We get a lot coming into Barton, based there a few days to cover footie matches etc.
I think it's fairly easy to blag a ride - just hang around and ask the pilot. But be advised once up they stay up for hours - and they are unheated. And there's no loo.
I once blagged ride on one which was moored on the south side at Manch (remember that? It's 24L / 06R now). We got off the mast, but the wind was blowing us towards the runway. The controller could see what was happening and held a jet at the hold until we got clear, but our Blimpsman bottled out and put it back on the mast. So I have flown in one - about 30 feet out and the same back, and about 6 feet up.
They'll never catch on.
SSD