Flight Gift Certificates In Los Angeles

It arrives by email with a code. There is nothing to wrap, nothing to ship, and nothing to schedule in advance. They pick the date. If the weather says no, nobody pays and nobody loses the certificate. And because it is a California gift certificate, it does not expire. There is no date printed on it, no date in our system, and no dormancy fee quietly eating into it.

What You Are Actually Giving

Most gifts get used once and then live in a drawer. This one produces a day somebody talks about for years, and it produces a piece of paper that means something inside aviation.

Here is what the hour contains. Your recipient meets their instructor at the airport, walks out to the airplane, and does the preflight inspection with them — fuel, oil, control surfaces, tires, the whole walkaround. They climb into the left seat, which is the pilot's seat. They wear a headset and hear the tower. And once the airplane is lined up on the runway at Van Nuys, their hands are on the yoke and their feet are on the rudder pedals for the takeoff roll.

In the air, they fly. Climbs, turns, level flight, following a road or a coastline, looking down at the Hollywood Sign or the downtown towers or the surf line at Malibu. The instructor is on the controls too, and takes over instantly if anything needs taking over, but the flying is theirs. Landings are usually flown together, hands on hands.

Afterward there is a logbook entry: date, aircraft type, tail number, duration, and the instructor's signature and certificate number. That is dual instruction received. If they ever pursue a private pilot license, that hour is already in the total. You can read the full walkthrough on our what to expect page.

Every Amount, And What Each One Books

Every certificate is bought for the price of a flight, so there is usually nothing to top up when the recipient books. The amounts run from an hour in the simulator to two hours down the coast in the Cirrus with a passenger, at $1,049. If they would rather have something other than what you had in mind, the value simply goes toward whatever they book instead.

If You Are Not Sure, Buy The Hour

$229 is the one most people are looking for when they say they want to give somebody a flying lesson: sixty minutes, one person in the left seat, one instructor beside them, a real airplane and a real logbook entry. It is the most-bought certificate on this page by a distance, and nobody has ever been disappointed to be given an hour of flying instead of ninety minutes of it.

If Two Of You Are Going

$299 puts two people in the airplane — one flying from the left seat, one in the back with a window and a camera — routed toward the downtown skyline or west to the Malibu shoreline. This is the anniversary and birthday amount, because the second seat is the whole point. Seats are not swapped in the air, so if both of you want time at the controls, two $229 certificates do it.

If The Airplane Has To Impress Them

The Cirrus SR22 Turbo is $499 for an hour, $649 for ninety minutes and $799 for two hours for one flyer; a passenger adds $100, $200 or $250. Leather seats, a side yoke, a glass panel and a whole-airframe parachute. At 215 knots the same hour reaches considerably further down the coast than the Warrior does. This is the proposal flight and the milestone-birthday flight.

If The Weather Or A Weight Limit Is A Worry

$189 buys sixty minutes in the full-motion simulator, with an instructor sitting beside them exactly as they would in the airplane. It has no weight limit at all, it never cancels for wind or cloud, and it can be booked at any hour we are open. It is an FAA-approved training device rather than a game, so the hour can be logged.

The Flight Training Credit

The certificates above are bought for an hour of flying. This one is bought for a license. It is an open credit against anything we teach — Private Pilot, Sport Pilot, Instrument, Commercial, Multi-Engine, the CFI course or the Airline Pilot program — and it is not tied to a course, an aircraft, a date or a start month. It also works against the parts of training people forget to budget for: flight time, ground instruction, simulator hours, books and exam fees.

There are three amounts. $500 covers about an hour and three quarters in the Warrior with an instructor, or the deposit that holds a course start date. $1,000 is roughly a tenth of a Private Pilot certificate, or the ground school and the books with hours left over. $2,500 is a quarter of the way to a license, and it is the amount that makes somebody take the idea seriously rather than file it under one day.

Several credits can be combined toward the same course, which is what usually happens: a family puts four of them together at Christmas and somebody starts training in January. There is no expiry date on any of them, and the balance does not shrink. If the person you give it to decides they would rather spend it on a discovery flight, or on simulator time, or on an instrument rating five years from now, all of that is allowed. For more holiday ideas, see our Christmas flight gifts.

How It Works

Step 1 of 4

Choose The Flight

Pick the flight and the length, or pick a training credit. The amount follows the flight, so there is nothing to work out. Add a message, and if you want, set a delivery date so it lands on the morning of the birthday rather than three weeks early. Every amount is also on the gift certificate page.

Step 2 of 4

It Arrives By Email With A Code

Delivery is by email, usually within a minute of checkout, or on the date you chose. The email carries the amount, your message and a redemption code. Send it to the recipient directly, or send it to yourself and forward it, or print it and put it in a card — all three work.

Step 3 of 4

They Book Online Or Call

Your recipient chooses the flight they want from discovery flights or flights for two, picks a date and time on the calendar, and enters the code at checkout. If they would rather talk to a person, they call (818) 330-1318 — we are on the phone from 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week — and we book it for them.

Step 4 of 4

They Fly

They arrive at Van Nuys Airport about fifteen minutes early with a government photo ID and closed-toe shoes. That is the entire packing list. Two to two and a half hours later, including briefing and debrief, they walk out with the flight signed into their own pilot logbook if they bring one; we do not provide logbooks. Directions and parking are on our Van Nuys Airport page.

Who This Is For

A flight certificate suits the person who is difficult to buy for, which is most of the people we are all buying for.

• Birthdays — especially the round ones. Forty, fifty, sixty and seventy are the most common ages we fly for the first time.
• Anniversaries — the two-seat amounts exist for this. One flies, one photographs.
• Proposals — the Malibu coast flight at golden hour is the one people choose. Tell us in advance and the instructor will help with the timing and the route.
• Father's Day and Mother's Day — the two busiest gift weekends of our year. Buy the certificate early; the flight itself can be months later.
• Graduations — high school and college. There is no minimum age to fly with an instructor, so this works for a seventeen-year-old as easily as a twenty-two-year-old. For a younger recipient, see flight lessons for kids in Los Angeles.
• Retirement — the classic unfinished-business gift. A great many people spend a working life meaning to learn to fly.
• Corporate and team gifts — client thank-yous, sales incentives, team days. For several certificates at once, see groups and events or call us.
• Still deciding what to buy — flying lesson gift certificates in Los Angeles and discovery flight gift ideas walk through picking an amount and a flight for the person you have in mind.

Gift Certificate Terms, In Plain English

• Delivered by email. Usually within a minute of purchase. No shipping, no delay, no lost package.
• No blackout dates. Weekends, holidays and summer evenings are all bookable at the same value.
• Transferable. If the person you gave it to would rather it went to their brother, it goes to their brother. We do not check names against the code.
• No expiry date, which is what California law requires of a gift certificate. It is good until it is used.
• Unused balance stays on the card. Spend $229 of a $299 certificate and the remaining $70 is still there for a simulator session, a longer flight or a second person.
• Not redeemable for cash. Like every gift certificate, it buys flying, not currency.
• Weather protected. If we cancel for weather, nothing is charged and the certificate is untouched. Free rescheduling up to 24 hours before the flight. The full policy is on our weather and cancellation policy page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where They Will Fly From

All flights depart Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) in the San Fernando Valley, one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world and a genuinely interesting place to spend a morning even before you get in an airplane. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Main Terminal Unit 108, Van Nuys, CA 91406. There is parking on site and the walk from the car to the airplane is short. See Van Nuys Airport for directions, and the airplane for what they will be flying.

More questions? Our full FAQ covers weather, weight, medicals and what happens on the day, and you can reach us any day from 9 AM to 9 PM on (818) 330-1318 or through the contact page.