Starwood steps up for Star Mega Do 2010
As the official hotel brand of Star Mega Do 2010 the participation of Starwood Preferred Guest in the week’s events was never in doubt. Nor was earning of SPG points for stays booked as part of the event. But there was a small amount of unknown about just what special benefits the brand would bring to the program. At least part of that question has been answered with an announcement last night.
Starwood will be providing all paid rooms with 1000 bonus SPG points per night for stays booked on the discounted group rate throughout the week. These points are in addition to any other benefits, earnings and promotions that would be accrued through stays at the properties. In addition, Starwood is offering an instant status match to Platinum, the top tier in the SPG program, for top tier folks in other major programs. Enrollment for this match is expected to be available in August.
Combined with the commitment from Continental and Lufthansa to issue miles for the charter portion of the trip – and we’re still working with other Star Alliance carriers to secure their participation as well – the earning potential for the event is significant. It is still outweighed by the behind-the-scenes experiences that all participants will get to participate in, but certainly a nice little bonus.
Star Mega Do 2010 Bookings open on Friday!
By now you’ve probably read all about the itinerary and just how much fun is going to be had during Star Mega Do 2010, so much so that you’re ready to book. Right? The wait is almost over. Booking will open this Friday, June 11, at 12 noon EDT.
The best part is that you do not need to pay the full booking price this Friday. You will need to pay a non-refundable $100 deposit for your space on the charter. The balance of the payment will be due towards the end of July. Space on the charter is limited and will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you want to guarantee a space for yourself – particularly in the highly demanded first class cabin – you’re going to need to book quickly.
The booking process will require you to specify, among other bits:
- Your personal details
- The legs and class of service for the charter
- which of the scheduled flights you intend to book and on which date (UA feeder flights, TATL eastbound on LH/OS/LX, TATL westbound on LH, final TATL eastbound SEA-Europe on LH)
- Specify if you require a discount / Continental MeetingWorks code to get to/from IAH and later SEA
- Indicate if you will stay at the Starwood properties that will host the event on the ground
If you do choose to stay as part of our negotiated group at the hotels then we’ll take care of all the ground transport issues and the booking process; you’ll be responsible for paying the hotel directly at the time of the stay.
Got any questions? Post a comment or send an email to airbusdo@gmail.com.
Pricing announced for StarMegaDo 2010
Following on the recent announcement of the itinerary, we are pleased to announce that the few lose ends have been tied up and that we have finalized the pricing for the event. Here’s a recap of the schedule:
November 1
We meet at JFK airport for a snack and drinks to board LH 405 (dep 22.45) to fly to FRA
[or for those who want to try LX: we board LX 15 (dep. 20.55) to fly to ZRH and then LX 1072 to FRA]
[or for those who want to try OS: we board OS 88 (dep. 18.55) to fly to VIE and then LH 1235 to FRA]
November 2
We arrive at FRA, the participants starting the SMD2 in Europe join us from this point
Evening reception at 19.00: TBD, we surely will make it an event similar to last year
November 3
We board LH440 (dep. 10.40) to fly to Houston (arr. 15.30)
Evening reception at 19.00: will be a quiet event, to allow people to recover from the past flights. Participants starting the SMD2 for the domestic US portion join us from this point
November 4
Continental day: CO will host us in IAH.
Evening: we take a break from SMD 2 to join the Frequent Traveler Awards event in Houston
November 5
8.00 am Charter flight in IAH to fly to PHX
The charter will be operated by a Continental 757-300 with 24 F and 192 Y config. We have the option to add a 737-900 with 20F/153Y or bigger if the booking situation demands it.
On arrival in PHX we join US Airways for an event.
~12.30 pm: We depart PHX for PAE
TBD pm: we arrive in Paine Field at Boeing to tour the facilities and visit LH’s latest aircraft type, the 748i
November 6
Participants start their their journey home:
Europeans take LH 491 (dep. 15.45) back to FRA,
Domestic participants take the CO plane back to IAH at 9 am. This is optional, you will have the option to request the additional leg if you desire. This will a be no-frill standard catering flight back as if you are flying a regular commercial flight; if there is overwhelming demand seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
There are two cost components that we have details available for at this time, the TATL flights originating in the USA and the charter flights.
For the TATL there are three Star Alliance carriers offering discounted rates for us, Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian:
- LH JFK-FRA-IAH: 2748US$++ (3128$ a.i.) in Z, 320US$++ (700$ a.i.) in W/S
- LX JFK-xZRH-FRA: 1566$ a.i. in Business, 341$ a.i. in Economy (P)
- OS JFK-xVIE-FRA: 1369$++ in Business (J)
For the charter flights there are two classes of service available, First and Coach. In addition to the bigger seats the first class cabin will include premium catering and booze, though the back of the plane will hardly be a dry experience. The pricing will be: $1,499 for first class and $699 for economy.
The charter price includes transportation and service from/to IAH-PHX-PAE. If you choose to attend the event starting in PHX, no discount will be available. As mentioned above the repositioning leg back to the location where the charter came from is optional (so PAE-IAH on the morning of the next day is included in the price, but you don’t have to take it and can stop in PAE/SEA). Also included in the price are all the meals noted above, ground transfers, tours and more.
Sign up will be coming soon, just as soon as we have a booking system in place.
Star Mega Do 2 Happy Hour in Stockholm: 3 May
No, it isn’t an official part of the main trip, but for folks in the Stockholm area interested in having a few drinks and chatting about SMD2 with one of the organizers, Tommy is going to be drinking in Stockholm on Monday, May 3, 2010, and you’re all invited. No guarantees that it will be as much fun as the official launch party last week, but there’s a pretty good chance of fun and just a bit of troublemaking.
Scandic Anglais, Humlegårdsgatan 23
102 44 Stockholm
Time: 9PM–
A Mega itinerary for a Mega Do!
This past Friday night the itinerary for the 2010 Star Mega Do was announced at a party in Marina del Ray, California. The room was packed with veterans from the 2009 edition and other FlyerTalkers who all wanted to be involved in the event as well as folks looking for a good party out on the West coast. Some of the photos suggest there were upwards of 50 folks crowded into the room for the event; the bar tab suggests even more. Either way, this luck group was the first to hear the official news.
And now that I’ve recovered from the rather vicious hangover (Marty, I’m gonna get even!) here’s the itinerary for everyone else to chew on:
Monday, November 1
JFK-FRA: We expect that to be on the LH A380 though the aircraft is not yet confirmed to be on that route.
Tuesday, November 2
Arrive FRA. Party with *A and LH in FRA.
*For folks starting in Europe you will be invited to join on Tuesday evening
Wednesday, November 3
FRA-IAH. Arrive IAH and dinner with CO.
*For folks who want to only do the USA part of the event you’ll be joining us in IAH for the dinner or tomorrow morning for the tours.
Thursday, November 4
CO tours in IAH.
Thursday, November 4 – Evening
The First Annual Frequent Traveler Awards!
Built on the legacy of The Freddies, the FT Awards will allow the community to honor the loyalty programs that make everything we do just a bit more fun.
Friday, November 5
Charter flight!
IAH-PHX: Meet with US Airways in PHX
PHX-PAE: Fly in to an airport that doesn’t really see traditional commercial service (cool new dot/line) and go on a special tour of the Boeing factory where the 747-8i is being built.
Party in Seattle area Friday night
Saturday, November 6
Charter flight back to either Chicago or Houston, depending on which aircraft we end up chartering.
We thought we had figured out the details of which aircraft we’d be using for the charter but we had a last minute entrant from another carrier that is interested in providing us with that service. So we are still working out the details and hope to have more specific pricing and an answer to which aircraft we’ll be using (747, MD-11 or 753/73E/738s) in the very near future.
Regarding pricing of the event, we expect that the charter price point will be at or below last year’s price. Depending on the aircraft selected there will be a mix of F, C, E+ and E- available. The TATL flights will be about the same price in Y (~$600) and will be more expensive in C (~$3000).
We’re getting a great rate with Starwood for the hotels along the way and there will likely be a Fast Track promo for status associated with it.
Star Mega Do 2: Another wild ride!
Things have been a bit quiet on the Star Mega Do front lately, but only on the public side. In the background our crew has been toiling away day and night putting together an itinerary that will knock you socks off. Tonight, at 6pm PDT in Los Angeles, California, the itinerary will be unveiled and the details shared. If you’re in town (or one of the ~75 folks traveling in just for the party) you can join us at Tony P’s in Marina del Ray to hear the details in person. If you cannot be there, I’ll drink your share and still manage to post here what’s going on.
Will there be long-haul flights full of partying aerophiles? You bet!
Charter aircraft with custom catering and ridiculous antics? It wouldn’t be a Star Mega Do without those bits!
Surprises that I’m pretty sure you cannot guess yet? Absolutely!
The party tonight is going to be great and the party on the planes is going to be even better. Get ready, because you’re not going to want to miss this event!
A ton more Star MegaDo videos
Sure, it has taken way longer than it probably should have, but I’ve finally managed to get a bunch more videos uploaded. These are mostly from the presentation on Friday from Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa’s Executive Vice President Marketing & Sales and Member of the Executive Board though the first one is the opening greeting from Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
Enjoy!
More photos from the Airbus factory tour
Just a few more photos from inside the final assembly building at Toulouse…
A party on neutral ground
Following the long day of flights and tours Lufthansa was gracious enough to host us for a night cap in the Tower Lounge near gate A65 at Frankfurt International Airport. This is one of their newer lounges and it is quite impressive. It also is outside of the Schengen border control zone. That meant all 200 of us had to pass though immigration to attend the party. Fortunately they had warned the border police about our plans so there were a couple guys there ready to work with us.
At that point we were no longer really in Germany from an immigration perspective. But we weren’t really anywhere else, either. We were essentially nowhere and having a phenomenal time!
And then, about an hour later when the lounge closed, it was back into Germany and another pass through the border check and another stamp on the passport. We visited two countries during the day – Norway and France – and did it with nary a glance at most passports. But to get to a party 500 meters from the gate took two stamps. Certainly strange, but also a great story.
Star Mega Do coverage in the WSJ
Check it out…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904574529622404278810.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
If you were always on the road and seemed to live on airplanes, would you spend your vacation visiting airlines?
More than 200 vagabond business travelers, peripatetic frequent-flier-mile addicts and aviation enthusiasts did just that last week. Over four days, they traveled from the U.S. to Germany, Norway and France to meet with executives, pilots and mechanics at four airlines—plus representatives of aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The event, organized by members of FlyerTalk.com, a Web site that caters to frequent fliers, even included chartering a Boeing 757-300 to zip from airline hangar to airline hangar.