Return And Refund Policy
All sales are final. Instead of a refund, your purchase is yours to give away: transfer it to another person free of charge with 48 hours notice, and nothing you buy from us expires. We tell you this before you pay, not after.
What This Policy Covers
This Return and Refund Policy applies to every purchase made from Airline Pilot Flight School — including introductory flight lessons and Discovery Flights, flight training, additional flight time for enrolled students, sessions in the Redbird MCX advanced aviation training device, instructional packages, block hours, and gift certificates.
It forms part of, and should be read with, our Terms of Service and our Discovery Flight Terms and Conditions. Where a Discovery Flight is concerned and the two documents differ, the Discovery Flight Terms and Conditions govern that booking.
Last updated: 4 September 2026.
Four Sentences, Then The Detail
All sales are final and we do not issue refunds. But your purchase is yours to give away: you may transfer it to another person, free of charge, with at least 48 hours written notice. Nothing you buy from us expires. If we cancel for weather or maintenance, you reschedule at no cost.
We tell you this before you pay, not after. It is on this page, it is in the Terms of Service, and it is on the booking page for every service we sell. Please read the rest of it, because the parts that cost people money are the cancellation window, the no-show rule and the weight limits, and all three are further down.
One thing that is not open to negotiation and is not a refund question: the pilot in command decides whether a flight is safe to conduct. That decision is final, and a safety cancellation is not a failure to deliver.
Final Sales, Free Transfers And Rescheduling
1. All Sales Are Final
All payments made to Airline Pilot Flight School are non-refundable, except where a refund is required by law. This includes flight lessons, Discovery Flights, training packages, block hours, sessions in the advanced aviation training device, additional flight time, deposits, and gift certificates.
This is not arbitrary. When you book, we take an aircraft and a certificated flight instructor out of service and hold them for you. We schedule fuel, maintenance and staff around your reservation. That capacity cannot be resold once it is committed to you, whether or not you use it.
You acknowledge and accept this policy at the time of purchase, before any charge is made.
2. Your Purchase Is Transferable — Free
Because we do not refund, we make it easy to hand your purchase to someone else instead.
Requests made less than 48 hours before the scheduled time are treated as a late cancellation under Section 4 and may be forfeited.
- You may transfer any purchase to another person at no charge, provided you notify us in writing at least 48 hours before the scheduled flight or lesson.
- Text (747) 688-9988 or use the contact form with your booking details and the name, email and phone number of the person receiving it.
- The person receiving the transfer must meet every eligibility requirement — including age, identification and the weight limits in Section 6 — and must sign our liability release before flying.
- There is no limit on how many times a purchase may be transferred, so long as each transfer is requested at least 48 hours in advance.
3. Rescheduling
You may reschedule at no charge with at least 48 hours written notice. A $50 rebooking fee applies to any reschedule requested inside 48 hours, at our discretion.
Cancellations, Late Arrival, No-Shows And Our Own Cancellations
4. Cancellations, Late Arrival And No-Shows
A Discovery Flight is treated differently and more strictly: under our Discovery Flight Terms and Conditions, a cancellation inside 48 hours of a Discovery Flight is charged the full price. Where that document and this section differ, that document governs the Discovery Flight.
- Cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in advance. Cancellations inside 24 hours may be charged a late cancellation fee of up to 50% of the scheduled lesson.
- No-shows are charged in full. If you do not arrive, the lesson is marked complete and the full amount is forfeited.
- Arriving more than 30 minutes late is treated as a no-show and is charged in full, because the aircraft and instructor cannot be held past that point without disrupting the students behind you.
5. When We Cancel
If we cancel because of weather, aircraft maintenance, instructor unavailability, airspace restrictions, or any other safety consideration:
Your pilot in command has final authority over whether a flight is safe to conduct. That decision is not negotiable and is not a basis for a refund.
- We will contact you as soon as we can and reschedule you at no additional cost.
- Your purchase remains fully valid and never expires.
- No refund is issued. Safety cancellations are not a failure to deliver — they are us delivering the service responsibly.
Weight, Eligibility And Documentation
Every flight is subject to strict Federal Aviation Administration weight-and-balance limits. These limits are published before you pay, and you confirm them when you book. They are a matter of aircraft safety and are not waivable by us or by you.
The Published Limits
These are the figures printed on each booking page. Weight may be verified on arrival.
- Discovery Flight For One — a single-engine trainer from the fleet — 180 lb.
- Discovery Flight For Two — a four-seat single from the fleet — 180 lb per person, 360 lb combined.
- Luxury Discovery Flight — Cirrus SR22 Turbo — 200 lb per person, 400 lb combined.
- Multi-Engine Discovery Flight — Piper Seminole — 600 lb combined.
- Camarillo Lunch Flight For Two — 180 lb per person, 360 lb combined.
- A Redbird MCX Session — no aircraft weight limit applies, because the device does not fly.
What Happens If You Are Over The Limit
If you arrive and exceed the published weight limit for the flight you booked, the flight cannot be flown, the booking is treated as a cancellation inside 24 hours, and the full amount is charged and forfeited.
We will always try to move you onto a suitable aircraft where one is available, and you may pay the difference in price. But we cannot fly an aircraft outside its certificated limits, and a booking made outside the published limits is not something we can refund. If you are anywhere near a limit, call or text (747) 688-9988 before you book.
The same applies if you cannot produce valid identification, if a participant is under 5 years of age, if a participant under 18 arrives without a parent or legal guardian, or if you decline to sign the liability release.
Refusal Of Service, Gift Certificates And Prepaid Credit
7. Right To Refuse Service
We may refuse to fly any person for any lawful reason, including intoxication, impairment, unsafe or abusive behavior, or a determination by the pilot in command that the person is unfit to fly. In those cases the person will not board and the flight is charged in full.
8. Gift Certificates
- Gift certificates are non-refundable and are not redeemable for cash, except where California law requires cash redemption of a small remaining balance.
- Gift certificates do not expire. Consistent with California Civil Code § 1749.5, we do not place an expiration date on gift certificates sold to the public and we do not charge service or dormancy fees.
- Gift certificates are freely transferable.
- We are not responsible for lost or stolen certificates and cannot replace them.
- If you bought through a third-party reseller, refunds are governed by that reseller's policy — please contact them directly.
9. Training Packages And Prepaid Credit
- Training packages, block hours and packages of training-device sessions are non-refundable once purchased.
- Unused prepaid credit does not expire and remains available to you.
- Prepaid credit may be transferred to another student, free of charge, on written request.
Medical Disqualification And Termination Without Refund
10. Medical Disqualification
If you become medically unable to continue training and provide valid documentation from a licensed physician or an FAA Aviation Medical Examiner, your remaining balance may be credited toward future training or transferred to another student. Refunds in this situation are considered case by case and are not guaranteed.
This is one of the reasons this site argues for sitting your medical before you enroll rather than after. The medical page sets out why.
11. Termination Without Refund
We may end your training immediately and without refund for: repeated unsafe behavior; violation of FAA or airport regulations; harassment, abuse or threats toward staff or students; fraudulent enrollment information; or misuse of an aircraft, training device or equipment.
Chargebacks And Payment Disputes
Please read this section carefully. By completing a purchase, you agree to the following.
What You Are Agreeing To
- You have read and accepted this policy before paying. The non-refundable nature of your purchase is disclosed to you, and affirmatively accepted by you, before any charge is made. We record the date, time and IP address of that acceptance.
- You agree to contact us first. If you have any concern about a charge, you will call or text us on (747) 688-9988, or write through the contact form, and give us fifteen (15) days to resolve it before initiating any dispute with your bank or card issuer. Most disputes are simple misunderstandings and we would genuinely rather fix them than fight them.
- A chargeback that contradicts this policy is a breach of this agreement. Initiating a chargeback for a charge you authorized, and for services offered in accordance with these terms, is a breach of contract — not a billing error.
- We keep the evidence. For every booking we retain your timestamped acceptance of these terms, the IP address used, the booking and payment record, all communications, the signed liability release, and attendance records. We submit this evidence in full in response to any dispute.
- You are responsible for our costs. If you file a chargeback in breach of this agreement and it is resolved in our favor, you agree to reimburse us for the disputed amount plus all bank and processor fees, collection costs, and reasonable attorneys' fees permitted by law.
- Consequences. While a disputed balance is outstanding, we may suspend your training, decline further bookings, refer the balance to collections, and pursue any remedy available to us at law.
What This Section Does Not Do
Nothing in this section asks you to give up any right you hold under law, and nothing in it prevents you from contacting your card issuer. It sets out what we have agreed, what we will show, and what follows from a dispute brought in breach of that agreement.
13. Talk To Us First
If something has gone wrong, tell us. We answer the phone, and a real person will get back to you. Call or text (747) 688-9988, 9am to 9pm, seven days, or write through the contact form.
Almost everything that ends up as a dispute started as a question nobody asked. Fifteen days is not a formality; it is how long it takes us to pull a booking record, listen to what happened and put it right where we can.
Contact Us
Airline Pilot Flight School.
7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108, Van Nuys, CA 91406.
Telephone and text: (747) 688-9988. A real person answers, 9am to 9pm, seven days.
Written notice under any of these policies may be given by text message to (747) 688-9988 or through the form at flightschool.la/pages/contact. No support email address is published for this school; the two channels above are the written channels, and a message through either is a written notice.
The Status Of This Document
This document is published by Airline Pilot Flight School at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY), 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108, Van Nuys, CA 91406. The registered legal entity that operates the school, and its state of formation, are still to be added to this document; until they are, the trading name above is the party these terms refer to. It was last updated on 4 September 2026.
Airline Pilot Flight School trains under part 61 of 14 CFR. It is not an airline, it is not owned by one, and no carrier holds a cadet program, pathway agreement or hiring arrangement with us. Nothing in this policy is a guarantee of a training outcome, a certificate, a checkride result, a job or a salary.
No pass rate, no graduate count, no review and no rating of any kind is published anywhere on this site, and none is claimed in this document.
Common Questions About Refunds
No. All sales are final and no refund is issued, except where a refund is required by law or in the medical-disqualification case in Section 10. What you get instead is a free transfer to another person with 48 hours notice, and a purchase that never expires.
At least 24 hours for a lesson. A cancellation inside 24 hours may be charged a late cancellation fee of up to 50% of the scheduled lesson. A Discovery Flight is stricter: a cancellation inside 48 hours is charged the full price under the Discovery Flight Terms and Conditions.
Nothing, with at least 48 hours notice. Inside 48 hours a $50 rebooking fee applies, at our discretion. A request to transfer the booking to somebody else is free with the same 48 hours notice.
Not arriving, or arriving more than 30 minutes late. Both are charged in full, and the lesson is marked complete. The aircraft and the instructor cannot be held past that point without pushing every student behind you off their slot.
No. Consistent with California Civil Code section 1749.5 we place no expiration date on gift certificates sold to the public and charge no service or dormancy fee. They are freely transferable and are not redeemable for cash, except where California law requires cash redemption of a small remaining balance.
We reschedule you at no cost and your purchase stays valid indefinitely. No refund is issued, because a safety cancellation is not a failure to deliver. Van Nuys is a good field for this: measured against NOAA ASOS observations, 355 days in the twelve months to 1 August 2026 were training-capable.
We cannot fly you, the booking is treated as a cancellation inside 24 hours, and the full amount is charged. We will try to move you to an aircraft that can carry you if one is free and you may pay the difference. Please check the published limit before you pay, and call (747) 688-9988 if you are close.
Instruction already given and flying already flown are not recoverable, here or at any other school. Unused prepaid credit does not expire, stays available to you, and may be transferred to another student free of charge on written request.
Because a booking takes an airplane and an instructor out of service for you and that capacity cannot be resold. Section 12 asks one thing before you go to your bank: give us fifteen days. Nothing in it removes a right you hold under law or stops you contacting your card issuer.
Ask The Awkward Questions Before The Money Moves
Every term on this page is easier to ask about before a deposit than after one. Call or text (747) 688-9988 and ask about the cancellation window, the transfer rule and the weight limit for the aircraft you want to fly. If you would rather test the thing itself first, an hour in an airplane costs $229.
The Rest Of The Agreement
Fly The Aeroplane Once, Then Decide
The assessment flight is the first hour of the syllabus and a two-way evaluation. You fly it from the left seat with an instructor beside you, they write down what they saw, and you get an honest read on whether the plan is realistic. It is loggable, and it is credited in full against enrolment if you enroll within 24 hours.
What happens on an assessment flight →