Journeys Aviation, Boulder | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I almost took flight lessons here, but after reading some of the comments, and my experiences there, they were not passing the gut check. Also, I think it’s safe to say this is one of the worst experiences I’ve had at an FBO. READ THE RENTAL AGREEMENT CAREFULLY. Among other things, it includes a gag order for giving them a negative review.

The staff assumed that because I had no flight experience with them, that I had no flight experience and I had to repeat and correct them multiple times on this.

I met with one of their flight instructors, and none of his responses indicated he was listening to what I was saying. His focus was on getting a job elsewhere, and on how much money he would be making. He had less than a year of aviation experience at all. Several of his recommendations for lessons scheduling were going to result in higher expenses for me, and delay my training by months, when it could be accomplished in days.

A couple terms that are in their rental agreement:
* “Verbal requests for membership status changes or terminations will not be honored.” They charge a $35 monthly membership fee with a 60 day minimum.
* “I will agree not to denigrate, disparage, or otherwise cast a negative image of Journeys in any way in print, video, or social media…or on the internet in general.”
* “If damage to aircraft occurs for any reason whatsoever during the Rental Period, including damage that occurs through no fault of the Renter, Renter shall be liable to journeys for the first $3,000 of damage to any single-engine rented aircraft and for the first $8,000 of damage to any twin-engine rented aircraft…. Damage includes but is not limited to damage caused by pilot error, weather, and loss due to wear, tear, deterioration, freezing, mechanical…”
* “This limitation does not apply to…flights where the renter is a student pilot…When the student pilot is not under the direct supervision of a Journeys certified flight instructor for the flight involved.”

Assuming one of the other reviews I read was accurate, they’ve doubled pilot liability from $1,500 in the last year.

The instructor initially charged me for the hour spent meeting him. No instruction was received, this was just an initial consultation. This did not end up getting billed, but only because I called it out.

The FBO includes fairly standard accommodations. Some pre-packaged food for sale, easy access to oil disposal and window cleaning supplies. Concessions included, among others, some fried food that had been sitting out at room temperature for an indeterminate amount of time. If they have charts for sale, they were not easily accessible. I was only able to find a statewide planning map in their briefing area, and was unable to locate an accessible computer or other charts either for purchase or use. Their noise abatement procedures require you stay >2300AGL (7500MSL) until you’re roughly 2 miles out from all directions except the north or east.

Overall a great place to work and fly with awesome ownership and linemen, but plagued by huge underlying management issues.

There is little to no standardization between how instructors are allowed to charge for flights. Some will blatantly and obviously take advantage of students by rounding up time or having overly long and unproductive ground lessons. Many of these instructors rarely send students to checkride because it is detrimental to them and their time building goals. They do little to hide this.

Other instructors are incredible, straightforward, transparent, and honest, and genuinely want the best for you and your aviation career because they love flying and want you to love flying too.

Very few staff actually live in Boulder

There is zero standardization for pay. My onboard pay was more than what some people who were there for years were getting paid, and were never offered a raise. After my stay, new hires were offered more than what I was offered.
Additionally, management does very little to facilitate teamwork, morale, and productivity, and is generally interested in enforcing policy, or changing policy to better fit their opinion of how the business should operate—with little to no interest in the opinions of people who actually make the business run day to day.

Because of this, customer service is nowhere close to streamlined. If you fly here, do not be surprised if your flight is canceled the same day (even just a few hours before) even for multiple days in a row. This has happened countless times to me and to other folks.

Fuel is relatively cheap compared to surrounding airports, and depending on your aircraft, service will be relatively quick.

Aircraft are very well maintained and safe. I would argue better than surrounding airports.

Terminal is well kept. Folks on both (glider and FBO) sides of the field are lovely and great to talk to and will not hesitate to give you advice on how to achieve your aviation goals.

I took a discovery flight today. What a great experience. I stopped by about a week ago to check them out. Jeff spent at least an hour with me showing the planes and explaining how the flight school worked. I came back today and flew with Lawrence. He went over everything with me starting with how to check aviation weather. Then we did a complete preflight check on the airplane. Except for a few critical items, I taxied and flew the plane the whole time. Very cool.
I’ve checked three other flight schools in the past month. They were at two different airports, one of which I took my very first discovery flight. I had nothing to compare it to, but still wasn’t sure.

Let me tell you, these guys are great. Driving to Boulder is not as convenient as the other two airports, but they will earn my business by their attitude and taking the time to explain everything I wanted to know (which was a lot)