A Phoenix Balloon Flight That Ends at a Set Table
A morning flight over the Sonoran Desert, then a linen-covered table standing on open ground wherever the balloon sets down.
The flight is forty-five minutes to an hour. The booking around it runs three to four hours when you drive yourself to the airport and four to five when the van collects you from a hotel, and most of that time is spent on the ground: checking in before light, riding out to a launch site the wind picks that morning, watching the envelope fill, then eating where the balloon finishes. Nine departure times run from 4:15 to 6:15 in the morning, each sold with or without hotel pickup, and the one available on your date is set by sunrise.
Margie and Randy Long started Hot Air Expeditions with one balloon in 1991; their daughters co-own it now, and the company holds its own FAA repair-station certificate. Phoenix mornings run daily and year-round, lifting off just after sunrise, while its afternoon flights are seasonal, November 1 to March 15. The listing below is the morning one. Adult fares open at USD 239 for the version where you meet at the airport, and at USD 279 once hotel pickup is added.
Phoenix Morning Hot Air Balloon Ride with Bubbly + BreakfastDaily, year-round from Deer Valley Airport. Three to four hours start to finish, 45-60 minutes in the air. Breakfast, a champagne or sparkling cider toast and a commemorative flight certificate are included. Minimum age 5 and 48 inches tall.www.viator.comFinding the Lot While It Is Still Dark
Check-in is the Balloon Ride Parking Area inside Deer Valley Airport, 702 W. Deer Valley Road. Coming in at 7th Avenue and Deer Valley Road you turn left at the T, follow three white signs reading Balloon Ride Parking down toward the Civil Air Patrol building, turn right there and park at the end of the lot. The operator's vans carry the company name on the side, which is the thing to look for across a dark airport lot.
The operator asks for arrival a few minutes before your departure time, and says to call if you run late or get lost so it can advise a course of action. It calls prompt departure crucial, since the morning is keyed to sunrise. From the lot a van runs the group out to the launch site. Launch and landing points shift with each morning's wind, and neither is settled until the day. Use a restroom before you arrive; there are none once the group leaves the airport.
What Is Standing There When You Come Down
The ground crew reaches the landing area ahead of the balloon, and the basket comes down beside tables laid with linens and china. A champagne or sparkling cider toast follows, part of a balloonists' ceremony the operator traces back more than a century, with the full version saved for first-time flyers.
The Phoenix breakfast comes from Vincent's on Camelback, which the operator names as its catering partner: vegetarian breakfast burritos with sriracha sour cream, a seasonal pastry, fresh fruit and orange juice. Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free and vegan plates exist, and the operator wants 48 hours' notice to arrange one. Everyone leaves with a commemorative flight certificate.
Who Can Get Into the Basket
Passengers have to be at least five years old and 48 inches tall, able to stand for the roughly sixty minutes in the air, and able to jump off the second step of a ladder. The operator also rules out flying while pregnant, with broken bones, or after recent surgery; the booking page adds spinal injuries to that list. A signed liability waiver covers everyone who flies or rides in the vehicles.
There is no weight limit. Weights are collected at booking to balance the baskets, which is what the pounds field on the booking form is for. Children are counted from five to twelve and adults from thirteen, and a child cannot hold a booking alone. One booking covers up to thirty travellers, and the morning's loading is worked out from those weights.
Two Clocks on the Cancellation
The listing refunds in full when you cancel at least 24 hours ahead, while the operator's own terms ask for 48 hours' notice on any change or cancellation. Booking through the card above puts you on the 24-hour clock; the 48-hour figure is what governs a change made directly with the operator.
Weather cancellations carry no charge, and the listing states you can rebook at your convenience or take the refund outright. The operator will not launch in high wind or unstable air, and its own advice is to book early in a trip, leaving a second morning in reserve. The booking page sets a 4:00 PM cutoff one day ahead of the flight.
Deer Valley Airport is on the north side of Phoenix at 702 W. Deer Valley Road, with the Balloon Ride Parking Area at the far end of the lot past the Civil Air Patrol building. Where the fare includes hotel pickup, the van covers homes and hotels in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale, Mesa, Arcadia and Cave Creek within thirty minutes of that check-in point.
Dress for the field rather than the altitude: the basket runs close to ground temperature, and the operator recommends closed-toe shoes, a light jacket, a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. The number to call from the car, running late or turned around, is (480) 502-6999.