boards questioning a mods decision on thread. feel free to pm me

Oscar Bravo

"No one knows whats going on in the backround of any company". Do you Andy?

A Dub in Glasgo

andy_g wrote: »

Also flightwise are trying to keep their regular customers/member happy by blocking specified day/dates for other instruction.

I presume they state this when offering the voucher?

s_gr

Purchased voucher in April for 1 hour flight - emailed about 6 times no answer, Rang mobile number on voucher only to hear message that a new number in operation. Rang it left details about twice and never got a reply.

Just emailed livingsocial and got a refund as couldnt be arsed dealing with company who wont even reply to email or calls. I reckon i would have to be calling them every day to get a booking.
I know they busy but not even getting a reply to that effect isnt good enough.

Xpro

I see flightwise C172 flying alot , i havent seen the Grob in ages tho.
Whats happening there as stated before, i would say they are busy flying with their own students and there is just no time for them to do all the voucher flying with the fleet they have.

Personaly a company that has only two planes and its a full time training organization, they shouldnt be selling vouchers if they cant honour it. Its only giving them a bad reputation

s_gr

That may be the case, but surely you shouldnt run a voucher if you know there is little chance of honouring most of them. I would recommend anyone to get refund asap from livingsocial.

pk300

Hi, not sure if this is the right place to ask about this, I had booked a helicopter lesson for my bf for his birthday, I was told it would be dependent on weather and advised the person we would be leaving at 11 am so to contact me before this if we could not fly, got a call at 12.30 when we were almost at the airport in question saying that the weather was not good enough and we would have to reschedule, my problem is that we made a c. 200 mile round trip for this and will not be able to get back up another day due to our work schedules I understand it is no ones fault with the weather so I asked for a refund instead to which I was refused, has anyone else experienced this and what did they do? This person was so ignorant about the whole thing even if I could reschedule I would not want to do it with him, any advice? Thanks in advance

pk300

by the way this was not with flightwise

ACAFAE

s_gr wrote: »

That may be the case, but surely you shouldnt run a voucher if you know there is little chance of honouring most of them. I would recommend anyone to get refund asap from livingsocial.

I know noone has posted in this for a while but I too am having the same issue with this voucher and have called and emailed LivingSocial numerous times requesting a refund, which they are refusing to give me and instead keep stating that "the Merchant Team are investigating this".

Do you know how or what I can say/do to get LivingSocial to give me a refund on this?

Thanks

A Dub in Glasgo

If you payed with a credit card, phone them up and dispute the charge

ACAFAE

Cool thanks I'll give that a try!

joeyh222

Hi, I am in a similar situation as a number of people here. I received a living social voucher for a flying lesson as a gift. For my first attempt at booking I made 6-7 phone calls and each time I was told I would be called back. I never received a phone call. After much persistance I got a date. Of course this was canceled. After making plans around my flight I was notified on Sunday evening that my flight for Monday morning was canceled.

After cancelation I was told I would be contacted in relation to rebooking......no phone call. So I followed up and had to make a fresh booking. No details of my previous issues were kept. For my new booking I gave 3 dates on which I could attend. Guess what third date has passed no contact. Shocking customer service. Don't use this company.

happy_head

joeyh222 wrote: »

Hi, I am in a similar situation as a number of people here. I received a living social voucher for a flying lesson as a gift. For my first attempt at booking I made 6-7 phone calls and each time I was told I would be called back. I never received a phone call. After much persistance I got a date. Of course this was canceled. After making plans around my flight I was notified on Sunday evening that my flight for Monday morning was canceled.

After cancelation I was told I would be contacted in relation to rebooking......no phone call. So I followed up and had to make a fresh booking. No details of my previous issues were kept. For my new booking I gave 3 dates on which I could attend. Guess what third date has passed no contact. Shocking customer service. Don't use this company.

How are those morans still at this!!