Guide · 2 launch fields · 2 grounds · operators' own rules
There is no harness and no door.
You climb in, and you stand.
A balloon has the loosest rules on these grounds – no weight limit, children from one year old in Marrakech – and the strictest physical one: you climb into a basket with no door and stand for an hour, and you may land in a field with a bump. This guide lists what the two operators require, what a flight costs, and the accident record from the US National Transportation Safety Board, whose finding is simple: the danger is the landing and the power line, not the height.
Operators' own limits on 2 grounds
No weight limit, but a load. Balloons carry a total lift that depends on the morning's temperature; operators collect passenger weights to plan the load and the compartments, and some charge for a second seat over about 100–125 kg. What every operator does require is the physical minimum: climb into a basket with no door – Wyoming Balloon compares it to mounting a horse – stand for the whole flight, and take a landing that may skid or tip. That is why pregnancy is excluded and why the age limit is really a height limit: a child must see over a four-foot basket wall. Marrakech flies from age one at the pilot's discretion; Jackson Hole from six.
Flights are at dawn, when the air is still, and the pilot cancels on wind – around 5 a.m. in Jackson Hole. A cancelled morning is refunded or moved.
| Ground | Stop | Weight | Age | Also |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson Hole & Yellowstone | Hot-air balloon · Teton Village | no stated limit; weights collected for the load | 6+, “mature, able-bodied” | no pregnancy (insurance); must climb into a doorless basket and stand an hour |
| Morocco | Hot-air balloon · Jbilet hills, Marrakech | no stated limit | 1+; 1–4 at the pilot's discretion | 16–20 in the basket; landing in the Jbilet |
Cheapest bookable offer per ground, as retrieved Sept 25, 2026
The price range on our grounds is the widest of any activity: from about €10 for a shared basket over the Jbilet hills outside Marrakech to $525 for a private-style dawn flight beside Grand Teton. In between, Marrakech sells premium baskets at €75, and most flights include a breakfast on landing. Budget the whole morning: three to four hours from pick-up to the toast.
| Ground | Offer | From | Reviews | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morocco | Marrakech: balloon flight with Berber breakfast and certificate | €9.49 | ★ 4.8 · 14,954 | Book → |
| Jackson Hole & Yellowstone | Teton Village: Grand Teton sunrise hot-air balloon flight | $525 | ★ 4.7 · 125 | Book → |
The US record is the best kept. The NTSB counted 45 fatal hot-air balloon accidents between 1982 and 2015, and more than half involved collisions with power lines – a balloon has no engine to climb away from a wire in the last hundred feet of a landing. The worst single accident is recent: Lockhart, Texas, 30 July 2016, the pilot and all 15 passengers, a power-line strike in poor visibility. The regulatory gap the NTSB has pushed on since is that a US commercial balloon pilot needs 35 flight hours, 20 of them in balloons, and no medical certificate – against 250 hours for an aeroplane. Read that as a passenger: ask who is flying, how long they have flown, and whether they cancel on wind. In Europe commercial balloon pilots hold an EASA licence with medical; the German BFU logs balloon accidents with general aviation and reports none in recent years with passenger fatalities.
45fatal balloon accidents · USA 1982–2015
“More than half involved collisions with power lines.” The NTSB has urged tighter FAA oversight of commercial balloon operations; the FAA declined.
Source: Congressional Research Service, Commercial Balloon Safety (2016), citing NTSB data
16dead at Lockhart, Texas · 30 July 2016
The pilot and all 15 passengers – “the deadliest balloon crash in U.S. history” – after the balloon struck power lines.
35 hflight time for a US commercial balloon rating
20 of them in balloons; commercial aeroplane pilots need 250 hours. Balloon pilots “are not required to obtain FAA medical certification”.
Source: Wyoming Balloon Company, FAQ
Neither of our operators states one; they collect weights to plan the load, and heavier passengers may be asked to book a second seat. The real requirement is physical: climb unaided into a doorless basket, stand for the flight and take a bumpy landing.
One year old in Marrakech, with children of one to four flying at the pilot's discretion on the day; six at Jackson Hole, where the operator asks for “mature, able-bodied” passengers. Small children must be able to see over the basket wall.
From about €10 for a shared basket over the Jbilet hills near Marrakech, €75 for the premium basket there, to $525 beside Grand Teton in Jackson Hole. Breakfast on landing is usually included. See the price table above.
The NTSB counted 45 fatal balloon accidents in the US between 1982 and 2015, over half of them collisions with power lines, and the Lockhart crash of 2016 killed 16. Commercial balloon pilots in the US need only 35 flight hours and no medical certificate, which is the gap the NTSB has argued about since. Practically: fly at dawn with an operator who cancels on wind, and ask who is piloting.
Pregnancy is excluded at Wyoming Balloon Company for insurance reasons, and most operators follow suit. Fear of heights is rarely a problem in a balloon – there is no edge, no motion and no wind in your face; most nervous passengers describe it as standing on a balcony.
Because the air is stillest then. Wind is the one thing a balloon cannot fight, and the go/no-go call is made around 5 a.m.; a cancelled flight is refunded or rebooked.