Helicopter Flights

ebenmax

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 4, 2006
We've been told by many people that a visit to Hawaii is not complete without a helicopter ride! We are hoping to do one when we visit Kauai, after Aulani. It sounds amazing but I have a few questions...

How much do they trigger motion sickness?
(Several in our group get it and a couple cannot take meds for it.) Is it automatically going to cause it or just if the flight becomes rough?

Are 1 year olds permitted to fly? If so, do they require a separate ticket/seat?

Which company do you recommend?

Thanks so much for any advice!
 
We used Blue Hawaiian for a 50 minute excursion on the Big Island to see the volcano/lava and would highly recommend them. I had never been in a helicopter (I'm 62) but honestly felt at times like we weren't even moving. I loved it! We paid for the bigger helicopter which may have helped to minimize the motion. We decided to do a 2-hour sunset boat tour out of Hanalei to see the Napali coast on Kauai instead of taking another helipcopter ride, just for something different. We had a great time on the boat tour, but if we were to ever get back to Hawaii, we would definitely take a helicopter tour next time to see the cliffs from above. Sorry, but can't help you with the age cutoff question.
 
I've used Blue Hawaiian before too, love them! Their website states children under age 24 months are free as a lapchild, age 24 months and over are charged a full fare seat. Not sure how safe a lapchild would be, but it's allowed.
 


We've flown with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. It was a smooth ride, but we're not prone to motion sickness.
I recommend booking the helicopter tour early in the week, so if they have to cancel for weather you can possibly reschedule later in the week.
Have a wonderful trip!
 
We did a helicopter tour on Kauai through Island Helicopters. We had a great experience and I would recommend them. I'm prone to motion sickness, but didn't experience anything during the flight. They did have barf bags at each seat so I guess it's possible. One thing that unfortunately doesn't help is that you can't choose your seat - you are assigned a seat based on weight distribution, so if one seat is worse for motion sickness than another, that person may be out of luck.

I'll also mention that the flight we took was pretty expensive. We really enjoyed it, but it was a one and done thing for us. A splurge for our honeymoon. If you choose a company that charges full fare for the one year old, I can't imagine it being worth that cost. We enjoyed our dinner cruise around the Na Pali Coast in Kauai moreso than the helicopter - and it was cheaper, longer, and had longer/better views of the Na Pali Coast as well. But the helicopter did allow us to see Waimea Canyon and Jurassic Falls!
 


Which island flight did you most enjoy?

Loved them all but Kauai was probably the best tour. There are many parts of the island that you can only access by air. You'll see the Na Pali Coast, waterfalls and Waimea Canyon. Blue Hawaiian is the company that was used for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Our pilot told us about flying some of the crew out to the filming sites. We also saw the Na Pali coast via a boat tour (Capt Andy's).
Have a wonderful trip!
 
We also saw the Na Pali coast via a boat tour (Capt Andy's).

This is the one we did as well, and loved it! Enjoyed it more than the helicopter ride actually. But the boat tour is much more inclined to cause motion sickness and we also got kind of wet between waves, sea air, etc. We looked like messes when we left there, but it was a great experience!
 
We have taken several helicopter tours in Hawaii, mainly on Blue Hawaii which is our favorite. We did one on Sunshine and it was not as good as on Blue Hawaii. All were great. Just did one from Maui to Molokai and saw the sea cliffs it was wonderful. Definitely worth doing for adults, I would not spend $250-$300 for a toddler.
 

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