2 Aussies on the trip of a life time for husbands 60th birthday & we decide to splurge $1800 AUD on the Wind Dancer flight. We wanted the sunset one but unfortunately for us it was booked out, so settled for the 8am flight. Pick up was great, check in fine & allocated our group. We meet the pilot & other passengers. There was 6 of us in total. 3 couples! The pilot than asks who wants to ride up front & before we can say a word one of the other couples has yelled us and theyāve got the front seats. So off we go. Flight was amazing, not worrying about the seating as we had already been told by the bus driver that everyone gets to experience the front seats. We land in the canyon & champagne & nibles are served. We are off doing photos etc having a great time & whilst doing so note the couple who sat in the front on the 45 min ride in has not left the pilots side. It comes time to leave & that same couple say to us - your turn to take the front. So my husband & I jump in and weāre off, but before we know it after about 10 mins we are landing for the fuel stop & itās the change of seats for the 3rd couple. Itās at this point that I realise weāve be conned, the couple that were up front first were best mates with the other couple. So obviously they knew that the flight from take off to refueling was only 10 mins & gave it to the Aussies. So that their friends could get the longer flight up front after refueling.
So the rating for Maverick of only 1 star is because we shouldnāt have had to pay the same amount as others who got the 45 mins & 35 mins upfront. Itās not fair! You miss out on the Birdseye view from upfront.
You have 3 seats upfront with the pilot & when you have 6 people on the flight, you should have 3 on the way their & a different 3 on the way back. Equal amount of time for all.......
Please donāt tell me it had anything to do with the weight of the passengers, as moving us all around the on the flight today discredits that theory.
Such a shame when the rest of it was so good.
And one final thing! You are paying big money for this experience the least you could do is include the photo at the end & then charge for the upgrade to the plaque if so desired.
A extremely upset Aussie wife who travelled 7400 miles with her husband & left there today almost in tears.