Chaos, Complaints And Controversy: Għarb’s Hot Air Balloon Experience Took A While To Take Off
The small Gozitan town of Għarb made a little piece of local history this weekend by bringing islanders the first hot air balloon experience this side of the Mediterranean. As expected, the event was highly anticipated, with tickets for the two-day event going like hotcakes as soon as they went up for sale. However, while Sunday’s event seemed to have ran smoothly, Saturday’s was pretty chaotic and people were not impressed.
Now if you think back at last weekend, you might not remember any particularly horrible weather. However, a hot air balloon that’s tethered to the ground can’t go up in winds that are more than four knots. Inevitably, this ended up creating delays… and a whole lot of controversy.
On the day, many took to social media to vent their frustrations at having to queue and wait hours despite having a specific time slot. “We all lined up and after 45 minutes of waiting I demanded to speak to the organiser,” one user said. “The organised just brushed me off and suggested I look at the terms and conditions of the ticket.”
“The fault lies with an organisation that botched what was a really great idea and now has an angry mob of people wanting refunds,” the comments continued.
”The hot air balloon event in Għarb Gozo, organised by Local Council was a total SHAM!” online events curator VENT said on Facebook. “People want refunds, and they want them now! The council is redirecting people to Ticketline.com and saying it is up to this reputable ticketing service in Malta to issue refunds, when anyone can tell you the final word is with the Council after the whole event ended up a fiasco”.
As the complaints kept coming in, Ticketline stepped in to ensure that people who did not manage to get their experience would be getting full refunds
By the end of the day, Għarb mayor David Apap Agius apologised to all those who didn’t manage to get on a balloon, thanking everyone for the support and promising an even better experience for the following day
”We are very sorry that for today, the flights couldn’t be possible because of continuous changes in wind force which for safety reasons did not allow the balloon to fly today,” Apap Agius said.
“For tomorrow, we will be on site to fly wind permitting,” the mayor continued. “Indications are very favourable and positive.”
Then, on Sunday, as the sun slowly started to set, the majestic hot air balloon finally went up
“We’ve started operating and will continue until the wind remains this calm,” Apap Agius said on Facebook, sharing a video of the hot air balloon taking to the skies against the dramatic sunset.
By the end, mired in controversy, the hot air balloon experience did end up taking off for some people, and the reviews were as mixed as the long weekend itself.
“Thank you for keeping our safety a priority,” one person said late on Sunday night. “We finally managed to get a taste of a hot air balloon ride after waiting for so long… but it was definitely worth it!”
