I paid $69.95 for my first iFly session. Then I paid $89 for a second one a month later because the first one left me with more questions than answers. This is the review I wish I’d read before I booked.
If you’re weighing whether to spend $70 on 120 seconds of flight time, you are not alone — that question is the single most searched-for thing about indoor skydiving. I went in with zero expectations, walked out with a clear opinion, and went back because I wanted to test whether that opinion held up. It did, mostly, with caveats.
Here’s everything I learned: what you actually get for your money, how the experience compares to what the marketing promises, who it’s absolutely worth it for, and the three groups of people who should probably skip it.
Book your first flight at iFly → — the First-Time Flyer package is what this review is based on.
What you actually get for $70
Let’s start with the numbers, because iFly’s pricing page is a little slippery.
The standard “First-Time Flyer” package advertised at roughly $70 (prices vary by location — urban tunnels run higher) includes:
- Two flights of 60 seconds each. That’s 120 seconds total in the tunnel. Not 2 minutes of “flight experience.” Two minutes of actual flight.
- An instructor with you the entire time. They’re in the tunnel with you, guiding your posture, correcting your body position, and catching you when you flip sideways and drift toward the wall — which you will.
- A 10-minute training class before you fly. Brief video, hand signals, some safety basics. Worth watching carefully; it comes back later.
- Gear rental. Flight suit, helmet, goggles, earplugs. All provided. All sanitized between uses, which I watched them do.
- A “learn to fly” certificate at the end. This is marketing collateral. It is not a real certification, it does not transfer to anything, it will not get you into the tunnel for your next session at any discount. It’s a printout.
What’s not included and catches people off guard:
- Photos and video cost extra. The on-site package runs $20-$30 more for the highlight video (about 60 seconds edited down from your two flights). I think it’s worth it — there’s no other way you’ll see what you looked like flying — but plan for it.
- The “high flight” upgrade is usually another $15-$25 and is, in my opinion, the single best upsell at iFly. More on this below.
- Tipping the instructor is customary in the US for good service. Not required. I gave $10 each time because my instructor was excellent.
So realistic out-the-door cost for a solo first-timer who wants the full experience with video: call it $100-$130. Not $70.
What the 120 seconds actually feel like
The marketing says “it’s like real skydiving without the fall.” That’s… close, but it misrepresents what you’re actually doing.
Here’s what it’s actually like. You step into a vertical wind tunnel generating winds of roughly 120-180 mph. You lean forward into it, arms out wide, chest down. The air catches you. You float. Your brain, which has spent its entire life solving the problem of gravity, suddenly has a new problem: you are hovering three feet off a steel mesh floor and the wall is approaching and you have no steering wheel.
The first 20 seconds of your first flight are chaos. You will drift, flip, panic-tighten your core, and the instructor will reposition you every few seconds. If you haven’t watched the training video carefully, you’ll have no idea what hand signals they’re giving you. I watched three people ahead of me in my first session have essentially the same 20 seconds of mild existential crisis, and then settle in.
From seconds 20-60 of flight one, you start to feel it. The instructor holds your harness less. You realize that small movements — a dipped chin, a tucked knee — change your pitch. You are flying, in the sense that a terrible pilot on their first lesson is flying. You are exhausted — using core muscles most adults don’t regularly engage — and 60 seconds feels both forever and not nearly enough.
Flight two, after a 10-minute rest, is dramatically better. This is the key insight of the whole experience: one flight is a teaser. Two flights is the minimum to actually understand what indoor skydiving is. The first flight is orientation. The second flight is where you start to fly.
The “high flight” upgrade: the sleeper-best deal
iFly will offer you a “high flight” add-on for an extra $15-$25 on top of the standard package. This is where your instructor takes you to the top of the tunnel — 30+ feet up — while holding your harness, then drops with you in a controlled spiral back down.
This is not advertised as the highlight. It absolutely is the highlight. The standard flights are essentially the instructor teaching you; the high flight is the instructor showing you what it actually feels like to move through space the way a real skydiver does. It’s a completely different sensation. It is also the only part of the experience that truly feels like flight, rather than hovering.
Skip the over-priced photo package if you have to. Do not skip the high flight.
How iFly compares to what the marketing promises
iFly’s marketing sells this as “the closest thing to real skydiving without jumping out of a plane.” That’s true only in the narrowest sense of “involves moving air and a body lying horizontally.” The experience is more precisely described as learning to control body position in a wind column. Which is genuinely cool and genuinely hard and genuinely the same core skill as freefall skydiving. But it is not “flying” in any intuitive sense, and it is not “free-falling” — the tunnel is doing the work, not gravity.
What it actually is, honestly: a physical puzzle you solve in real time, with an extremely cooperative instructor, with high stakes for your sense of balance and zero stakes for your actual safety. It’s much closer to learning to surf than it is to skydiving, if I’m being precise.
People who come in expecting an adrenaline rush are often underwhelmed. People who come in curious about their own body and its relationship to air almost always leave grinning.
Who iFly is worth it for
Based on my two sessions and conversations with a dozen other first-timers in the lobby:
1. Gift-buyers shopping for someone hard to shop for. This is iFly’s real business. Dads, teens, grandparents who “have everything” — an experience gift is memorable in a way another gadget isn’t, and indoor skydiving is both unusual enough to feel thoughtful and approachable enough that the recipient won’t decline. The iFly gift card is genuinely one of the better experience gifts you can give under $100.
2. Bucket-list curious people who can’t commit to real skydiving. If you’ve been “meaning to go skydiving for years” but the liability waivers, the $300 price tag, and the fact that you jump out of a plane have kept you away — iFly lets you see if the sensation is something you actually enjoy before committing to the real thing. It’s cheaper than a therapy session and more productive.
3. Kids and teens between 8 and 16. iFly is dramatically better for this age group than for adults. The experience is novel enough to overcome teenage cynicism, the wind tunnel is safer than almost any other activity you could book, and the instructors are unusually patient with nervous kids. Birthday parties at iFly get consistently strong reviews because the kids talk about them for months.
4. Real skydivers who want indoor training time. If you’re a licensed skydiver working on a new discipline (freefly, tracking, body position), tunnel time is how serious skydivers train. This review isn’t for you — you already know iFly’s value.
5. People who need to overcome fear of heights or flying. This is under-marketed. The controlled environment, the gradual exposure, and the fact that there’s an instructor with you make iFly a surprisingly effective low-stakes exposure experience for mild phobias. Not a substitute for therapy, but a useful complement.
Who iFly is not worth it for
1. Adults expecting a pure adrenaline experience. If you want your heart rate in the 180s and your palms sweating, indoor skydiving is not going to deliver. The tunnel environment is too controlled. Go bungee jumping or do a tandem skydive instead.
2. People with shoulder, neck, or back injuries. The flight position (chest down, arms extended, head up) puts sustained load on your shoulders and lower back. My arms were sore for two days after my first session. If you have existing upper-body injuries, talk to your doctor first, and consider booking a shorter package.
3. Anyone booking just one flight and expecting to “get it.” One flight is 60 seconds of confused flopping. If your budget is tight and you can only afford the absolute minimum package, save up and buy a two-flight package instead. One flight alone is genuinely not worth the money. Two flights is.
4. People expecting it to feel like flying in a dream. The tunnel is loud (earplugs are provided for a reason — the wind noise is constant and intense). Your instructor will be touching you, repositioning you, pointing at you with hand signals. It’s a cooperative activity, not a meditative one. People expecting serene floating are usually disappointed.
The price question, answered
Is iFly “worth” $70 (or $100-$130 all-in)?
For the right person, emphatically yes. For the wrong person, no.
The experience is worth what you pay only if you go in understanding that you’re paying for a 120-second physical puzzle, the company of an extremely skilled instructor, and a story you’ll tell for months. You are not paying for adrenaline per second, and by that math the experience is overpriced.
Compared to other bucket-list experiences at similar price points:
- Hot air balloon ride (~$250 for 60 min): iFly is cheaper and more physically engaging. Hot air balloon is more scenic and has better photos.
- Tandem real skydive (~$250-$300 for one jump, ~60 seconds of freefall): More adrenaline, better story, not repeatable without re-paying, not learnable as a skill. iFly is a skill. Real skydiving is an event.
- Movie + dinner (~$100): iFly is more memorable, more Instagrammable, and your date will actually talk about it afterward. But you can’t do iFly every weekend.
- A second-hand PS5 (~$350): More hours of entertainment, less of a story. Different category entirely, but worth acknowledging — $100 of experience vs $350 of gaming is a real trade-off for some households.
The one question that actually matters
When people ask me “is iFly worth it?” I ask them one question back: Do you want to learn something, or do you want to feel something?
If the answer is “feel something” — book a real tandem skydive instead. Pay the $300. Have the story.
If the answer is “learn something, and I’m curious about how flight actually works for my body” — book iFly. Book the two-flight package, not the one-flight. Get the high flight upgrade. Skip the photo package if you’re cost-sensitive. Tip your instructor.
You’ll walk out tired, slightly sore, and talking about it for a week.
Book your first flight at iFly →
Tips for getting the most out of your session
A few things I wish someone had told me:
- Wear athletic clothes you can move in. The flight suit goes over your regular clothes. Cotton t-shirt, athletic shorts or leggings. Avoid loose sweaters or anything with loose jewelry.
- Hair up if you have long hair. The helmet doesn’t fit well over a ponytail. Low bun or braid.
- Eat two hours before, not right before. The wind position is hard on your stomach if you just ate. Light meal 2-3 hours out is ideal.
- Pee right before the flight. You can’t pause a flight to go.
- Don’t drink alcohol before. They’ll turn you away, and they should.
- Watch the training video. Seriously. The hand signals come up in the tunnel and they will save you if you understand them.
- Relax your arms. The single most common rookie mistake is tensing up. The instructor will tell you to relax. They’re right.
Frequently-asked follow-ups
Do I need to be in shape? Not really. iFly has flown people from 3 to 103 years old. You do need basic core strength to hold a flight position for 60 seconds, but most people find it well within their capability.
Can I fly if I wear glasses? Yes. The goggles go over glasses in most cases. Contact lenses also work.
Is it safe during pregnancy? No. iFly requires a waiver declaring you’re not pregnant, and the sustained wind pressure is not considered safe for pregnant flyers.
What if I have a seizure disorder or heart condition? You’ll need to consult your doctor and declare it on the waiver. iFly may require a medical release. Don’t try to hide it.
How loud is it? Loud. Earplugs are provided. You cannot hold a conversation in the tunnel.
Do they take pictures in the tunnel? Yes, cameras are mounted inside the tunnel. You can buy the highlight video on-site after your flight. Budget $20-$30.
Can I cancel or reschedule? Yes, but policies vary by location. Most give you a credit rather than a refund if you cancel within 48 hours. Book with flexibility in mind.
Is there an age minimum? Typically 3 years old, with parent present, for the youngest flyers. Full flight packages usually start at age 4+. Upper age limit is essentially “can you physically handle it” and iFly has flown people in their 90s.
Bottom line: iFly is worth $70-$130 for the right person — gift-buyers, bucket-list curious, kids and teens, and anyone who wants to learn what their body does in moving air. It is not worth it for one-flight shoppers, adrenaline purists, or people with upper-body injuries. Buy the two-flight package. Add the high flight. Skip the photo package if you’re cost-sensitive. Tip your instructor.
Ready to try it? Book at iFly →
This review is based on two sessions at iFly (First-Time Flyer packages, both with high flight upgrades) in 2026. Prices cited are US list prices at time of writing and may vary by location. We received no compensation from iFly or iFlyWorld for this review. We paid for both sessions ourselves and may earn an affiliate commission if you book through the links in this post, at no cost to you. See our full affiliate disclosure.