Basingstoke iFLY Indoor Skydiving Experience - 2 Flights & Certificate

We've been to iFly in Basingstoke 5 times now. On the 4th visit 18 months ago we vowed NEVER to go back again. The instructor was horrid with ZERO patience and threw my son out of the wind chamber as HE lost his footing, refusing to take him up on a high flight as he was deemed too 'dangerous'. (Despite doing it 3 times before with no problem) I filmed the whole thing. My son did not move a muscle. That instructor also only took other flyers up half way. Lack of experience maybe?? Anyway, when my son was bought a voucher for Christmas from a friend. We reluctantly booked in again. We travelled from Swindon to Basingstoke, in plenty of time, or so we thought. Roadworks and traffic caused us to be just 8 minutes late (you have to arrive 45 minutes before your flight time for the briefing - we knew this didn't take the full 45 minutes. We'd been here before!). The foreign lady on the reception desk refused us entry, telling us the briefing had already started and we'd missed our slot. We either come back for the 5pm flight, or we pay another £45 to move to another date. I explained we were just 8 minutes late, and the flight wasn't for another 35 minutes or so. She refused to go up and check, she called up and stuck to her decision. So we reluctantly went away to come for 4:15 ready for the 5pm flight. Imagine our delight when we did return, to find the briefing was running 5 minutes late, and at 4:20 my son and his friend were called straight through to the dressing area with us to be briefed. They were the only 2 for the 5pm flight - or so we thought. At 4.33pm another 5 people turned up for their same flight. There was plenty of time to dress them and get them ready. My son had a voucher for 4 flights, photos, a high fly and a VR flight. His friend he went with just booked 4 standard flights. Once finished we went to see the photos on the screens downstairs... Only my son, had his friends name with NO free photos, and his friend has his name with my sons free photos. (My son wore a blue suit, his friend was in red) I then asked to speak with a manager. Paul came out and, to be honest - listened and checked the system and told me that the 1:30 flight was all dressed and ready to go by 1:18pm... We had already been told to leave by that time, we got there at 12:55 at the latest, and it then took ages for her to find us another slot. He apologised for the inconvenience and said that he would have done the opposite of what his colleague had done. And also promised to send me the link to my sons photos free of charge. We explained the names had been switched around. He sent the first email with my Sons friends photos, then after replying to him to point this out again, I received a 2nd email with my sons photos on. He told me to forget what had happened earlier that day, and instead focus on him 'sorting' the problem at that moment when I am asked for feedback on our visit when I get the email. We ended up staying in Basingstoke from 1pm, Spending our time in McDonalds and Costa (not knowing the area). Also not wanting to travel too far from the IFly centre, as the receptionist had promised to call if they had a no show at one of the earlier flights. We finally got home at 7pm for less than a 1 hour flight?! It was a total waste of our day, all because the receptionist refused to take into account roadworks, and wouldn't go upstairs personally to check on the progress of our original 1:30 flight. The ONLY saving grace in our entire day was that the boys had Will as their instructor. Will is incredible and after my Sons last encounter with the instructor, it was refreshing to see my son quite confident once again. And moving with ease in the chamber. (Will. This 1 star is purely for you!) Thank you Will. You were amazing. It's just a shame that your receptionist let you down. It is for that reason I will NOT be bringing my Son back to iFly for a 6th time. The management may have changed a year ago, and some improvements have been made, certainly since we last visited - however, there is still room for SO MANY more. Customer service and attention to detail being priority.

Absolutely fantastic, our instructor Will was a star and looked after us all. Anyone can.give this a go. We were a group of 14 and all loved it.

My grandaughter loved her first experience of IFly (8 years old) . We booked ‘the works’. Richard was the best instructor, and interacted with all of the children really well. He reassured my grandaughter and made the whole experience fabulous . My grandaughter came out of there buzzing wanting to do it all again .

Our two sons (8 and 9) were gifted two flights each as a birthday present from their grandfather. We weren't really sure what to expect, but they absolutely LOVED it. It was an amazing experience for them, and great for us too as we got to watch them from the viewing area which was really enjoyable. We were particularly impressed by the attentiveness of the staff -- especially their instructor Mark who had an enthusiasm and energy which was really infectious.

Generally really good, staff were very good an engaging. My only gripe was the constant upselling which is difficult when you have children. I can only imagine the staff are financial benefits as this happened multiple times and spoiled an otherwise positive experience.