Hawaii 99 project
 

Here is what has been posted so far on this topic:

Catman: Everyone should go to Hawaii at least once a year to 18 months. (maybe I made this post before.) We all need to escape. It's not like Vegas, when you are on the go 26 hours and losing money. You lose less in the Hawaiian island (I salute Onefreeman and the people of Hawaii for their hospitality!) And consider all the ff miles you earn (especially we folk in JERZEE LAND!!!) CATMAN

TropicalFlyer: If you're all willing to fly out, I'm willing to plan a FlyerTalk party, I mean conference. Great food, umbrella drinks (microbrew for the non-umbrella crowd) and weather. So when are you arriving?

msg53: Had my honeymoon in Maui in 1986.Went back in 1996. One freeman i am in Scottsdale almost every 4 weeks.If you know Catman then you must be O.K.We can talk war sories on U.A. I will be in Scottsdale on Pearl Harbor day. E-mail me. Congratulations on your wedding. onefreeman posted 11-14-98 06:39 AM MST (US) 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.

onefreeman: 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!

Catman: 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 someserious 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 nameslike CATMAN really exist! CATMAN

PremEx: I say let's do it! TropicalFlyer has volunteered her 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 acouple of days on another island for those whose finances permit it.
3. The Hotel - do we want TropicalFlyer to see if she 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 upand 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 thereceptionists 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?

Rudi: somewhen between sep-15th and nov-15th? stop (not more than 23 hours 59 minutes, so it is considered to be a through-flight, nota stopover) at SFO from late Saturday-night to Sunday-night (last UA flight leaving SFOat 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. ... 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).

baobab: 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...)

Rudi posted 11-14-98 04:03 PM MST (US)one the return stop (not stopover) in SFO I could arrange a sightseeing/tasting to/in the Napa and Sonoma valley.

megamiles posted 11-14-98 04:24 PM MST (US)

A few ideas I would like to bounce off:

(1) HNL sounds good and I would be in. It would probably have to be planned fairly well in advance for people to to plan etc.

(2) I would suggest NYC and LAX/SFO as possible alternates, as I suspect that HNL might be difficult for many FlyerTalk members to easily reach.

If we are going ahead with a first FlyerTalk
convention/party... count me in. Hawaii would be great. Ditto San Fran. I don't care for L-A (but will go if that's the consensus.) Some may also like Vegas (but we
would need to save extra cash if the gambling bug bites!)

I don't think we should ask an airline or hotel to "sponsor" -- we don't want to send
the assumption that we are backing that airline or hotel for the Freddies.

It would be nice for us to get together. If
it's in NYC I may even get my cats to make
cameo appearances! CATMAN

Rudi, I like your date range. Besides, we could help OneFreeMan celebrate his and his new wife's one year anniversary! I'm sure his wife would be just thrilled to spend their second honeymoon in Hawaii in the company of a bunch of frequent flyer junkies!

Put Ol' JAWs in the hat. Y'all will need a shark.

I think we need to come up with a name for the event. I don't think we should continue to call it the FlyerTalk whatever, as it is not affiliated officially with WebFlyer or FlyerTalk...at least not yet ;o) Randy might not like it if we used one of his trademarks without permission. It might give the impression that he is sponsering or otherwise hosting this un-official event. So I hearby challange everyone to submit ideas and come up with a catchy name (perhaps whose initials produce a humorous statement) for this, as of now, 1999 event in Hawaii!

And apoligies to TropicalFlyer for the him/her confusion...I really didn't know but now that Rudi has corrected me I promise to be Gender Correct in the future.

"MILEAGE ADDICTED ANONYMOUS" - Gathering?

Wow! I have been away for a couple of days and come back to this. I think it is a great idea.

I'll travel anywhere anytime to party with you lot.

I just love the thought of someone booking 24 people into a Hilton/Marriott etc and saying "oh by the way, they are all Diamond/Platinum and will want upgrading - and they are all redeeming ppoints/miles for payment."

Great! A hotteliers night-mare. What the hell just get Hilton to sponsor the event.

I'm packing already.... Oh darn! That isn't funny, I am really packing again!!
MF

Wow, I'm off the board for two days and come back to a real party being planned. I do plan a lot of conferences as part of my job so planning a "fun" event is no problem. I can just picture all of you holding your umbrella drinks trying to hula at the luau!

My only concern is that everyone will have to fly in on different dates/airlines or there won't be enough award tickets/upgrades.

The Sept 15 - Nov 15 dates sound fine as long as it isn't when I'm on the road.

Let the games begin...

PremEx is right... we should not use any
Inside Flyer/Flyertalk title for this gathering/convention. Maybe we don't need a title... just a bunch of FF friends and their
significant others getting meeting each other
for a fun time. (in Hawaii that should be easy.)

I will probably come solo. My friends (esp.
Holly) don't get my interest in ff travel, but I'll ask them anyway. And since the cats
can't get FF miles they'll have to watch the
video I plan to shoot of our "meetings!'

I shoot everything. It's for when I am old
I can remember the travels I did while younger with money. CATMAN

I've been off for a few days and come back to this!!!! It sounds fantastic. Sally and I will never turn down a reason to go to Hawaii (we honeymooned there, when the company she worked for owned Hanalei Plantation), and our favorites bounce between Maui and Kauai. I might even pay for the trip, if my ff miles don't cover it. Sallys's work schedule might be a problem. Marriotts on both Maui and Kauai are great.

A couple of others have suggested Oahu, but my experience has been that it's both more expensive and less authentic than the other islands -- but I'll defer to others. I thinbk we should all listen to Merry Flier. Spring 2000 might be a better time, especially if we decide on Maui.

Count us in! Any chance to jump on a plane to paradise. Rae liked the idea of spending a second honeymoon -- even if it's with you guys! She said she'll go shopping while we top one another's mileage stories (like anyone could top Rudi's round the world extravaganzas????)

We defer island choice to the consensus decision. As most of you know, we're just back from Maui and Kauai and have already booked Maui for June (graduation present for our 17 year old).

PhilForest -- Kauai Marriott is truly an incredible project. The first mega-resort that Chris Hemmeter put in the islands and it's still my favorite of them all...

Please see the new topic under Buzz: The Party In Paradise Dates Set!