Is this common practice?

[sergeantpowers 0]

A few months ago, I did my first tandem jump at a different DZ than the one where I'm doing my AFF now. Everybody seemed really nice, but something struck me as a bit odd. They charged us an extra $10 each for "extra altitude," to jump from 14,000 as opposed to 10,000 feet. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but the more I thought about it and the more I read about skydiving I started thinking that sounded a little shady. I may be overreacting, that may be a totally common and legit practice. I've never asked if they do this at my home DZ. It just seems a little shady to me, with my very limited experience in the field of skydiving. I mean, what would they do if one of us didn't pay? Make us jump early? Put us on a separate load, going to 10,000 feet?

So my question is, is this typically the way drop zones handle tandems or did we unknowing whuffos get taken advantage of?

[kelpdiver 2]

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So my question is, is this typically the way drop zones handle tandems or did we unknowing whuffos get taken advantage of?

Altitude costs fuel and time. Both cost money. $10 to shift from 10k to 14k is a lot less than typical. Some places will do two passes, one at 9 or 10, and one at full altitude.

[sergeantpowers 0]

Okay, that makes sense. I just wasn't sure if that was typical or not.

[billeisele 130]

places I jump have one price and no add-on fees

Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

[denete 3]

Did you have to buy weather insurance too?

SCR #14809

"our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe"
(look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

[Nutz 0]

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Did you have to buy weather insurance too?

Bwahahaha, bottom line - you got ripped. I have seen Fast Eddie get out at 10,500 because somebody wouldn't pay for the full altitude. (It costs more fuel to do more than one jump run - even at different altitudes.)

"Don't! Get! Eliminated!"

[BETO74 0]

I'll say is marketing, I been in dropzones where they wont mix fun divers with tandems so they get a load up with 3 or more tandems no fun jumpers unless they are exiting at 5,000ft them they get a full load of fun jumpers, the tandems exit at 10,000ft the fun jumpers at 13,500ft this reduces the turn around time according to the DZO.
Not sure about the comment a pass a different altitudes cost more money statement, I been on DZ's were if a skydiver states in advance his intention of doing a more of a 180 degree turn on landing or doing a down wind landing he will exit at 10,000 ft on climb the only difference is he will exit downwind on run way.

A question I have for you is how much did you pay for your tandem maybe you paid less money because the difference in altitude represented that $10 cost.

All dropzones have different prices and different ways of doing business and market some of them are borderline deceiving a $10 for 3,000ft does not seem outrageous

http://web.mac.com/ac057a/iWeb/AC057A/H0M3.html

[councilman24 37]

If you truely had an option and knew about it ahead of time from their literature or website then sounds fine.

If you didn't know about it ahead of time and were told it's $10 more because we're going higher, pay up. Not so good.

But we all pay for altitude. Giving a tandem a choice is of higher for more is fine. Most places have a set fee and a set altitude. It wouldn't come up.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[lekstrom10k 0]

That sounds like the same place that sells terrorist insurance too. Video insurance is next.

[BIGUN 1,312]

Did you do your first tandem at a Cessna 182 dropzone?

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[davelepka 4]

$10 for 4k isn't a bad rate at all. It terms of paying to jump from a plane, altitude is really what you're paying for, so more of it should cost more.

Solo jumpers pay $15 to jump from 5k, $20 to jump from 10K, and $23 to jump from 13k. It does cost mroe to go higher, and in terms of doing a tandem, it's probably worth it.

If you're spending $200 to make a tandem from 10k with an opening altitude of 5k or 5.5k, you're talking about 5k or 4.5k of freefall time. Another $10 to exit at 14k almost doubles your freefall time seems like a good deal to me.

[JoeQ.Public 0]

Congrats!!!! You have been fucked by Skyride. Tell us which DZ this was. There is someone here that swears those DZs have cleaned up their act and don't do this stuff anymore.

Very soon, an honest person will not be able to sing the last 2 lines of our National Anthem:::Practice safe dining....use condiments

[swoopfly 7]

hey

Yes you have been ripped off! I did my first jump at a very unfriendly dropzone here in Ga, it might have even been the one you went to. They just take an extra 10 in there pocket....why? Well because you dont know any better and im sure after a day of tandems they made some pretty good tip money. But what they dont know in the long run, is i did my aff and other 293 jumps at the better dropzone. So in the long run that 10$ screwed them outta over 10,000 dollars. Im glad i had that happen early to take my money to a better business. Anyway next time just say no thanks as you will be going to 14,000 ft anyway.

[BDashe 0]

skyride/ASC debate aside, of all the DZs I've visited so far 4 of em in 3 different states in 3 timezones had varying altitudes for tandems for different prices. One had 3 options for altitude, each incriment more expensive than the previous.

You saying we're all getting ripped off by paying more to go to full altitude than hop n pops? Hop n pop prices are the only fair prices for jumpers to pay whether they exit at 3, 5, or 18000 feet?

Altitude costs money, $10 for 2-3 people on a tandem (depending if you had video) going an extra 4,000 feet for 25 more seconds of freefall is totally reasonable.

This is a common practice at numerous DZs around the country and I'm sure around the world whether your personal bais wants to admit it or not.

So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

[kelpdiver 2]

To all the people claiming ripoff or skyride, get a clue.

For the DZs that offer 18k tandems, price differentiation has always been part of it. You want to go to 18k, you pay for it. (It's only a problem when you don't actually get the extra altitude, though personally I think past 15k, there's little value in paying for more).

Skydance has also long had special on lower altitude jumps, allowing them to sell it for $40 less than the usual CA price (199). During winter, I've seen them drop that to $100. And yes, they do two passes. The economics of the PAC may make this work for them.

The other rip I can recall is Las Vegas (and others?) selling MSL instead of AGL.

[Rstanley0312 1]

The other rip I can recall is Las Vegas (and others?) selling MSL instead of AGL.

[Cashmanimal 0]

I don't think it's a case of getting ripped off, or a case of getting fucked by skyride.

At our DZ, we sell 10k tandems, but those are from the Cessna and operate on weekdays only. This is laid out when the prices are described. Many people, unfortunately, miss this point and come in to redeem their ticket on a weekend when we are using the PAC. We then have to explain that we only operate the PAC on weekends, and if they wish to jump that day, it's an extra $40 (to 15k).

I don't think it's an unfair or unreasonable practice. In fact, I think the OP got a pretty good deal.

It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

[Vimes 0]

The DZ where I work offers 12k or 15k for different prices, all clearly advertised. Customers choose before getting on the plane the alt they want to go to and how much it will cost.

Being asked in plane for extra money seems a shady sales tactic to me.

[PhreeZone 20]

Whats funny about that is those tickets are actually good for AGL. You end up getting an extra 1000 feet past what the web page says for free if you use AGL (typically its 13500 MSL or higher).

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[377 22]

I don't see it as a ripoff, but DZOs shoud be careful to avoid customer perception of being ripped off. Maybe they should have explained the prices and choices more clearly. It does cost the DZO more to fly you higher, but how they market it determines how it is perceived.

If we want to attract more licensed jumpers to the sport, we need to treat tandem passengers ethically, ALWAYS!

Thank goodness for tandems. But for tandems we'd all be paying $50 for jumps from ratty old Cessnas.

Don't kill the golden goose.

377

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[BDashe 0]

I can think of multiple chicken littles on here that would start 6 threads if that practice was occurring at one of 2 DZ's...

All perfectly acceptable practice(s) with very reasonable justifications regardless of location.

To OP- sounds like you had a great and successful jump, and also got some extra vertcal skymiles for $10 more on a $200+ package. Can't find any faults with that day! Hope to see you in our playground again sometime soon!

So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

[twistedspark 0]

$10 sounds like a pretty minimal, though cheesy charge. I understand at my DZ they charge tandem's $200 for an 8-10K jump (exit alt. depends on atmoshperic conditions during the actual jump run), and $225 for 10-13.5k.
One dollar per second of FF. Ten bucks is much better.
They put 4 tandems in a load with 4 to 8 fun jumpers.
I've seen many times where a tandem will get out at 10k by himself 'cuz he wasn't willing to pay the extra $25 above the "advertised price." lol

[sergeantpowers 0]

It was ASC in Cedartown. IIRC our price wasn't too bad, it was something like $180 before the extra fee. And they told us about the charge on the phone when we booked it, before they got our credit card info. So they didn't try to mislead us or anything. I've heard a lot of bad things about ASC, but our jump went really well. Everybody there seemed really cool, and we had a great time. I just wasn't sure about the extra altitude charge; it seemed reasonable at the time, I just started thinking about it and thought it sounded like it may be a way to squeeze some extra cash out of people who don't know any better. But that makes sense.

I just wanted to make sure we hadn't gotten scammed. Especially since we almost booked thru Skyride until I looked it up and found some shady stuff about them. So we decided to go through the DZ directly, just to be safe. Either way, it turned out well... I was hooked after my first tandem and decided to go the AFF route.

[legalize1966 0]

Swing and a miss. They actually seem to be up front, the other DZ mentioned isn't.

[legalize1966 0]

UH OH! hold on here it comes Bdash!