Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
Days after the 50th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta wound up, people were still talking about it on social media.
Many of them noted that half of the sessions had been canceled because of inclement weather and they wondered if they were entitled to a rain check.
Although the fiesta does not offer refunds, it does provide rain checks, said fiesta spokesman Tom Garrity.
“General admission tickets, if unused, are valid for any 2023 session,” he said. “If used, but the event got rained out, “those tickets have already been recharged and those bar code numbers have been reset.”
Some people in social media postings expressed frustration that they had just paid the $20 parking fee and as soon as they got to the ticket gate were told the session had been canceled or that a storm was moving through and they should return to their cars for shelter.
That parking fee, as well as the ride portion of Park & Ride tickets, are not refundable, Garrity said. “As we state on the Balloon Fiesta website, it’s a weather-dependent event, and you can’t rain check a parking fee or a parking pass.”
People should hold on to their tickets from the canceled sessions until next year, he said.
A customer service representative at Elevate Tickets, the Tempe, Arizona-based company that provides ticketing services for the Balloon Fiesta, said the rain checked tickets are automatically updated and will show that when presented at the admission gate next year, but there is no process in place for ticket holders to confirm in advance that their tickets have been updated.
