oliver2002

I doubt anyone will have the energy left to party anymore on Sunday...

Many have indicated that they want to fly home later, so I just picked Sunday after looking at the loads of Saturday. We will arrange for the same price if the volume is there. Otherwise you have to pull your CessnaHON weight a little

NewbieRunner

Hey, you are not supposed to out me in this thread!

Shareholder

Has anyone else had a problem getting into the MegaDo site this morning? I thought I had reregistered. I have been getting the update emails. However, I have been unable to get into the "locked" portion of the site. The request for a new password claims no knowledge of my username nor email address and I cannot recall what my password was from last year! Aidez-moi!

SkiAdcock

As xyzzy said in post #339, "New year, new set of data, new username/password."

And I think a post or so above that that he'll be sending out instuctions. It's not noon yet

I'll have to discreetly exit an off-site mtg to get back by noon.

Cheers.

oliver2002

There is no password required for registration!!! Once the registration site is up, you can go there without any login whatsoever. The registration form replaces first email step we had last year.

Later when the participants are registered and validated, you will get your new userID and password for the new 2010 participant section that will contain info meant for participants only.

cova

Does this imply that we will not be able to check luggage on the charter?

That worked on the SMD1 charter - but I do not see it working here. The overheads on a CO 753 will not hold the luggage for 200+ people. This is a one week trip.

You need to be thinking gate departure at IAH for the charter with normal security. And the return charter is likely going to have to depart out of SEA.

At CO DO IV - for the mystery flight - with only about 100 people for the flight TSA had to bring a team of people out for manual screening at the hanger which took a good bit of time to get everyone on board. Having to screen carry on luggage would make the situation even worst.

USirritated

One peice of carry on, with no checked luggage will be a real problem I think, could one of the moderators please clarify?

oliver2002

Travelpro like luggage and a laptop bag like carry on for the charter.

cova

But it will not work for all 229 people - the overheads cannot support 229 Travelpros - even if laptop goes under seat. If we depart from the hanger area of IAH - figure 3 hours boarding, since TSA will have to manually search all bags and manual body screening.

At CO DO IV Mystery Flight - it took an hour to board 100 people with manual screening - with no bags at all - and those selected for the flight were prescreened and well know to CO.

I might add CO's 753 overheads are not quite as deep as those on its 738/9s. Some Travelpro's may not fit length wise as well.

I asked the question before - but I will ask again - what happens to luggage at PAE during the tour and dinner? Whether it is a 22" Travelpro or a 26" Travelpro - not much difference except the 26" won't fit in the overhead. I assume Boeing will store it. Then why not allow checked luggage. I think checked works if we leave from a normal IAH gate. Likewise on the charter return - it is likely that the charter will need to ferry down to SEA for pickup. At a minimum you need to allow gate checked luggage if we depart from a hanger. For any hanger departure it will likely be manual TSA searching and screening.

anat0l

I have enough trouble going hand luggage only for a few days. No, I am not a woman and I do not carry a pillow with me. I am planning on having SMD2 rolled in with a trip to Japan as well, altogether 2 weeks vacation, 1 week Do and 1 week conference.

And then there are LAG laws...which I assume apply to every USA-based flight, domestic or international.

Looks like I'll need to find a good strategy to store my luggage somewhere for the Do duration, then pick it up at the end.

oliver2002

Where we board in IAH has not been confirmed yet. Proper security will be arranged for. The issue with checking luggage in the hold is that PAE doesn't have good handling facilities to unload luggage

What we will arrange for is to have adequate facilities for you to carry a travelprolike rollaboard (see above) and a laptop sized bag. If you have extensive wardrobe requiring full size suitcases, you can bring them on the scheduled flights and arrange them to be shipped from IAH to SEA while we do the charter.

cova

Maybe the solution is to have the charter continue down to SEA with everyone on board after the PAE events (leaving luggage on board). Then the return flight leaves from SEA.

Since we are staying in downtown Seattle - if would then be fairly easy for everyone to take the new train system from SEA to the Westin Hotel which is only about 1 block from last stop at WestLake. That would solve transportation to/from SEA Westin hotel.

fsfguy

I have full faith that the organizers will provide the best possible situation regarding luggage and ground transfers. It's clear they've put a lot of time and effort into this and have a myriad of details and costs to consider. I used to own a tour company and there are a lot of details and constraints in dealing with a group of 200+ that are not apparent to the outside observer. These include the kindness of organizations like Boeing, CO and US who are providing an inside look not normally available to the general public. If some of us have to use Fedex to ship luggage, I think that's fine. Besides we've all done worse things, think E-, center seat, TPAC.

Shareholder

Actually, it is several minutes past noon in the Eastern Time zone of NAmerica. Nada.

NewbieRunner

I know this is a basic question but the email from Oliver said the sign up process will open at starmegado.com. I know that starmegado.com and www.starmegado.com were two different websites last year.

It's a few minutes after 12 noon Eastern (NYC) time and I can't see any link to the registration site on either of them.

Which website are we supposed to go to?