There's been quite a few questions about this years Freddies in both this forum as well as ORP. I assure you we will post more information about this event and it's affiliation with FlyerTalk when we have had a chance to formalize the event. It was jsut last week that we were able to actually formalize the hotel - Grand Hyatt New York - as noted and that has been our sole focus to date. Now comes the event planning such as room layout, seating capacity with appropriate stage, AV and other considerations, etc. Once we have been able to get the event properly planned, we will announce the industry and public events and timetables.

Thanks for understanding.

Randy,

Is there any news as to what parts (if any) of the Freddies will be open to the public (or at least the FT public)?

With only two weeks to go a lot of folks are trying to firm up their schedules for Thursday (e.g. schedule an alternate do, etc.).

I for one would be willing to pay my share to be allowed to attend (and I've spoken to others that feel the same way in case this is a consideration).

Thanks,

VPescado

Hint/Tip: In the history of the Freddies, the public has always been invited to attend. As far as I know, there has been no mention in InsideFlyer - one of this years sponsors - that the public would not be invited. My guess is that it is being overlooked that much time has been spent trying to rectify the search function on FT as well as the fact that this years Freddies is 1/3 larger in terms of awards presented (the new Asian awards...) and that has got to require additional time devoted to voter auditing and program planning (as in producing the actual Freddies and the written content of the program guide).

As for the cost issue, that as well has never been any consideration. The single time it was mentioned was only to point out that this is an extremely expensive event and the cost and time of producing it is sometimes overlooked. We don't conceive any time when those attending would have to pay - unlike other types of events and functions.

I know I'll be there and the fact that even I have not received an "invitation" yet doesn't faze me in the least bit. I've always taken the Freddies word that the public is welcome and from what I know, I've never been let down yet.

I'm assuming that any FT'er can attend by just showing up, but does anyone know what time the Freddies start on the 28th? Can't seem to find the info on the site.

Thanks.

You shouldn't just show up. You need to RSVP. The schedule is on the invitation/RSVP web page.

Thanks for the link -- I've been looking for it for weeks and it was there all this time. Note that we were supposed to RSVP by 4/20 (!) ...

Thank you for the explicit link. Maybe I'm just "browser challenged" but none of the hyperlinks off of any link from the home page, or the pages they went to, lead to the invitation page. But thanks again. ^