The Wildest Way to Join the Mile High Club? In a Hot Air Balloon Over California
We chatted with the Temecula balloon company offering rides specifically for getting busy in a basket 5,280 feet up.
Ask pilot Denni Barrett about the “Mile High Flights” he offers at his Temecula, California, hot air balloon company Magical Adventure Balloon Rides, and he’ll tell you: “What happens in the basket stays in the basket.”
But dig a little deeper and he’ll divulge some of the details, like the fact the flight takes riders 5,280 feet—that’s exactly one mile—above Southern California wine country, at which point he pulls a privacy screen to give thrill-seeking bucket-listers the go-ahead to get busy in the basket.
And, he said, they do get busy.
“Somebody who operated a drone from a distance sent me a picture and said, ‘Hey, we're just kind of curious, what was going on there?’” Barrett said, adding that the Mile High Flights are one of the most popular packages for Magical Adventure Balloon Rides, an otherwise traditional hot air balloon company.
“I don't want to be indelicate, but OK, I’ll just be direct: They were [doing it] doggy-style, with the woman over the side of the basket . . . so she could look out.”
There are no judgments though. “We're like the priest in the confessional booth,” he said. “If somebody has a fantasy about having outdoor sex, then this would certainly check that box.”
To create a semblance of privacy, a tall screen creates two completely separate compartments. Pilots also wear noise-canceling headphones and provide a Bluetooth speaker for couples to cover any noisy moments—the balloon can be pretty quiet when the burners aren’t firing.
Once airborne, the flight lasts about an hour, during which pilots spend most of their time intentionally ignoring their passengers; couples are instructed to yell “really loud” if they need anything.
“For the pilots, it’s all business,” Barrett said. “We're focusing on navigation, flying, and trying to stay away from other balloons so that they don't have any spectators.”
Doing the deed in the sky isn’t a new concept. Historical records suggest that the whole idea of the mile high club started on a dare in 1785 when one English aristocrat challenged another to “get into a lady’s knickerbockers while one thousand yards from the Earth.”
Since then, daring lovebirds have dreamed of getting busy while airborne, with opportunistic companies jumping in to fill the gap, including this airline in Las Vegas that offers private Mile High flights for $799.
And while most couples have intimate intentions when they book Magical Adventures’ Mile High flight, some couples just want to fly higher; the mile-high mark is about 2000 feet higher than the traditional hot air balloon flight path. The package also comes with a commemorative certificate and a pin that says you’re a member of the Mile High Club.
“These make great conversation pieces whether guests did or did not do anything in the air,” he said. “I've also had nudists buy the Mile High package just because they wanted to commune with nature, naked in the air, and not do anything sexually.”
As for Barrett, he’s been working Mile High Flights since 2000, when he worked as a pilot for another Temecula balloon company that has since shut down. Initially, he said, mile high customers were mostly “older couples who wanted to spice up their life.” But the clientele has changed to include younger, “extremely fit or alternative lifestyle” folks, too. “It used to be primarily heterosexual couples,” he said. “Now there's a lot of same-sex guests [as well].”
Compared to a cramped airplane lavatory, Barrett said his Mile High Club is downright cavernous. The balloon basket is meant to hold eight to ten people, so when it’s just two (or three or four, he joked), there’s plenty of room to, uh, lie down.
“Okay, sometimes they don't lie down,” he added.
Barrett gives a 15 minute.. 10 minute.. and 5-minute warning before it’s time to descend. Of course, it’s not always easy to call it quits.
“There have been several times where people have decided they wanted seconds or thirds,” he said. “There was one guy who was like, ‘Hey, can you fly just 10 minutes longer, please?’”
Suffice it to say, balloon sex isn’t cheap. Flights start at $1,400 per couple—plus $159 for any additional riders (because balloon-bound group sex happens, too). At least one couple has asked Barrett to keep the privacy curtain open for the sake of exhibitionism. To which, Barrett said, he “spent a lot of time looking away.”
Above all, safety is paramount. Magical Adventures gives the basket a “very good cleaning” after all of its flights, with “specialized cleanings” for Mile High Flights. Customers must also bring their own bedding.
Pilots won’t fly the balloons in high winds or any sort of adverse weather. And, as for the motion created by the action in the basket, even the most fervent of fornicators won’t knock the balloon out of the sky.
“Based on how hard they go at it, there may be some rocking or bouncing, but it’s minimal,” he said. “It’s safe.”
In the end, despite the intimate nature of the flights, Barrett said his customers are usually unashamed when they land.
“We're not talking about the mechanics of it or anything like that,” he said. “People are just really complimentary, saying, ‘Hey, that was really great,’ or ‘That was an unforgettable experience.’”