Originally Posted by
NewbieRunner
And in other parts of the world as well though not as often as they do in and around Chicago.
I'm sure more regular gatherings are organised elsewhere on the Internet but many DOs are still organised on FT as you will see in
this thread.
Some people may have moved on but the kind of friendship you describe still exists among FTers. In fact almost all my friends I'm regularly in touch via Facebook and WhatsApp chat are people I have met through FlyerTalk and FT DOs.
I too am still friends with many people I originally met through FT. I have some folks I even travel with.
My interest in attending DOs dropped considerably when many of them became "mega-sized" and everything had to revolve around the "what am I getting out of this" factor (what is the airline doing for me, what seminar am I getting to attend, etc.)
I liked the days when we all hopped on a plane just to go drink beer together. Any talk about mileage programs was an after thought, not the primary objective. Any special airline or hotel experience was because we created it for ourselves (and not always sanctioned... like the aborted QF Lounge Takeover of 2005... or a certain "open bar" incident at a London hotel that was definitely not okay with that hotel... or getting security called on us after several people ended up half-dressed in a swimming pool in Singapore at 3 am).