OpenSkies Do (first Do that includes free travel)
Jun 15, 2008 | 3:51 pm
#181
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 29,074
Exactly!!
At least 5 of the winners have LESS than 300 posts. Doubtful that they were 'in on' a fix.
There is also at least one Evangelist going.
The criteria for entering was to send your FT handle and full name. That was it. No essay; no "please, please pick me". In all fairness, no one could sign up for a FT handle after the contest was announced.
Frankly, the aura of suspicion baffles me. And yes, I'll say it....seems ungrateful. Had Randy chosen the original 20 FTers who are still active, or the 20 FTers he feels contributed the most, or the 20 FTers he thought were most likely to treat him to a drink in Paris, I wouldn't care. It's his sandbox.
Yes, ungrateful...
At least 5 of the winners have LESS than 300 posts. Doubtful that they were 'in on' a fix.
There is also at least one Evangelist going.
The criteria for entering was to send your FT handle and full name. That was it. No essay; no "please, please pick me". In all fairness, no one could sign up for a FT handle after the contest was announced.
Frankly, the aura of suspicion baffles me. And yes, I'll say it....seems ungrateful. Had Randy chosen the original 20 FTers who are still active, or the 20 FTers he feels contributed the most, or the 20 FTers he thought were most likely to treat him to a drink in Paris, I wouldn't care. It's his sandbox.
Yes, ungrateful...
Jun 15, 2008 | 3:56 pm
#182
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: San Diego Area
Programs: UA Gold MM, AA Gold MM, FB Gold, Marriott Plat LT, HH Gold, IHG Plat, WoH Discvst, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,871
Check out this thread. Post #2 in it shows the current "best guess" list.
Jun 15, 2008 | 4:05 pm
#183
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 29,074
Check out this thread. Post #2 in it shows the current "best guess" list.
Jun 15, 2008 | 4:06 pm
#184
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: New York City, Northern NJ
Programs: AS, AA, Hilton, Marriott
Posts: 1,049
Why all the hate and speculation about how the winners were chosen?
Instead of all this questioning and judging, why not appreciate the fact that someone is giving away a nice trip and some people won it. Plain and simple.
Instead of all this questioning and judging, why not appreciate the fact that someone is giving away a nice trip and some people won it. Plain and simple.
Jun 15, 2008 | 4:17 pm
#185
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Greater DC
Programs: UA plus
Posts: 12,947
This questioning of the integrity of Randy and the process is often stomach turning - the invite to enter stated that the "winners" would be selected. They were - end of story - who cares if it was a random number generator, one of the HOM folks picking a paper from a hat or whatever process Randy chose to utilize. This was his gift to the community and clearly up to his discretion on how to distribute it.
Congrats to those that are going, bummer for those that wanted to but are not.
Jun 15, 2008 | 4:20 pm
#186
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 29,074
)
Jun 15, 2008 | 4:26 pm
#187
In Memoriam
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: 200 NORTH OF MSP
Programs: Soon to be an ex-WP PE
Posts: 966
^ While I didn't register because I knew I couldn't go, I appreciate Randy going to the effort of offering such a neat gift to the FT Community. Randy's generosity in general and specifically to the FT community is well known and has been personally experienced by many many FT'ers. This is another one of his gestures of appreciation and acknowledgement to FT and what its grown to become.
This questioning of the integrity of Randy and the process is often stomach turning - the invite to enter stated that the "winners" would be selected. They were - end of story - who cares if it was a random number generator, one of the HOM folks picking a paper from a hat or whatever process Randy chose to utilize. This was his gift to the community and clearly up to his discretion on how to distribute it.
Congrats to those that are going, bummer for those that wanted to but are not.
This questioning of the integrity of Randy and the process is often stomach turning - the invite to enter stated that the "winners" would be selected. They were - end of story - who cares if it was a random number generator, one of the HOM folks picking a paper from a hat or whatever process Randy chose to utilize. This was his gift to the community and clearly up to his discretion on how to distribute it.
Congrats to those that are going, bummer for those that wanted to but are not.
What she said!!
Jun 15, 2008 | 4:45 pm
#188
Join Date: May 2001
Location: RNO, NV, USA.
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 5,391
^ While I didn't register because I knew I couldn't go, I appreciate Randy going to the effort of offering such a neat gift to the FT Community. Randy's generosity in general and specifically to the FT community is well known and has been personally experienced by many many FT'ers. This is another one of his gestures of appreciation and acknowledgement to FT and what its grown to become.
This questioning of the integrity of Randy and the process is often stomach turning - the invite to enter stated that the "winners" would be selected. They were - end of story - who cares if it was a random number generator, one of the HOM folks picking a paper from a hat or whatever process Randy chose to utilize. This was his gift to the community and clearly up to his discretion on how to distribute it.
Congrats to those that are going, bummer for those that wanted to but are not.
This questioning of the integrity of Randy and the process is often stomach turning - the invite to enter stated that the "winners" would be selected. They were - end of story - who cares if it was a random number generator, one of the HOM folks picking a paper from a hat or whatever process Randy chose to utilize. This was his gift to the community and clearly up to his discretion on how to distribute it.
Congrats to those that are going, bummer for those that wanted to but are not.
Jun 15, 2008 | 4:48 pm
#189
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Phoenix
Programs: UA1k;HH Gold;MR Gold
Posts: 6,112
^ While I didn't register because I knew I couldn't go, I appreciate Randy going to the effort of offering such a neat gift to the FT Community. Randy's generosity in general and specifically to the FT community is well known and has been personally experienced by many many FT'ers. This is another one of his gestures of appreciation and acknowledgement to FT and what its grown to become.
This questioning of the integrity of Randy and the process is often stomach turning - the invite to enter stated that the "winners" would be selected. They were - end of story - who cares if it was a random number generator, one of the HOM folks picking a paper from a hat or whatever process Randy chose to utilize. This was his gift to the community and clearly up to his discretion on how to distribute it.
Congrats to those that are going, bummer for those that wanted to but are not.
This questioning of the integrity of Randy and the process is often stomach turning - the invite to enter stated that the "winners" would be selected. They were - end of story - who cares if it was a random number generator, one of the HOM folks picking a paper from a hat or whatever process Randy chose to utilize. This was his gift to the community and clearly up to his discretion on how to distribute it.
Congrats to those that are going, bummer for those that wanted to but are not.
Jun 16, 2008 | 11:08 am
#190
Original Poster
Founder of FlyerTalk
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 6,540
Congrats....
I'm quite flattered that hundreds of FlyerTalk members expressed an interest joining me on the 10th Anniversary FlyerTalk OpenSkies Do where I get a chance to host 20 members and hear about what FlyerTalk means to them and what we can do to make FlyerTalk even more relevant over the next 10 years. It's very rare that I get this kind of chance, but hey, that's what a Do at 39,000 feet will provide, so thanks to all those that were interested. As many of you know, I was in New York Thursday and Friday and had the fine privilege to meet and chat with a few of our members at the aloft event (http://boardingarea.com/blogs/liveflyer_aloft/) while back at the House of Miles, Mikel was put in charge of picking at random the 20 members for this Do. Like other member Do's that have space requirements for attendees, we just didn't know what might work the best. Others have chosen the first ones to sign up and we thought of that but trying to respect that some members might be out flying around, we decided it to be fair just in case more than 20 members were interested to have you send in an email of your interest to come fly with me. No contest, no promotional thing, this was all about FlyerTalk.
Why I chose to call it a Do? Well in the rich history of FlyerTalk, many members refer to the list of new friends they have met along the way at the many member gathering over the years and that goes back to the PiP Do in Hawaii in 1999 when it all seemed to come together. Thus, for the 10th Anniversary, having my own Do was a start!
Anyway, here's the list of those members who were chosen at random for this Do. Mikel didn't post them on Friday because as you'll see, it has gotten sort of confusing. A number of members had schedule changes so we've been scrambling to keep picking random members from those interested to fill the 20 spots. It looks to me that I'll be meeting a large number of these members for the first time and that will be fantastic. The superb thread for the Do Planning for this here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=834270
should certainly make this a memorable Do and I'm looking forward to the valuable feedback on what FlyerTalk is today from these members.
First 20 invited:
1. gba - confirmed
2. Bobovespa - confirmed
3. izzik - unable to attend
4. tobyh - unable to attend
5. heffa - confirmed
6. hartd - confirmed
7. yandr - probable, but not confirmed
8. deeaytch - confirmed
9. baccarat_king - confirmed
10. rubbernyc - confirmed
11. YYZPRINCESS - confirmed
12. nbdona - unable to attend
13. Pedxing - unable to attend
14. Vsevolod4 - confirmed
15. ittboss - probable, but not confirmed
16. OrlandoFlyer - confirmed
17. FlyMeHomeAA - confirmed
18. rhw88 - unable to attend
19. Beckles - unable to attend
20. Frollo123 - unable to attend
Invited to fill remaining seats:
Pat89339 - confirmed
Ckc123 - confirmed
Calcifer - confirmed
swingspan - unable to attend
Jumpcut - unable to attend
lex - still outstanding
pappapuff - still outstanding
CJ99 - still outstanding
Sweet Willie - still outstanding
Totals so far =
14 confirmed
2 probable
4 outstanding invitations
Why I chose to call it a Do? Well in the rich history of FlyerTalk, many members refer to the list of new friends they have met along the way at the many member gathering over the years and that goes back to the PiP Do in Hawaii in 1999 when it all seemed to come together. Thus, for the 10th Anniversary, having my own Do was a start!
Anyway, here's the list of those members who were chosen at random for this Do. Mikel didn't post them on Friday because as you'll see, it has gotten sort of confusing. A number of members had schedule changes so we've been scrambling to keep picking random members from those interested to fill the 20 spots. It looks to me that I'll be meeting a large number of these members for the first time and that will be fantastic. The superb thread for the Do Planning for this here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=834270
should certainly make this a memorable Do and I'm looking forward to the valuable feedback on what FlyerTalk is today from these members.
First 20 invited:
1. gba - confirmed
2. Bobovespa - confirmed
3. izzik - unable to attend
4. tobyh - unable to attend
5. heffa - confirmed
6. hartd - confirmed
7. yandr - probable, but not confirmed
8. deeaytch - confirmed
9. baccarat_king - confirmed
10. rubbernyc - confirmed
11. YYZPRINCESS - confirmed
12. nbdona - unable to attend
13. Pedxing - unable to attend
14. Vsevolod4 - confirmed
15. ittboss - probable, but not confirmed
16. OrlandoFlyer - confirmed
17. FlyMeHomeAA - confirmed
18. rhw88 - unable to attend
19. Beckles - unable to attend
20. Frollo123 - unable to attend
Invited to fill remaining seats:
Pat89339 - confirmed
Ckc123 - confirmed
Calcifer - confirmed
swingspan - unable to attend
Jumpcut - unable to attend
lex - still outstanding
pappapuff - still outstanding
CJ99 - still outstanding
Sweet Willie - still outstanding
Totals so far =
14 confirmed
2 probable
4 outstanding invitations
Last edited by Randy Petersen; Jun 16, 2008 at 11:17 am
Jun 16, 2008 | 11:35 am
#191
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: AA Executive PLatinum CO Platinum DL Gold Hyatt Diamond Hilton no more :)
Posts: 1,958
Thanks Randy, this was an awesome opportunity. ^ Let me be the first to volunteer for any remaining seats 
Or perhaps I should start the Me me me begging thread (just kidding) Hope everyone has a wonderful time, look forward to TRs Cheers Giggy
Or perhaps I should start the Me me me begging thread (just kidding) Hope everyone has a wonderful time, look forward to TRs Cheers Giggy
Last edited by giggy; Jun 16, 2008 at 11:46 am
Jun 16, 2008 | 2:22 pm
#195
Join Date: May 2005
Location: NYC
Posts: 1,767
More DO's when Open Skies takes on Madrid and other cities :-)
I did not think that my 300th post would be to write to you!!!
I appreciate your fine gesture here!! Even though, I did not win, congrats to all the winners and a BIG ^ ^ ^ to you, OpenSkies and Flyertalk!
How about similar DO's when Open Skies takes on Madrid, Zurich and other European Cities
Hopefully I can get selected then But all those going - Have a great time!
Regards,
Zoonil