Nah, we'd be allocated 2 minutes each for a shower in the lounge. BYOT (bring your own towel).

I think if you opt for a RTW Do, you'll eliminate about 90% of potential participants straight away on the twin grounds of cost and time. And another 50%, as you know very well, will pull out for one reason or another - among which will be time and cost.

The great strength of the *A Mega Do was that it was inclusive, affordable and offered interesting events - for many participants it was their first view behind the scenes. To try and top the 2009 Do is a fools errand. To provide a solid sequel should be the aim - there's no end to the number of airplane hangars, catering facilities, baggage areas, aprons, bars, beers that I can participate in.

However, what makes the Do great is the people. Eliminate the people, you eliminate the Do.

If you're really going to try and do a RTW event, then make it modular, with a series of events at each hub visited. Involve the FT community.

Excellent suggestions / advice IMHO. ^

New rules, new rules, new rules!

I know a RTW will eliminate some members, but 90% is an estimate that's way too high. Just take a look at this thread. More than half of the 229 participants last year started Tuesday in the US so the difference in time off would be just 1 day even though I know that most had Monday off as well.

In a perfect world, setting up a RTW in sections would be the best thing to do, but a logistical nightmare.

Getting a widebody for 10 days will also be a huge challenge.

We're looking at plenty of options and many good ideas have been tossed around in this thread, which was the reason I started it.

So keep it coming ^^

If the Star Do is on some level going to revolve around visiting a manufacturer, then Boeing should be this year and Embraer next. Don't do an itinerary that combines both of them.

Agreed.

This idea was originally floated in The Box so I'll throw it out here for whatever it's worth (which may not be much): North American Star Alliance Hub Tour, with a visit to Boeing.

Start in SEA and do Boeing, then do SEA - DEN - ORD - CLE - PHL - EWR - IAD - CLT - IAH - PHX - LAS - LAX - SFO. Overnight with activities at ORD, IAD, and LAS. Do it over a long weekend Friday - Monday or Saturday - Tuesday, something like that.

Edit: I forgot our Canadian friends, so throw some airports codes that begin with Y in there too. :-:

Sales patter.

You're excluding people already.

I think we'd get enough people to fill a RTW tour, but there would have to be reasonable notice. If the details were carved in stone by late spring, that probably gives people enough time to make appropriate plans for a RTW Do first week of Nov.

But ... to have details carved in stone by late spring is a completely unreasonable expectation.

If we can actually do RTW, then by all means let's go for it. But it may be more realistic to expect to do this for *A MegaDo III. (And also gives Boeing time to advance the 787 further towards production / ability to have a tour of 787 facilities.) In the meantime, visiting Embraer for MegaDo II sounds good to me. We could combine a Bombardier visit and perhaps Fokker as well so we can cover off the small plane manufacturers.

MegaDo I - see the largest passenger airplane (A380)
MegaDo II - see the smallest passenger airplanes
MegaDo III - see the most advanced passenger airplane (787)
MegaDo IV - Virgin joins *A and offers space flights for the ultimate in mileage runs

The first *A MegaDo in early Nov 2009 was such a success that plans are underway over here on this thread for *A MegaDo II. Currently the organizers are seeking opinions / feedback.

To everyone who went on the MegaDo, I direct your attention over to the planning thread. To anyone who didn't come, you missed a good one! If you're interested, keep an eye on the planning thread.

Last time we tried (without success) to get AC involved. Depending on how things go AC may or may not be interested to participate in MegaDo II. So keep an eye out here too!

Also for those who were there, or not, CNN International will be running a feature about the MegaDo in the January edition of BUSINESS TRAVELLER hosted by Richard Quest. Unfortunately this series is not carried on the NAmerican CNN we get on cable, so you'll have to go to the CNN International web site to view it after the initial airing on Wednesday:

http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs...ess.traveller/

I'm in the if there's enough advance notice people can plan for a RTW in latter part of year (late Oct/early Nov) if they're so interested. As mentioned, it's only 1 day longer than what those of us starting out in the US did on the first one in terms of time off. I'm up for this.

Yes, some people won't be able to make it, but the reality is that some people won't be able to make whatever we end up doing. I'd question whether it's 90%, though. And at least the Europeans get more holiday time than us Yanks. Although families might come into play there. I like the idea of modular for those who can't do the entire thing, but can't even begin to think about how difficult the logistics of it - plus, the financial planning purposes - would be. Glad I'm not the planner if it turns out that way But I'm willing to buy them a case of booze to help their headache

Also, put me in the 'if we're only doing US cities I'd be bored as crap' category. And that was even before Xmas Firecrotch Guy & the subsequent TSA fall-out. And we'd probably lose some of the Europeans who don't want to deal w/ the US security, so % lost there. Not 90%, given the % of NoAmericans, but I'd bet a good %. While not everyone, a lot of us have seen Boeing thanks to SeaDos, and 1st StarMegaDo did ORD. Having said that, I'd go through both again. As GoldCircle says, there are lots of behind the scenes (and bars ) to go through. And of course w/ FTers, the people.

To me, StarMegaDo was a once-in-a-lifetime opp, so RTW is the only way to top it. Having said that, if there's a good alternative planned I'm up for it too & there have been a few interesting suggestions. But - StarMegaDo worked because it was a combination of great airline behind the scenes stuff & also fellow FTers.

Cheers.

Boeing 787 visit & Embraer brazil vist

What does anyone really see in a RTW FT MegaDo? I am more than capable to spend the money on such a trip, and I could work to arrange work such that I COULD do it without checking in, but I simply won't expend the effort for a RTW trip.

I'll save my RTW for a honeymoon or bachelor tour, not a FT event. I like you guys, but there is a line, and a RTW crosses that line.

For those who didn't make it, some of the highlights of Star MegaDo I.

Wall Street Journal Article & Video:

Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...l?mod=djemseat

Video is part way down on the page of the article.

One of our own FTers:

I've finally finished editing all the images and have created a quick slideshow:
http://dlauphoto.com/clients/110309ft.mp4

You can see all the images here:
http://dlauphoto.com/clients/110309flyertalk

From sbm12 of our 'fly-by/go-around' at Toulouse. I want to do it again!

The pilot pumping his fist as the co-pilot executes it perfectly is a pretty awesome photo, too. Scroll down just a bit to the vido - tres cool!

http://www.starmegado.com/2009/11/10...louse/?lang=en

Preview of CNN video coming out tomorrow:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video...iref=allsearch

Cheers.