5 Star Helicopter Tours — Attraction in Paradise

Everyone!! Quickly don't choose this company!! Cancel if you can!! Trust me!! My first negative review in life!!! I have been to over 20 countries, and this is one of the worst services I have ever experienced!!

Believe me, even if it's free, don't go. I made a regrettable decision because I accidentally booked the wrong company.

At the beginning, I was very nervous after booking, and I asked the customer service centers of Bellagio and Venetian. They both suggested that I book another company. This company charges the same price but doesn't include any food, and has very basic introductions of the scenery (while other companies provide detailed introductions in different languages). The service is terrible, and my friends also had a bad experience. However, I still went because I couldn't cancel it.

The first thing was the terrible conversation with the customer service before it all began. They were as terrible as the mean girls in college. They were very harsh from the beginning and kept interrupting me, even impatiently saying "listen to me" when I asked if the driver could call me when picking me up. They rudely said there was no such precedent, and even hung up my call.

The second thing was the very rude driver, who casually leaked your private documents to others and made jokes about you. I thought the customer service was bad enough, but it had just begun. When the driver got on the car, he asked where I came from, and I said Los Angeles. He said in a very strange tone that I looked like I came from Mexico. When we arrived at the terminal, he copied everyone's documents and when he got my driver's license, he raised it up and said, "Hey, does this look like it's from Los Angeles?" (My driver's license was issued in Washington State.) He didn't even ask if I was willing to disclose my personal and private information to strangers. Later, when it came to whether to buy photos, I said no, thank you. He rudely put his hand on my hat on my head, without asking if a girl could accept a stranger's touch, just like a school bully. And he wasn't just targeting me, he said "get a room plz" to a couple leaning against each other. Later on the way back, everyone was very indifferent and didn't want to talk to him.

The third thing was that the pilot didn't care if you were really having fun and wanted to finish work as soon as possible. Again, the service was very bad. The original itinerary focused on Skywalk, but they wouldn't let you go. When we arrived at Skywalk, which was the reason why I booked this trip, they emphasized it on their website, the pilot kindly told us not to go, because we would have to wait in line for a long time and even buy new tickets (yes, they didn't include tickets in their promotional focus on their website). I told the pilot that I wanted to go, but he refused again and said that I would be late, and we had to leave at 1:55. I quickly ran over to buy tickets and queued up. I entered the queue after five minutes and walked around for about seven minutes. I arrived at the pick-up location five minutes early. As a result, I was the first to arrive, and everyone else was more than ten minutes late. I was the only one who went to Skywalk, and I was one of the few who arrived on time.

There are more terrible details that made me feel terrible. This was the worst trip I had in Las Vegas, and I spent over $600...

Edited after the helicopter ride. Wins: everyone on staff was kind and helpful. To make up for our delayed experience once they had read the review, they provided the kids with snacks, gave us more water, and dropped us off at our hotel so we wouldn’t have to walk from the pick up hotel so late at night. Issues: a lot of money was paid for the reservation, yet the day of the event, they asked for an additional fee for fuel. They should ask for what they want up front. Also, we were picked up at 7:45pm, had an 8:45pm reservation, and did not fly until close to 9:45pm. We had two children that fell asleep while waiting. We wish they kept our original reservation time or notified us if they knew they’d be behind schedule so we could have rescheduled for another day. Finally, your experience will depend on where you are sitting. If you are sitting in the back right, you will not see the strip. You will be looking over the shoulders of possibly 5 other people holding their phones up to take photos, and the pilot. The pilot also flies a loop around the strip, so you don’t get to see anything on the way back either. That’s definitely not worth the price. I’m bumping up my original rating because the staff was friendly at each step of the way, even before we left a review. However, the experience left much to be desired, and you shouldn’t have to leave a review or complain to get concessions…most of the problems could have been avoided if managed properly.

I might edit review after the experience, but so far, we are waiting close to an hour after our reservation (and an hour and a half after shuttle pick up) with no signs of our flight starting anytime soon. We have two children that are falling asleep waiting. We additionally paid several hundred dollars for our family of four to do this, and they asked for additional money the day of the reservation for fuel expenses. Like the $500+ wouldn’t cover it. Don’t make appointments if you can’t keep them, and next time ask for the amount you want up front. The one star is for the man at check in that gave us bottled waters. I have read the other reviews and I just don’t get it. Not five...

Terrible experience!

I added to option of transportation to pick us up at Cesar's Palace. They didn't provide any information on pick up so I called and was told, "We can't get our drivers into Caesar's, you need to walk to Harrah's bus parking." I reluctantly agreed and they said they would be there at 9:15 PM (it was 8:55). After three more calls, we were finally picked up by their bus at 10:05 for a 10:15 flight.

I paid in full for the flight online but had to pay another $10 for "gas" when we checked in. Why not include that in your online price? They offer a free glass of champagne or water in the lobby but you'll have to pay for a simple Coke.

As for the flight itself, I had more enjoyable flights on a Blackhawk in Afghanistan. I paid for the Neon Lights Flight for my wife and I and ended up on the right side of the helicopter so we were treated with delightful views of the Las Vegas suburbs. ONLY seats 1 through 3 are good enough to justify this tour. There were two groups on our tour, a group of three and my wife and I. You would think they would put the group of three in the back together and my wife and I in the front two seats. This would have allowed EACH group to have at LEAST one person with a fantastic view of the strip. Another solution would be to change the flight path so that the left sees the Las Vegas strip on the way out and the right sees it on the way back.

I've attached photos from the GoPro I had on board as well as the last photo to give you the BEST view we had from our side the entire flight. The woman basically blocked the entire window the whole flight.

To really add insult to injury, after returning to the lobby after the flight, one of their employees asks, "How cool was that?!?"

Like I said to him, "It was terrible. Your company is terrible."

They have no business calling themselves 5 Star Las Vegas...