Great idea TropicalFlyer! Perhaps we could get an airline and hotel chain and car rental company on board as sponsors and hold a symposium on what we could all do together to make travel more enjoyable, etc.? Nah, too progressive. We'll stick to pupus and umbrella drinks!

Unbeknownst to most of you, I'm a grad of the University of Hawaii -- and we're always willing to jump on the plane for a trip to paradise!

Msg53 -- email coming as soon as my online mail service (hotmail) finishes their system patching this AM.

And belatedly, congrats to Rudi and everyone else who proves that marriage can and does work with the right partners. This is my second marriage and Rae's third -- and we can't wait to celebrate 25 years because we'll have sooooo many great stories to tell!

If you plan something like a FlyerTalk
"conference" then you should do it way in advance so we all can get to it and do some serious talking (I mean enjoying umbrella drinks, which I enjoyed in Maui.)

It's great that we are all meeting up on our travels and proving that folks with names like CATMAN really exist! CATMAN

I say let's do it! TropicalFlyer has volunteered his (or is it her's...sorry I don't know) services to handle the island logistics...getting a good deal on a hotel, pupu planning, what color (that's colour to you MerryFlyer) for the dinkie umberellas, plenty of backscratchers for those "Tropical Itch" drinks...that sort of thing. We need to determine the following:

1. The Date
2. The Island(s) Ohau would be cheapest for both hotel and air no doubt and would allow members on a budget a better chance at attending, plus TropicalFlyer lives on Ohau, which would make it easier for him to organize. But maybe we could add on a couple of days on another island for those whose finances permit it.
3. The Hotel - do we want TropicalFlyer to see if he can get us a deal at one hotel or do we all just want to take care of our own arrangements, or a combination of both?
4. The Air - I think it's safe to say that you're on your own, baby! Last one to put in for an Upgrade is a rotten egg!
5. The Agenda - we don need no steeking agenda! Dis is Hawaii, brudda. Jus show up and enjoy! I think just some meeting times and places will do just fine, don't you?
6. Excursions - maybe we could plan an optional group trip of some sort...sailing, snorkeling, touring, round-the-world all six Star Alliance partners trip?
7. Special Events - I say we all meet at the Honolulu Red Carpet Club and harrass the receptionists with bogus upgrade requests...you know, we all whip out our Premier, PE, and 1K cards and make a scene...sort of a Dueling Elite Status thing. Many laughs I'm sure. Actually the RCC there is very nice and the bar makes killer Mai Tais from scratch!

Your suggestions?

somewhen between sep-15th and nov-15th?

stop (not more than 23 hours 59 minutes, so it is considered to be a through-flight, not a stopover) at SFO from late Saturday-night to Sunday-night (last UA flight leaving SFO at about 6PM to HNL), be my guest at a 49ers-home-game (we go there by boat: brunch and drinks on board, leaving fisherman's wharf 3 hours before the game starts on Sunday morning 10AM).

And tropicalflyer lives in Honolulu (she).

... and we will video all check-ins (queuing, upgrade-discussions) / club-lounge-treatments / boarding-procedures / service-on-board / priority ? - luggage-handling / rental-cars (clean?) / hotel-reception / etc. etc. etc / when and how will the mileage-credits appear / etc. / etc. / etc / and as a courage-test each participant has to use/try one of the "beating-the-system-guerilla-tips" (taped on video): by joint-decision of all participants for the winner (showing most and succesful courage) I offer 50'000 miles for a US-Europe (or equivalent if not living in US) eco return ticket on UA and a week at our Chalet in Wengen: skiing or just "in the snow" with us (partner-flight-ticket of the winner would have to aranged b the winner him-/herself).

Tropicalflyer's suggestion is great. Although her occupation remains a mystery, I recall her saying something about having organised a conference(s?) - so she'd be a great person to set this up for us.
Rudi - I like your ideas too: who knows - Catman might put the show on the air... we could all take this opportunity to learn from the ff-maestro (And I think that you should publish an updated version of the guerilla tactics...)

one the return stop (not stopover) in SFO I could arrange a sightseeing/tasting to/in the Nappay and Sonoma valley.

this ..... text system here is and stays to be a mistery for me: I have never typed a double P and a Y at the end of NAPA.

Everyone heads up - all discussion regarding a FlyerTalk conference has been moved to to the subject heading Hawaii 1999 started by Rudi. Rudi, being the gentleman that he is, has summarized everyone's comments, into his first message.

Please post any conference planning info under Rudi's subject heading rather than mine or this one.