Island Helicopters Kauai — Attraction in Kauai

Overall 3 stars and here is why Summary if you want you land at Jurassic falls then this is “your only hope!” Otherwise book with another operator just my 2 cents Booking process 1 star out of 5 The process for booking a flight is not very user friendly and leaves a lot to be desired. It asks for a credit card during the request though nothing is guaranteed and no confirmation is received. Eventually called and spoke to a staff member to try and locate my request. A flight had been booked but I didn’t know nor would I, had I not called to check. Given that it was outside of their 48 hour cancellation window they needed an answer almost immediately while I was calling as we were headed out for the day while on the island…more on this later. So the fact that a flight was booked with not even speaking or sending an email to confirm is the reason for the low rating and I know they are probably swamped and will say they did but that was not the case.

Customer service 1 out of 5 At first when I called to see if they had received my request for booking all seemed fine but I’m not sure if I wasn’t being heard (like bad signal) or worse listened to (failure to actually hear what I am saying for lack of caring) The staff member seemed to not hear what I was saying or just talking out loud about what they were seeing and so this just made it seem like I was not being listened to and hence my feeling for booking with this operator started to drop as I really wanted to land at Jurassic Falls. So when it came down to getting it all set up and the time that was given, left me scrambling to rearrange other plans during our stay on the garden isle. An email is sent with “reply to this email to confirm”, given I had a couple of questions I replied with some questions (not confirming just yet but seeking clarification and hopefully find a better time for us). This threw a wrench obviously into the machine and from here service went on a tailspin and unrecoverable dive it seems. Care out the window and lack of good manners it seems that the employee was more annoyed that i was asking questions and should have seemed more grateful that I had a time slot on their already busy and packed flights. Instead of taking a positive approach it seems that my asking of questions should have just been thank you and we will be there versus hold on my reply had questions and wasn’t confirming just yet. Again the lack of attention to detail and care of handling. Now here is more of the meat and potatoes, walking into this outfit, no bubbly personnel to great you or staff that seem happy you’re there about to drop a good shiny amount of pennys on their doorstep rather a sit down and keep to yourself not knowing what to do other than if you happen to be inquisitive and pick up one of their laminated copies about the flight papers. A ground handler employee eventually close to your flight time comes in and calls your name (persons for booking the trip) to head out to the green gate and wait there. Now you are headed to an active flight line, coming from working at an airport not a big deal for me but for the unknowing customer a brief of what to expect or offer hearing protection before you get there seems like an OSHA violation along with some FAA policies being lost or ignored. I get that their employee is there but hey again customer care we are going out to our flight line here is some hearing protection or conducting their safety brief indoors so you can actually here what is being said might be a better choice. Overall a general lack of enthusiasm from all staff. Safety briefing 2 out of 5 stars. Oh boy I could dissect this for hours but it falls again into customer service and care and yet again conducting the safety brief on an active flight line is a poor choice with a noisy environment not to mention it is missing a few items. Headphones and music in helicopter 3 out of 5, falling apart and very faint. Flight and views 5 out of 5 I’m going to sum it up here overall this is what you are paying for so...

Terrible receptionist and experience on the Jurassic Falls landing adventure tour. Our tour was not until 230pm so we had to wait in the waiting area. We were alone in the waiting area as the 2pm group had just to prep for their tour. We were waiting when a very rude receptionist, out of nowhere, quickly walks out and crudely blurted out "please go wait outside I cannot hear the phone and sorry." This was with zero warning. I just said OK and we(my wife, 4-year-old son, and myself) were shocked and just went to wait outside for 20+ minutes - of course we were upset. Saying sorry does not allow you to speak rudely to paying customers. Her demeanor said it all, there was no mistaking it, the disrespect was obvious. Keep in mind the movie Avatar was playing on the TV -it was not quiet waiting area. I was not even aware that it was a problem that our 4-year-old son was playing with a squeaky duck. Yes, he was playing, like a normal 4-year-old, but he was not making an insane amount of noise either. Also, at no point did anyone say anything to us to make us aware of any issue. Of course we would have stopped him had we been made aware it was an issue at all. Paying customers deserve better treatment than that. This is not a kid/family friendly business at all. I understand they are running a business, but they do not have any posted signs stating - no noise allowed or to be quiet. The receptionist has no customer service skills The TV was even playing a movie with the volume turned on. We had zero warning. Someone with some basic human decency and manners would have politely said please keep the noise down. That is all that was needed to avoid this terrible treatment. Instead, she immediately threw us out, three paying customers, out to the heat. We also had to sit in the very loud aircraft noise as the office is located directly in the airport. That is not acceptable behavior. We paid for three tickets. These helicopter tours are not cheap. The rest of the staff was different. Pilot Jeff was good. He would turn the helicopter and give opportunity for passengers from both sides to see the beautiful views while giving some commentary. Shuttle driver was awesome, unfortunately I did not get his name. Very friendly and seemed like a truly great genuine individual and employee. With that being said, I just can't recommend this business because of the disrespectful treatment. I've seen many great reviews but that was not our experience at all. It is sad that we did not enjoy the tour as much as we should have. We were placed into an awkward situation, which put us in a bad mood right before our tour began. It took our excitement away. Still, we proceeded and tried to make the best of it. It was our last day in Kauai so we felt like we did not have a choice if we wanted to have a helicopter tour. It did take some joy away from our experience. I will never recommend this business to anyone. I will never be a repeat customer when we go back to Hawaii. I can't deny the beautiful views you see on these helicopter tours but please go with another company. Don't spend your hard-earned money on this awful business to be humiliated. Other companies in Hawaii do the same tours. Unfortunately, the other companies do not land on Jurassic falls but flying past the falls is almost just as good. Hopefully the other companies will treat you with some basic manners at the minimum. I resent giving my money to this business. I hope this review can help others from being treated this way by avoiding this business. This occurred to us on Island Helicopters Kauai office - the Jurassic Falls landing adventure tour this past Friday 9/27/2024 on the 230pm tour.

Edit: In response to the owner's comment - I stand by my 100% honest review. A simple apology would have done more good vs you defending your...

First off let me say... this is an AMAZING ride to see an amazing island.

However, unfortunately, we didn't have that great of a time... this easily could have been one of the most thrilling experiences of our lives!

Has anyone ever used seat gurus to pick your seat on an airplane (if not, check that out)... let me do that for you for this helicopter tour.

This is a 3x4 configuration... 3 in the front (including the pilot) and 4 in the back seat.

The two rear seats behind the pilot are the worst on the helicopter (for us anyway, and I am positive other people have had the same experience).

It was a bad time of day for glare on that side... even the pilots sleeveless arm reflected off of the window... the red and yellow levers next to the pilot reflected off the window...

If pictures of this amazing trip are important to you... don't sit in those 2 seats directly behind the pilot.

The main reason we took this ride was to see the Napali Coast... 90% of that Napali Coast portion was going north along the coast and if you are in the 2 left rear seats you do not get that GREAT experience like the 2 people in the front or the 2 in the right rear seats... I told my wife "don't worry, I am sure he will turn around and give us the same view"... nope!

Also, the instructions they give you prior to arrival is that tablets, laptops... large items are not allowed. The gentleman in the front co-pilot seat had this "video contraption" that he used the entire trip (definitely larger than a tablet)... which blocked any view that you might of had through the front window... 100% of this trip he had the video going (I actually watched his screen from the back seat because my view was so bad)... they said nothing about it. He told me that he came by the day before to explain to them what he was going to do and to see if he could get those 2 front seats for him and his wife... good for him by being smarter than the rest of us.

Don't get me wrong... this was an AMAZING once in a lifetime experience! However, that is why it sucked so bad to get the 2 worst seats.

The pilot was incredible and friendly... we have done several helicopter tours and this was by far the best pilot we have ever had... but worst experience... it feels weird.

We are so disappointed that this could have been so Epic... it was a lot of money to spend to get a second class experience... very close to $1,000 for 2 people.

This review is for you seat guru people who want to know what the best seats are.

In closing... don't get stuck in the 2 middle seats or the 1 on the left rear... swing by the day before or call them and try to get some favortism on the seat assignments. I am sure they will tell you that it is all about "weight" and how it is distrbuted throughout the aircraft... I will say that us 3 guys were about the same size and the 3 women were about the same size.

Don't hesitate to book with this company, the tour is a once in a lifetime experience... We even landed right at Jurassic Falls, which was amazing... just get the right seats or try and get some favortism... they might even let you bring a full fledge cinematic camera on board if you schmooze them...