Valskådning i Kaikoura - Ultimat upplevelse

Everyone had a window seat and the pilot did a great job of making sure each side of the plane had a chance to see the whales. On our flight we saw a fin whale and then a sperm whale that stayed on the surface for a long time. It's a very different perspective seeing the whales from above .... the pilot gets you quite close. Would recommend this tour.

Wings Over Whales is a great way to see the marine animals off the coast of Kaikoura. We did a 30 minute flight on 17 November, 2025, when the humpbacks were leaving, so no guarantees we would see any. Luckily we saw one humpback and lots of dolphins, plus the amazing scenery of the coast. The pilots are experienced and excellent at their jobs, as well as genuinely nice people. Definitely worth doing.

I would like to rate 5 star. But unfortunately my session cancelled. Reschedule timing at first then cant fly due to weather. So sad i cant reschedule to another day due my trip already packed. The host is good. Refund to me on the spot. No issue. Maybe next time will try again

Excellent experience, Jo our pilot was very knowledgeable and kept us entertained throughout the flight and to top it all we saw whales and dolphins

Fantastic trip. Great pilot who was understanding and accommodating to a couple of very difficult passengers. The flight before us saw a blue whale which sadly we didn’t but it wasn’t for a lack of effort or coordination from the pilot who made sure we saw all we could and had a great experience. Really helpful advice and friendly service. Will definitely use again when back next

The crew at Wings over Whales were very friendly. Because of a delayed ferry we stayed in contact during the day. At the end it worked out perfectly and we were still able to go on a flight. And even beter, saw two whales swim beside each other. Something which is very uncommon the pilot told us.

Booked last minute when we saw the great weather. Booking was a breeze and the team at the office were really on the ball. The pre flight video was really good, both informative and humorous. Jo the pilot was great, her local knowledge was second to none. The flight over the mountains was spectacular. Then off out to sea..by communicating with the boats in the area it seemed like a mater of minutes before Jo had found our whale, and a good few dusky dolphins too. The view of these amazing creatures from the plane was superb. Wonderful memories, and great photos. Cannot recommend highly enough.

The weather when we woke up was wet and very windy. When we arrived for our flight at Wings over Water, the sun was out intermittently but I was sure I would be too windy to fly. However we were told by our pilot, Alexis, and our co-pilot, Sam, that the wind would be no problem for flying. It WOULD make it very difficult to see whales. They managed our expectations extremely well and they were very empathetic. We decided to try anyway. Although we did not see any whales, the flight was amazingly beautiful. We saw a pod of dusky dolphins frolicking. There must been 100 of them. Alexis is an excellent pilot. She grew up in Kaikoura and pointed out some of the devastation caused by the 2016 earthquake. Despite the high winds, she land the plane beautifully. I highly recommend this adventure.

Sadly we were unlucky with the weather and the trip was cancelled. However this is not the reason for the bad rating. The front of house staff were excellent and tried their best to rebook to an alternative time / day. As we were only in Kaikōura for 1 night this didn’t work for us. My grievance however comes from the attitude of the pilot, she did not seem to care less that it was cancelled. We had a very distraught child, whilst I understand safety has to be the number 1 consideration a little understanding that whilst flying in a plane and seeing whales is a daily occurrence for her, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for some. There was absolutely no compassion shown, simply a shrug of her shoulders.

What an experience. We booked our flight having failed to get on a boat trip and are so pleased that the boat was full. The flight was really great and Shaun our pilot gave us lots of information. We saw a beautiful sperm whale gliding along who the dived so we saw is majestic tail come out of the water. We then followed a large pod of dolphins for a while. Fantastic