I think the Brits seem to be supporting GoldCircle... I'd agree with his comments too... think a RTW would be too much, but, a couple of days in Asia and a trip there/back would be fun

Value of #1:
Wasn't too bad but I didn't think the value on the charter was so great for C - I'd probably prefer a few less expensive bottles of booze and better food (for both C and Y) which means more to me and I think that the dream of the best catering ever got lost in the first do (not that I'm complaining as appreciate the organiser's position/issues) - in hindsight next time I think if the earning rate was the same I'd probably go for Y rather than C as I thought the Y prices were good value considering the program, but less sure about C. I'd be willing to pay about the same for a charter, wouldn't mind paying the business price for a Y seat if the number of miles earned increased, it was a widebody and the program was over 2 days.

On a separate note - the hotel was a great deal for that specific (expensive/good location) hotel as I couldn't use points. However it was wasted due to the time spent there, and pretty expensive overall - would be happy to be at a cheaper hotel away from the airport and be bussed around to save cash - the bar bill from the hotel almost equaled the cost of my room and I don't feel I bought that many drinks...

Days:
Weekends are much better, appreciate that it causes problems for a program but something that took advantage of a weekend would be good to reduce the number of days off work. Alternatively a weekend in a nice city somewhere for some sightseeing would be nice. I like the idea of splitting the charter over 2 days, if there was a charter, as I think the charter day was such a long one last time that we missed out on spreading out the fun. 10 days for a do would be too much, last time felt about right if it had been extended on Saturday and perhaps Sunday too.

Pricing
I'm pretty price inelastic... if I believe there is value then I don't mind too much about the cost. However for more money I'd expect more miles (and BMI miles! :P). For a better charter aircraft/experience I'd pay more but I suspect that making it much more expensive than the last one would reduce turnout.

Suggestions:

• Offering the US or Asia would be nice so that I could get on the longhaul (going to the US just to come back to Europe didn't sound like much fun) - if going to Asia definitely come the long (Europe) way around... so something like JFK-FRA-ICN rather than JFK-ICN.
• Definitely we have to avoid a 5am start next time (8am start is just fine without being too tiring, ties in with the 2 day program mentioned earlier)...
• Hotel - lets go Hilton or Marriott next time, I'm not such a Starwood fan
• If the do was a RTW that would be great and very tempting but that is a huge job for organisers.... 10+ days is a heck of a lot of programs to arrange, if something like this happened I'd like a 2 day gap in the middle without a program so that we could relax and catch up on some sleep somewhere, however such a long period away from work/family for a do... not sure if that would be feasible - I don't really need that many status/destination miles... plus I prefer to see countries not just airports.
• However, if there was a RTW starting in the US then for most in Europe it would involve a round trip across the atlantic, that's a significant time/cash commitment even before starting the RTW. A trip around the USA would be nice, apart from all of the security strip searches etc... a real turn-off but probably wouldn't change my willingness to participate.
• A key point, and I suspect it was a lesson learned, is that the program should be published much further in advance to allow for better planning for everyone, if events have a limited number of participants you should be able to sign up for it and then have a guaranteed slot to allow for better pre-do planning of flights (I almost didn't get to go to the welcome event... but that was after booking flights and taking a day off work etc, which wouldn't have been nice)
• The idea of welcoming Air India is appealing... primarily as I really love visiting the country - however for many people who haven't been there before it could be a bit of a shock so I don't think its such a great idea!
• Off the wall: IST to SDA (Baghdad).... but just for an airport trip and passport stamp... not to properly stay :P
• A deposit idea is a good one to reduce the risk to the organisers.
• If there is an F option I think it should be filled by lottery, perhaps from the C passengers for a token payment, as the 8 seats most aircraft have in F would fill up too easily if they were good value.