iFLY Indoor Skydiving - Tampa — Attraction in Brandon

TL;DR - mostly fun experience ruined by horrible customer service. Don't buy the photos, and definitely don't buy the photos in advance.

I bought 4 total flights of 1 min duration each to be split between me and my partner, with 2 high flights. I also bought what I thought was a pre-paid package for all the photos and videos they would take of me and my partner. More on this later.

The good: The instructor was outgoing, friendly, and all around satisfactory. Gear fit me fine. For the most part, instructions were clear and nothing leading up to the actual flight felt rushed. There was plenty of time to settle in. The instructor offered that we could set up our phones or gopros around the wind tunnel. I declined since I had already bought photos and videos that iFly would be taking.

The flight itself was fun. A minute isn't a lot of time, but it's a thrilling minute, and this is a pretty unique experience. The instructor is there with you for all flights. They always do the high flight first. He kind of spun us around as we went up to the top of the tube. After we had all finished flying, the instructor went in himself and demonstrated some crazy superman-level aerobanic maneuvers. I laughed my head off like a maniac, it was super cool. Best part of the experience.

The day after the flight, I received a call from Anne at Ifly asking how the exprience was, and reminding us to redeem our photos and videos since they expire after a few weeks.

Could use improvement: It was a pain to fill out the waiver. It isn't easy to skip the video if you previously watched it on youtube. There was no confirmation. I filled it out 3x. And then they made me fill it out again in person on my phone when I got there.

Goggles could be more comfortable, but hey, what are you gonna do.

The worst: When you buy your package online, you buy it for each individual. Each individual is offered the chance to buy photos and videos. When you get your receipt (attached as photo), the photos and videos purchased are listed under each individual. So it is very easy to assume that you are buying a photo package and a video package, where each includes all the photos and videos they would take of you. Why would it be any different really? It's not like it costs them anything to give you all the photos instead of just one. When I tried to redeem my photo voucher, I was taken to an online store where I could browse the photos and videos and add them to the cart. I clicked "select all" on the photos corresonding to me, but it only selected 20 out of about 35 or so. It seemed there was a max of 20 items you could add to the cart, if I added 20 photos I could not add any videos - 20 max items. I called Anne at Ifly and she clearly had no idea why it was only letting me add 20 items. After talking to her further, it became clear why: the $4 photo packages and $8 video packages I thought I had bought only entitled me to one photo and one video each, for a total of 2 photos and 2 videos. I would be leaving 2 videos and something like 30 photos on the table. However, buying the rest ala carte would cost me like $120. I asked Anne if there was any kind of package available that would let me buy all the photos, for say, $30. Nope. She wouldn't budge. I have to admit that I was pretty upset, because I think this is a very misleading way to sell your product. It costs you nothing to give people the extra photos. The best Anne could do was give me 2 more photos and 2 more videos. That's still leaving dozens of photos unaccounted for.

After downloading the photos and videos, they are low-resolution. One of the videos is cut off and missing the beginning. I regret not taking my own photos and videos.

You'd think they'd want you to share these photos and videos on social media - free publicity for them. They should give everyone one free photo. Instead they've taken what was a pretty fun experience where I probably would have come back and spent more money, and...

Just left Ifly Jan 19 2025. I arrived at 127pm, drove an hr from sarasota with a 7month old baby with me too. I booked our reservation on Jan 10th. On Jan 13th apparently someone changed my reservation to Feb 1st without speaking with me, so I obviously had absolutely no clue the day had been changed. I did received two email confirmations, one with my correct date and then one with the day they had changed it too. I just assumed it was a second confirmation same as my first because I hadn't signed the waivers. Didn't think to double check the day because I hadn't requested it to be changed nor did anyone contact me. The manager at Ifly just blamed me and said "we don't just change reservations someone had to of called in to change it" and "we NEVER just change reservation". I am the only one who would have called and I 100% didnt. When I asked if her "research" showed who made the change she replied "does it really matter" and scoffed. I said yes it does because you should speak with that employee who made the change because clearly somthing went wrong on Iflys end (e.g.,maybe an employee made the change and forgot to call because it got busy. It happens, people are humans and thats ok. I could accept that. Dont gaslight me though.) I told her she should be more open minded to the fact the issue could be their fault and stop with the mindset it 100% isn't them. She said "I didn't say that" and i told her that was exactly what she was saying by telling me "someone HAD to of called in to request the change" and "we NEVER just change reservation dates without cause". That's 100% saying it's my fault and taking zero responsibility or even considering it might be their fault. I told her there is a first for everything. She wasted 30min of my family's time to "research" what happened with the answer of its my fault and the only accommodation they could offer was 5pm that day, come back the 1st, or refund. She claims she was checking the call logs but obviously didn't find anything. I got another email right after I left confirming reservation again for Feb 1st so she was obviously trying to cover up some screw up on their end. We asked for a refund, hopefully we actually get it. She had a very defensive attitude with rude energy. Very disappointed as this was my bday gift and I never been. My two boys I brought with me had been before and they had a good experience that previous time, but this time left a terrible taste in my mouth.

MANAGER NAME IS EMILY.

Update 1/19/24 4pm: Emily called me to tell me that she found a record on the 13th at x time that a call came in to change my reservation. When I asked if it was my number she said no. I then asked whose number was it and she said they couldn't see what number called in just that who ever it was they gave my order number (leaves me wondering how she could definitively tell me "no" to my question of was it my number that called). I told her, ok so then someone gave you the wrong order number or you guys miss typed in the order number into the system. She again told me no that wasn't possible because the numbers aren't sequential and too hard to guess. I told her again that it was possible and she told me it was very unlikely. She is very combative and incapable of accepting fault. I will say I was at Dave and Busters when she called so I had to shout to hear myself talk to her because it was so noisy where I was, she may have thought I was yelling at her. I do apologize for that, if she sees this.

I very much so now want to come to ifly Feb 1 at 130 to wait for the family that called to change reservations only to find out their reservations weren't changed because they changed mine not theirs.

I will happily submit my call logs for my whole family to prove no one called ifly. It's so funny Emily said this NEVER happens but there is a review from 2 weeks ago that says their reservations were...

8-17-2021 - So I call the number on the website to ask what time would be best, least busy, for me and my three grand daughters to schedule our adventure. Rose was very helpful and recommended the 2:30 time that was available. Rose offered to schedule it for me on the phone and I was willing to do that. I ask about Veteran discount and she did inform that iFly offers Veterans a 20% discount but that is only available when booking online. I expressed my gratitude to Rose and informed her that I would book the reservations online.

I select the reservations and add-ons that I wanted and proceeded to check out. I clicked on "enter promo code" as Rose instructed me to do and the ID.me button appears. I click on it and enter my information, my Veteran status is verified and I am returned to the iFly site.

Once the page reloads I scroll down to check my purchase and discount and see in red letters that my discount WAS NOT applied and the Veteran discount is on valid Monday thru Friday!

I guess the 20+ years I spent in the US Army is only recognized and appreciated Monday thru Friday. Do you have any idea how many Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc. I missed because I was serving in the US Army? Too many to even count or try to count.

Maybe the folks that make the "we appreciate your service to our county" should have joined me on December 31st, 2001 as I sat in Uzbekistan trying to ensure another 9/11 never happened again on US soil. Or maybe I should have advised the US Army that I am only available to defend our great nation Monday thru Friday.

I did continue and made reservations because I want my grandkids to experience the great freedoms we have in the USA and will not limit their adventures because my service, Veteran's service, is only recognized and appreciated Monday thru Friday.

8-21-2021 - I have changed my rating from a one star to three stars. If not for the reason above, I would give this experience a five star. When we arrived and checked in, we were offered to add my three grandkids to the high fly experience and if purchased they would throw in videos for the four of us for free. After realizing the high fly was hands on with the instructor, I purchased them.

We all had a great time. The staff was very polite, courteous, and informative. This was something that all three of the kids were afraid to do but the instructor (Anthony I believe) made them feel comfortable and confident. They loved it and were proud of their selves for facing something that they ere afraid of and doing it.

OK, just went to four stars because as I wrote this, it is not the folks that did a great job at the facility, it's the greedy corporate folks that...