Milford Sound Scenic Flights — Attraction in South Island

Fraud with a tinge of discrimination!

tl;dr: if you value your money and self-respect, stay away from this fraudulent business that steals your money; plus, their staff yell at you for their own inefficiencies. They scheduled a trip for 12:30pm and the flight departed (physically, off the ground) at ~12:15pm, leaving us behind; of course they pre-charged us and kept the money.

Positives: One of their staff members tried her best to guide us to the location while the pilot (or his manager) decided to get off the ground ~15 mins ahead of time (hey! busy season; got to cheat some customers to make some money, right?!).

Everything else (far from positive): We missed our exit and were a couple of mins away from their office at ~12:10-12:15. (We took the airport exit at the roundabout, by mistake; it's literally 1-2 mins away from their office). One of their staff members was trying her best to guide us; meanwhile, the pilot takes the phone and yells at us that he's leaving in 30 seconds. Basically, he knows he got the money and doesn't want to wait; to be clear, the departure time on my booking is 12:30 pm and they departed at 12:15pm. I followed up with manager on 2 things: 1) how can they leave ahead of time when a paid customer is coming in, in a couple of mins 2) How can the pilot yell at a customer and their family, and if he does that with all customers or selectively with specific customers based on ethnicity/preference. They evaded response to these questions despite multiple follow-ups, condescendingly brushing off all my concerns eventually with "I am very sorry that your experience with us has been tainted due to the tone of one member of our staff". That's an exact copy of the follow-up response from the company's very-civilized (!) manager.

While taking my money and leaving ~15 mins ahead of time, when we were right around the corner, just because they charged me already and have nothing to lose is shameful, yelling at customers because you think you can because of their ethnicity/your perception is disgusting. (To potential customers: Please remember that you have to sit next to these uncultured pilots for the majority of your trip.) They continue to evade my two questions (leaving ahead of time and discrimination) and talk about illogical reasons like a cruise ship to catch in Milford etc. These should be part of their trip planning with the scheduled departure; you don't leave early and steal money because you're incapable of running a business.

Anyway, you just can't steal customers' money by booking for 12:30 pm and leaving at 12:15 pm just because of your lack of organization and management. You also can't discriminate against anyone, any time. Period. I'll leave it to other customers/reviews to validate the discrimination part (what ethnicities or types they tend to target, if any). My case could be one-off as well; but that's not an excuse. I'm filing a fraud complaint everywhere possible.

There are many flight options in Queenstown. Please don't fall into the trap of these fraudulent people; look out for for "special treatment aka discrimination" if you ever...

Fraudulent company with discriminatory staff!

My family of 3 had a terrible experience with this company back in Dec-2023. First, they canceled our original flight; that was due to bad weather and so fair. They re-scheduled to a few days later, communicated a time (12:30pm) to us and departed at least 15 mins before the flight time right when we were within 2 mins (took the exit into Queenstown airport by mistake) of their departure location. I was actually on the phone with them trying to get to their parking lot. Instead of trying to guide us to catch the plane, the pilot yelled at us and said they'd depart immediately after another person on their staff told me they'd wait for 5 mins. The pilot's tone felt very discriminatory. They kept/stole our money. I don't see any reason other than "pilot's personal preference for the type of travelers" for the flight to depart well ahead of time, leaving behind at least 25% of the paid passengers, when we were right around the corner. Based on the pilot's behavior (esp. contradicting their own staff), I don't see any other reason than discrimination. Remember that you sit next to these pilots all through your trip. My kid, as one of the passengers, is eager to post his review/personal experience on how “being yelled at” when you’re eager to take your flight feels. I'd be glad to post a correction or even delete this review if the company posts the departure record of their milford sound flight on Dec. 27, 2023 scheduled for 12:30pm, and proves that they didn't depart early. I already disputed the transaction and reported the company's fraud.

A few facts i gathered/realized after this incident: Milford Sound Scenic flights is the worst-rated flight company out of Queenstown on both tripadvisor and GetYourGuide. They have two flight services; they are the bottom two in ratings (as of Jan-2024). You can a similar pattern in their 1-star reviews esp. with foreign/US customers. Their staff tried to justify the mistreatment when i contacted them; their manager actually said something like "sorry your experience with us was tainted by the tone of just one of our members" = essentially, "take it easy; it's just one random act of discrimination". They couldn't provide evidence of departure time (they claim they didn't depart early). Their parent company ignored my complaints. Please contact me if you need further details. BTW, i'm flattered, though not surprised, by the diversity (people represented) in the pictures within the reviews. While i appreciate the reviewers' efforts, i wonder if the company implicitly or intentionally caters to certain sects of audience and doesn't care about (i.e....

This review might sound over the top, but trust me, I ain't lying!!! Before the actual review, I want to say that this "touristy" event did not one time feel like a tourist trap or gimmick. It is the real deal from the take off to the return landing. This excursion was worth every penny, so when you are thinking that you might want to do something without a lot of people, this is truly the one to do! So we started off at a small airport in Queenstown, staffed by friendly locals who seem to be enjoy the pace of life there. The pilot, Grant, was chatty, handsome, knowledgeable and so friendly. He got us all aboard quickly and the take off was awesome. We flew over rivers, lakes and mountains that made you feel like you were in another world. There was snow then there was sun, with cascades of water flowing off the high cliffs surrounding the Central Otago area. Our destination, though the trip was also a destination, was the Fiordland National Park, nestled in the middle of nowhere on the south western side of the south island. At the end of a 45 minute flight, we approached Milford Sound in the national park, and we could see closeup views of giant waterfalls and cliffs that were carved by ice and glaciers over millions of years. The approach landed us directly over the sound and into a spectacular fiord with towering cliffs and crystal clear blue water. But the adventure was just beginning as we boarded a cruise ship with a small group of people, keeping the cozy atmosphere going. As we entered the bay that lead out to the west side of the island, we were greeted by a school of dolphins that followed our boat and gave us a remarkable show. We passed several giant waterfalls, and the drooping terrain felt like we were in Jurassic park at the beginning of time. The cruise lasted at least an hour or more before returning us to the dock to board the plane back to Queensland. The pilot asked me if I wanted to sit with him in the front seat! I was so excited! The view was over the top, and the scenery just kept coming like a reel to reel movie playing out in front of you. He took us over a different area back, so in the end we saw hundreds of miles of south island beauty from the sky. Folks...this is the excursion to take. Trust me on this one like you trust your...