Canarsie

A celebration of the retirement of Kevin Pinto from Delta Air Lines is currently being planned due to popular demand. Not only does Kevin know all about it, but he gave me his blessing despite being quite modest.

The celebration is expected to occur as a luncheon at the Delta Heritage Museum in Hangar 2 — adjacent to the Spirit of Delta Boeing 767 aircraft — at the world headquarters of Delta Air Lines.

The cost per person will depend on the number of people who will attend and will include admission to the Delta Heritage Museum, as well as a full buffet lunch with choices. For example, the cost per person is expected to be no greater than $30.00 if we can get 50 people to attend. As the number of attendees increases, the cost per person will decrease. Payment options have not yet been set, but payment must be submitted in advance. More information on that will be revealed at a later date.

For every ten people who can attend, additional food menu options can be added as well at no extra charge.

A tentative date has been set for Monday, March 18, 2013 for the following reasons:

1. The Delta Heritage Museum closes for extensive renovation work starting in April and is expected to stay closed for the remainder of 2013
2. The caterer, the Delta Heritage Museum, and Kevin Pinto are all available on that day
3. The event occurring on a Monday allows for those attendees traveling from out of the Atlanta area to leisurely arrive during the weekend and avoid the business travel rush

In addition, work is being done behind the scenes to possibly add a small event or two at the world headquarters of Delta Air Lines. More information on that will become available depending on developments.

Gifts are not required to attend the event. However, if you cannot attend but want to either donate towards the event fee or send a gift to Kevin Pinto, arrangements can be figured out.

Please let me know if you are able to participate in the celebration of the retirement of Kevin Pinto from Delta Air Lines.

MSPeconomist

If another event or two at DL HQs is added, would these be held over the weekend? On Monday? Tuesday?

In addition to the hotel we used for the DL ATL DO (Hilton IIRC), are there other airport hotels that are within walking distance of the museum and other HQ buildings (other than the airport itself, which is accessible using airport hotel shuttles)? I don't remember seeing anything as close as where we stayed.

BTW, thanks for taking the initiative to organize this for us.

Canarsie

There are definitely hotels within walking distance of the Hilton Atlanta Airport, according to the map you should have received when you attended the 2010 Delta Air Lines FlyerTalk Event — but, of course, the Hilton Atlanta Airport is the closest to the world headquarters of Delta Air Lines.

The following hotel properties appear to be within walking distance of the world headquarters of Delta Air Lines:
Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Airport North
Residence Inn Atlanta Airport North

It appears that the Red Roof Inn is no longer a Red Roof Inn, but there are other hotel properties that are within walking distance but further away.

I have the map available as a .pdf file, but I am not certain at this time as to how to have it available to FlyerTalk members. If anyone is interested in hosting a link to this map, please let me know and I will send it to you.

As for additional events, anything is possible. When I find out additional information, it will be posted in this discussion.

mersk862

For my first week of living in Atlanta (before my moving truck arrived) I stayed at the Hyatt Place North; it was about a 10 minute walk to the front gate of the GO.

The airport Renaissance is also quite convenient and they do offer a shuttle to the front gate of the GO.

DLroads

Will reserve it on my calendar tomorrow.
Good to see such a party and for such good reasons!

bennos

Argh... I wish I could make it but there's almost 0 chance I'll be free that day

jb008

Thanks for working on this Canarsie! I'd be more than happy to contribute a bit to a small retirement/thank you gift from the flyertalk community to Mr. Pinto.

Any chance we could set up a paypal (or similar) account that we could chip in via?

Even a little bit from a group should be enough to do a thoughtful little souvenir gift for him (or anyone knows him well enough to put forward a gift idea we could also have a target to shoot for).

Canarsie

Kevin does not know this — until he reads this, anyway — but we already have a couple of customized gifts for him...

...and one of which is the brainchild of DiverDave, who I hope will give additional details in this discussion.

Contributions to the celebration are always welcome, however. I intend to formally acknowledge those who wish to contribute — unless they prefer to remain anonymous, of course.

There is currently no photographer or videographer assigned to this event, which would give Kevin Pinto even more mementos of this planned event.

I have solicited the assistance of several volunteers, all of whom also volunteered for the 2010 Delta Air Lines FlyerTalk Event.

If I need additional volunteers, I post the request in this discussion. I prefer for this to be a collaborative event amongst as many FlyerTalk members as possible, and I would like for as many FlyerTalk members to attend as possible, which is another reason for choosing a date greater than two months away...

MichaelKade

Wish I could. Will be elsewhere that week.

Sez_Who

Just trying to understand...

This is only a luncheon, from maybe noon until 2-3 pm? You say the caterer, museum, and Kevin are available all day but are other events planned? Just trying to put a ribbon around flights.

bowdenj

Thanks for organizing this event!

Canarsie

As of now, the luncheon is being planned. Everything else is still uncertain at this time.

I can ask how long the Delta Heritage Museum will be open for guests, but I wanted to post this discussion as soon as possible so that those who want to attend and thank Kevin Pinto personally can keep the date open.

Here is another incentive to attend: currently, the museum store is closed on Mondays. However, I am hoping that if enough people attend, I can convince them to open the museum store, as FlyerTalk members have been known to set record sales there.

The deadline as to when advance payment needs to be completed is still unknown at this time as well. Again, the primary purpose of launching this discussion now is to gauge interest...

EasternTraveler

Wrong country on that day. The week before or any time else after Wednesday would have been great. But since the date is set, I'm out. If the date changes, I will be IN!!

mnredfox

Checking my schedule now. ^ to those organizing this.

DL2SXM

i couldn't say no to this event. However, the time of day is critical. I would need to do this as a same day turn. What is the planned time of the event?