As a "first -timer" this is also my question: what will be the cost pp LAX - IAH and IAH or ORD - LAX?? And also, do we book this through you or directly with the airline (CO)???

Thanks for any & all answers,

delacpa

Read back, they already said they would have those answers for you (regarding fares for the charter flights) in the next few days.

Feel free to spend miles money or whatever you can to book the flights. Note that we will not be able to support you to rebook such tickets if the schedule changes for whatever reason.

The group fare will have the feeder segment surcharge (last year it was 150$/segment in Y/V) if you need a segment to get to JFK to hop onto the LX or LH flight. However, this needs to be booked in conjunction with the group fare and not as a standalone. So if you want to to book ORD-JFK-FRA-IAH its no problem. But booking JFK-FRA-IAH// SEA-IAH is not possible under this deal.

What are the chances of the schedule changing? Is there some historical precendent for SMD I changing schedule after an equivalent point?

I am looking at SEA-BWI (oneway) on UA metal from CO.com and it is coming out at $124+ one way. So even if the charter continued to IAH or ORD - it still might be cheaper to skip it and just buy a ticket outside of the group rate. On the charter return, if it flies, it would be a party flight - so might still be worth it.

I feel the same way.....Show some love to the other participants to thank them for their hospitality. I have a feeling that whatever we decide to do, we'll be taking a gamble, and will just have to decide which option would least disappoint us if we gambled and lost. On the other hand, at least "losing" is still "winning." :D

Even if LH knows the answer before booking opens up, they may not be able to release the information.....and I would hate to put our organizers in a spot. ;)

I think it's fair to say that nothing is carved in stone until it's carved in stone. At this point we're still realtively early on and there are undoubtedly behind the scenes meetings going on. We already know for example that the charter flight might be an MD-11, or it might be a 757 or ...

Given that there's a choice between LH & LX for the TATL, and given that there's still plenty of speculation that LH may or may not have a 380 available for us, and given that we haven't begun ticketing yet, it's reasonable to assume that a few changes will come down the pipeline over the next few weeks.

LH has published its A380 routes and schedules today for flights through the end of the year and JFK is not one of the destinations. It maybe worth the effort and going through the schedules to see if an A380 from some source is available for the Monday Nov 1 flight from FRA-JFK and then back that evening arriving at noon on Nov 2. I thought I read that 2 aircraft would support that with the NRT flight - but now LH adds China and S Africa as aircraft 3 and 4 arrive.

If it is possible - then maybe a chance. If the schedules do not allow it - then A380 simply is not going to happen. LH would have to use that flight if they could as a PR flight to JFK. Let's see what happens, but some analysis is likely needed.

If A380 is completely out - then maybe the organizers should consider a Sunday night flight over for an extra day in FRA?

This is a great idea. It would make for a more pleasant trip to Europe, would help justify the more expensive Z fare and wouldn't require most of us (I guess) to take an extra day off from work.

That being said I understand what a nightmare this is for our beloved organizers, so I'm sure there's a reason for the Mon departure. But I second the idea :)

This sounds interesting. I'm actually flying back through IAH in CO biz on Nov 1st. I'm sure I could arrange a stopover here before heading back to Phx later in the week. However, it sounds like it wouldn't do me any good since I wouldn't be allowed into the event since I hadn't booked the charter.

The dates are set in stone. So are the TATL flights. Everything else is subject to change

The tours, probably not. The FT Awards dinner is expected to be open to everyone who wants to attend.

The new job will make it a challenge but I'm game!!

Where do I sign up? When do I sign up?? If the LH JFK-FRA is not going to be the 380 then I may be more inclined to go LX JFK-ZRH-FRA-IAH but will wait for the pricing-- hopefully it will be similar to the other prices. What's the story about the Starwood fast tarck?

+1. Even if the LH A380 is on that route, I'm not holding my breath to fly Lady Bee (or whatever the next few A380s will be called) - there will always be another time to fly it, and I've flown an A380 before (QF A380 F).

On the other hand, if the quoted TATL LX J price is for real, it's certainly very attractive! Yes I know I could fly Y for peanuts less, but where would you see a price like that ever again? (OK, perhaps during the next or subsequent SMDs, but that's not the point!) Especially since this will earn points (only other time I can see myself flying LX J would be to burn points for it, because the standard rack rates would probably kill my bank account).

Also waiting for the FRA-IAH (or rather JFK-(LX)-ZRH-(LX)-FRA-(LH)-IAH) pricing....

A big kudos to the organisers for negotiating these rates with the airlines!