Pilot’s Choice: 2 Glaciers & Snow Landing – 35min

Great experience, well run & great communication. Mark our pilot was very knowledgeable & easy to chat with

This was definitely the highlight of our NZ holiday!! This company was fantastic to deal with and esp Aaron our pilot who made the whole experience so special for us! We had the perfect day and landing on the snow was unbelievable! Well worth the money - highly recommend !

Our Pilot was Mark very friendly , helpful and very informative definitely a big tick off the bucket list

+16

Very weather dependant, but if you get a good day it is spectacular! Throw snowballs at your friends!

The whole experience was amazing Mark our pilot was awesome as was all the staff they had to cancel my initial trip but they put us on the next day no problem I can’t over state how good this trip is

First timers for a helicopter flight/tour. Our pilot, Mark, instantly made us feel comfortable and confident. We had an absolutely beautiful morning—blue skies, minimal wind. Mark flew us over Franz Josef Glacier and the immediate area around it, pointing out the details and explaining what we were seeing during our flight. He landed the helicopter onto Middleton snow field and gave us time to step out onto the snow for photo ops. He took some photos of us with the mountains in the background. The trip was absolutely amazing and morning that we won’t ever forget❤️ Thanks to Mark and Glacier Country tours for such and incredible experience and their professionalism!

Had today (10th of July) the experience with Glacier Country Helicopters and what should be an amazing experience turned into a disappointing event, which left me down with an upset feeling. I was seated in seatnumber 4 (meaning not near the window and in the middle at the back of the helicopter). From here it is obviously more difficult to see full and clear views, but there was the possibility to swap seats after the mid landing with my travelpartner, so all good. Up in the air, all the scenic (ice/snowy) views where for the first 15 to 20 minutes mostly on the left side of the helicopter, meaning not on the side we were seated. So that was disappointment number one. Along the ride, we're flying more over the glaciers and mountains so now we had finally better views which where breathtaking. However, all the views were from above the glaciers, so we barely saw Fox & Franx Josef. Once landed, we took some photos and obviously swapped positions, but another disappointment was incoming - it was only 5 more minutes of flying with just a few icy/snowy scenes. The rest was grass & trees. Overall, sitting in seatnumber 4, the first part of the flight with scenery on the other side of the aircraft and then switching positions without being able to see a lot, strongly gave me the feeling of it not being worth the money. Therefore, I cannot recommend booking an helicopter ride with this company! However, I want to end with a shoutout to one particular employee, the young guy who brought us to the helicopter site. Very friendly and enthusiastic to which all the other staff members can take notice of it since the lady with whom we booked was definitely not friendly as well as the lady checking us in.

Great experience that gives an appreciation of the scale and beauty of the mountains and the glacier. Check in was easy and our pilot/guide, Mike, was knowledgeable and friendly. Highly recommend!

We booked the “Pilot’s Choice” helicopter flight with Glacier Country Flights, including a 10-minute glacier landing. Unfortunately, our experience was disappointing due to inconsistent communication and conflicting explanations throughout the entire process. Before the flight, we were asked to move our booking from 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. because we were told the weather would be better earlier in the morning. We adjusted our plans accordingly. Shortly afterwards, we were told that the later flight did not have enough passengers and that our booking would be cancelled unless we switched to the earlier departure. This immediately raised questions about the real reason for the change. During the flight, the pilot informed us that it was too windy to safely complete the glacier landing. We completely understand that safety comes first and fully respect that decision. However, it was frustrating because we had specifically agreed to the earlier departure based on the explanation that weather conditions would be better at that time. In the end, the weather was apparently still not suitable for the landing that was a key part of the experience we had booked. After landing, the pilot told us that this had been the first flight of the day and that they did not know what the conditions on the glacier would be like until they got there. Yet when we returned to the office, the staff member at reception told us that another pilot had already flown over the glacier earlier that morning and that the conditions had been good. These explanations directly contradicted each other and left us unsure which version of events was actually true. We had paid for the Pilot’s Choice experience, including the glacier landing. In the end, we only saw one glacier and the landing did not take place. As compensation, we were charged for the two-glacier flight instead. We would never have paid NZD 395 per person for a flight without a glacier landing. The landing was one of the main reasons we chose this particular experience. We fully understand that weather conditions can change quickly and that safety must always be the top priority. Our disappointment is not about the decision not to land, but about the repeated inconsistencies in the information we received before, during and after the flight. Unfortunately, this left us feeling misled and significantly impacted our overall experience.

Great opportunity. All the staff at the reception, bus driver and pilot were all fantastic