Reviews

The short version: they did everything I expected and exceeded my expectations. The longer version with the tips: How to book. The there are a few ways to do that, but the best way is to call. Why? Basically, you need to worry about 3 things: weather, seats and price. Since you want to enjoy the views, if you have a few days to choose from, call the company and ask the agent for an advice. They are nice and honest people and they'll tell you what would be the best strategy to plan your trip. The next is the seats. All helicopters have great windows and you'll be able to see those views. The front seats, especially the right one have slight advantage. You can't book a particular seat because they actually put all visitors on the scale and run a computer program to get a proper balance, but you can ask agent on the phone to request a front seat. That increases your chances (we got ours), but don't worry too much about that - the views from all seats are fantastic. Finally, the price. If you book early in advance, ask the agent on the phone if they can give you any discount. Sometimes they do. Ok, now done with the tips, let's get back to the tour. Be ready to pay a few dollars (something around $5) for parking. You need to arrive about 45 mins in advance, they are going to put you on a scale to get your weight and give you a security briefing. The lounge is really nice. Wear dark colors, please. Otherwise it will reflect in the windows and block the view. The ride is very smooth, so you don't need to worry about motion sickness. I don't think you can choose a pilot, ours was Coleen and she was excellent! Besides showing all main attractions, she also added some deep notes (like when she was showing the black lava dropping into the ocean - she mentioned that this place looks like the island when it was just born and got out of the water - so true!) I think this is about it. Great company, highly recommended!

We did the 50 min ride on Ecostar. Perfect. Our pilot was "Colleen". She made the experience Great. Very knowledgeable on history, topography, geography, current events and much more. Gave all of us on the helicopter (5+ pilot- it holds 6+pilot) an exclusive view. There was minimal Vog on the morning we flew. We saw multiple waterfalls and some areas of actual red burning spots at the volcano area. No visual lava river flow, like I would have imagined. But lots of fantastic views from above. We always felt safe. The company is detail and safety conscious. Memorable experience.

Great pilot! He was very knowledgeable about the sites and a gave us a great ride around the sites of the volcano, water falls and whale watching.

First time on a helicopter. Our tour of the volcano, waterfalls and whales was nothing less than spectacular. Greg was our pilot. He was very knowledgeable. He took the time for everyone on board to see everything. I would highly recommend.

We have traveled with Blue Hawaiian almost every time we have come to the islands. This time around we visited the volcano and were a little disappointed that Pele wasn't spewing out lava as we had seen in the past but it was still a very enjoyable ride. Our pilot, Eric, was very knowledgable about the area and it's surroundings.

We had an excellent adventure with Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tours while visiting Island Hawaii. Their entire staff are professional and efficient, and even though they fly (mostly) every hour all day long, they seem to be aware that this might be your first time to do so, and do their best to keep the experience fresh for you. Flying over the active volcano Kilauea was the thrill that we expected it to be. Unexpected was the excellent education we received on volcanic behavior and how it affects island life, with the ability to ask questions and communicate with our pilot (thank you Eric!). The interaction made the experience very personal, I thought. This was one of the highlights for us on Island Hawaii (the other being Volcanoes National Park), and we would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to have an interactive experience as opposed to just seeing something. I also recommend purchasing the video of your tour, as, again, it is a very personalized record of your experience. (Had I known there was also a camera on us inside the chopper, I would have been a little more expressive!) I took lots of photos for my travel blog with my digital camera (and other reviewers are correct about not wearing white if you are taking photo's ~ there is a huge amount of bounce-back from the glass), but Pele' the Goddess of the Volcano is allot more dramatic when she's huffing and puffing and spewing on video ~ plus it gives you an excellent record of the education you received along the way. High recommendations from us on all counts!

Just completed the 2 hr tour across the big island. While we did see some activity in the active cauldera the weather prevented us from flying over the active flow and landing in Hilo as planned.also caused a delay to refuel....not ideal weather conditions for sure....it was an extremely windy day on the island with clear sunny skies on the west and heavy clouds and rain on the east. We are admittedly disappointed in that, but appreciate the fact they put our safety over our curiosity ..instead we had an increased opportunity to view the enhanced waterfall and rainbow activity along the coast that this weather is creating..several years ago we flew with BH over Oahu on a perfect day and while that was great, this was absolutely incredible..the dramatic weather here is a part of what makes this place so fascinating, and we definitely experienced that and it's implications..so in summary we are very happy customers..we are confident that Blue Hawaiian makes every effort to give their customers all they can while ensuring their well being...we highly recommend the experience

First, it is not Blue Hawaiian's fault that the weather on our day wasn't reasonable for a flight over the volcanos and they did appropriately cancel our flight and refund our money. My problem was that we had driven 1 1/2 hrs over from Kailua-Kona to Hilo. When we tried to reschedule we were told that the only thing available was 9:00 AM the next day. Since they require you to be there 45 min before the flight this was just too early to drive 1 1/2 hrs with a high probability of weather cancellation again. It seems to me that they are just a little heavily scheduled. If you are going you might want to schedule two flights 48 hrs apart. They have a 24 hr cancellation policy so if the first flight goes, you can cancel the second. If the first flight is cancelled, at least you have a second chance to go. I know this sounds like I'm taking advantage of them, but I feel like they sort of took advantage of me.

Must do to the Volcanoes and Lava. We did a land tour afterwards for the different perspective of more hands on but if you really what the lay of the land and to see the lava flow you need to be the air above it. We rode in and Echo Helicopter with two other couples and the pilot, Ethan. Ethan did a great job of maneuvering around so that everyone was able to see and experience the view. Pretty cool! Would definitely recommend and do again! Thanks for a wonderful experience Ethan!

We had a fantastic flight with our pilot Greg. So professional and knowledgeable. We would highly recommend this company to anyone!!

What a fun time! Blue Hawaiian staff are very professional and safety-oriented. We took the 45-minute helicopter ride over the volcano and waterfalls, then Greg took us over the water to see whales, which we did! Hard to see much from the air, but there were definitely Humpback whales. Greg was great....telling us about the volcano and answering questions. Every passenger wears a headset and you get a microphone so you can communicate with the pilot. One warning: the website warns you to wear dark clothing because light colors reflect in the windows for picture-taking. That includes skin!! I wore black shorts, but my legs and arms reflected in the pictures!

Scotty, Red Beard, was a most excellent tour guide and Pilot of what seemed to be Mordor. We didn't find the ring, my precious, but the waterfalls and lava flows were ama, ama, amazing.

Our trip on Feb. 10th to Maui/Molokai was perfection! Eric is an exceptional pilot and shared such great information during the flight. We loved every minute! Can't wait to return for another spectacular ride...Thanks for the memories!

This was the first helicopter experience that we had where the pilot would circle around so that everyone would get the same view. It was a great experience to see the waterfalls from way above. Was sad to see the lava flow coming close to the town. We weren't able to fly directly over the volcano due to the smoke, but he got us as close as possible. Cannot take bags/purses, can take your camera/phone. They have free locker rentals to store your items if you do not want to leave in the car.

this was our first ride in a helicopter. We were Lucky to have good weather and Coleen as our pilot. She was awesome, friendly, very knowledgeable. We took this tour through the excursions of the Pride of America, our cruise ship, called "ultimate helicopter ride". First we did a tour of the island with Kapohokine who were awesome too and finished with the helicopter over waterfalls and the volcano! We saw some little lava flows and the ride was smooth and Coleen made sure everyone could have a great view! this was the best time of our cruise, our 7 years old daughter just loved it! thank you Coleen and blue hawaiian, this is much Worth the expense!