CGNC

OP, I just completed this task for some friends of mine--we went to Costa Rica in November and so I faced the same issue as you. Couple things:

I lined up those traveling with me within eye-shot of the agent that checked us in at DL's counter in IND. Gave her their passports and told her they're on a surprise trip and have no idea where they're going. She obliged, checked everyone in and then gave me back the passports and boarding passes.

The boarding passes only say DOCS OK for the international segment. So our IND-ATL leg didn't indicate we were going international.

I also put all their BP's in an envelope and found a fun looking traveler in the ATL tram who had the task of unveiling where we were going--that was a fun addition.

Enjoy!

Occupationalhazard

I've done this with SO's before - as far as they know, travel plans take care of themselves, anyway - but I would find it irritating in a work situation (keying off the word "colleagues" in the OP.)

Srsly. It's the TSA...what could go wrong? /sarcasm

​​​​​​​O/H

wrp96

I'm sure the TSA could find every way to mess this up imaginable (and even in ways that are unimaginable), but I was referring to the TA (ticket agent).

GregInMN

You certainly have given this a significant amount of thought. I hope you are able to pull it off. I plan on doing this for the wife next year so I'm certainly interested in how it all evolves. If it goes "south" it will probably be something simple, like seeing someone at the airport saying enjoy your trip to YYY. Keep us posted and enjoy.

aquamarinesteph

I am living vicariously through this thread. Nobody will ever arrange a surprise trip for me, so this is cool to read. Please post updates!!!

CaptainMiles

The boarding pass, including the first segment's boarding pass, will have the PNR and ticket number. With possession of a BP to board the first flight, a traveler could look up the itinerary.

paterwdb

I did think of this. There is one among them who might try to log in to the itinerary with the PNR, but I think this trip he would avoid it because the rest of the group would probably be annoyed if he ruined it. He's the one I booked the decoy reservation for, so he already thinks he knows where we are going, so I doubt he would look it up to verify it.

Zeeb

He might look it up to see his seats though. I know I would if somebody didn't ask me not to.

NoStressHere

Yea, I would have a hard time not looking my seats. I am guessing you did NOT put their FF number into the original reservation, but will do so by the time they board.

I think the lounge before the first flight is the best time to do this. Great place to "party".

nomiiiii

If its paid business class I might be annoyed to miss out on the miles, so make sure to save all boarding passes to get credit later.

NoStressHere

No.

Add their FF# when you check in. No need to wait at all at that point.

paterwdb

Only a couple of them fly enough to have a SM account. But I can't add the number when they check in as they may receive push notifications on their Delta app for the connecting flight before we get to the gate. I'll let them add it after we connect.

orca15

Can you please send me an application for employment at your company?

paterwdb

Well, one staff member came in today and asked, "we don't need a passport for our trip on Wednesday, do we?" I said, "Just a Driver's License for TSA, why?" He said, "Well, I couldn't find my passport last night and I asked my fiance and she was acting all weird and said she didn't know where it was. But I think she is planning a surprise or something for me in January."

The fiance gave me his passport a few days ago. I think the poor guy really thinks his fiance is planning a surprise for him. He might be disappointed when he's just headed out of the country with his co-workers!

This is going to be great.

paterwdb

Okay, friends, here are the results:

I was taking my staff at our Catholic parish to Mexico City to do a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here's how it ended up working out:
1. I got passports from all of the staff members' spouses or roommates and had them in my bag. I went to the DL counter by myself to check-in, the agent said that she could not check them in if they weren't there but immediately referred me to the kiosks to scan their passports myself. Got all of them scanned in and got their boarding passes.
2. I gave them the first boarding pass RIC-JFK and they went through security with their driver's licenses. None of them noticed "Docs Okay" at the top of the boarding passes.
3. At the gate, I went to the agent and mentioned that my group of 8 did not know where they were going and made sure they were not on a passport check list - they weren't and the GA had fun telling them all to enjoy their surprise.
4. When we arrived in JFK one person in our group - who I had told we were going to Toronto - saw on the connection board that Toronto wasn't listed, and he connected the dots and figured out MEX but kept quiet. No one else pieced it together. We went straight to the Sky Club and again, I told the check-in agent not to reveal the destination.
5. I asked the JFK Sky Club concierge to help me with the reveal. I found one that spoke spanish and I gave her all of our passports with the boarding cards to MEX in them. When we were all assembled after enjoying a few drinks, she approached and - entirely in Spanish - she announced our flight was boarding soon, that we were going to a wonderful visit with Our Lady of Guadalupe, and she began calling out their names and giving them their passports with their boarding passes. The best part of the surprise was them trying to figure out how in the world I had their passports and that we were leaving the country. One of our group members actually argued with her and said, "you have the wrong group, we are not leaving the country!" It was a great way to reveal and the Sky Club staff were great.
6. A fluke that helped out on a further surprise. We were booked on the 789 Dreamliner on AM from JFK-MEX in J. But because of the booking classes, the DL boarding cards print out showing "Economy" even though the seats are in J. So they had no idea until they actually got to their seat numbers (8, 9, or 10) that they were also in J instead of Y. That bonus was great. We occupied the whole mini-cabin and two seats in the forward J cabin. They brought us several bottles of champagne to celebrate before and after take-off and it was a great trip.

Above all the the trip was a great spiritual way to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe and to get ready for the Christmas celebration coming up next week. This is one of our busiest times of year and the staff were so excited and relaxed the whole trip, it turned out to be a great success. Thanks to all for your enthusiasm, it made it more fun for me to plan and execute.

Merry Christmas!