I haven't contributed to "The BUZZ" much, but I have been known to put my 2 cents worth in on Delta. Being in the trade show business, I believe that I can get sponsors to cover Dinner, maybe a dance, party etc. Let me know if you want me to try. For those of you that don't know me..I am a Delta Platinum, proud of going GOLD in 1999 to protest their upgrade policy and service. Let me know if interested. Either way, I WILL BE THERE!!!!
AL

Remember alschp (sorry if I got your handle wrong) NO contribution is too small and whether you post five times or 975... you are helping someone who reads these boards.

Looking forward to meeting you in Hawaii!
CATMAN

Hey, al, nice to "meet" you. I think it'd be a hoot if you could line some stuff up. Tell hilton that if they comp us all rooms at the Hawaiian Villiage that not only will they be able to claim to "cater to the MOST discriminating frequent travellers," they might even get my Freddie vote...

alhcfp (are you welsh, or do you just like challenging our random-letter memories?) - that sounds like a great idea. PremEx and TropicalFlyer are the defacto party co-ordinators (? - correct me if I'm wrong). Perhaps you could e-mail them to discuss/arrange details?

Matt - I think you may have the wrong Mile-man. MA likes using commas when addressing others (see the RBranson posting in Virgin for proof)

Alhcfp...thanks! I'll email you tomorrow.

Multi-posting:

Re: Roberto of the many faces. I hadn't read this thread when I posted (elsewhere) that my nominee for Roberto et al was Merry Flyer. I see here that he has admitted a nodding acquaintance with Greek, so despite his denials I adhere to my nomination. (Also, I'm jealous - he not only has a German double-"s", he also has other diacritical marks on his keyboard. C'mon, do you have a circumflex as well? How about that slash through the "o" that the Norwegians use? Where do you get those keyboards? I have to use html to do that, and this BBS has the html disabled.)

arturo: you forgot "pseudepigraphical" in your list of long words.

baobab: he can't be Welsh - not enough "l"s. (Reminds me of the send-up of "Wheel of Fortune" - category "Welsh saying" - contestant, "I'd like to buy a vowel." - buzzer goes off indicating no such letter.)

And finally: to the extent that my schedule is my own to control (which it sometimes is and sometimes is not), I'll try to be there.

MileCrazy--perhaps we should issue a prize for anyone willing to fly on TWA anywhere?!

I am not roberto either baby. onefreeman, I have finally stopped laughing long enough to reply to your posting re TWA. I'll check with the boss and see about Hawaii ... we have been threatening to go there forever ... we have never been. The only thing is that I will have to give my FlyerTalk secret away ... she doesn't know about this place yet.

Aloha all,

Here's a travel deal you may want to take advantage of for our get-together. United Vacations is offering this special at Hawaii Sheratons:
5 nights hotel, r/t airport/hotel transfers/welcome breakfast/lei greeting

The package starts at $329/person

Big bonus here is 2500 United MP bonus miles and 1000 more if you book through the website at www.unitedvacations.com (this is per person)

If you add in air too, they will take off $50/person.

The fine print: Must book between 10/1/98-11/30/98 for travel between 1/5/99-12/11/99.

I was also thinking that our group would make a great "focus group" for any airline,hotel, car rental, etc. company. I'm going to contact the Hawaii Visitor's Bureau and see if we can offer our "service" in exchange for some sponsorship.

Any objections?

TropicalFlyer, that looks like a great deal by United Vacations! I would just like to warn any of our participants that while you do earn normal Mileage Plus miles (including bonuses and toward elite qualification) for all Air-Inclusive packages and tickets issued by United Vacations, you should be aware that these air tickets are NOT upgradable using any type of coupon/miles/deals. In other words, if you book in Coach, it's coach you'll be flying. So if want a chance at an upgrade, you should get the land-only portion from United Vacations, and book your air separately through normal chanels.

TropicalFlyer and Alhcfp have brought up an issue which we need to discuss here. One option that has been discussed here is to keep this a very informal get-together consisting mainly of meeting each other and enjoying the company of fellow FlyerTalkers in the relaxed vacation setting of Hawaii. We currently plan on having meeting places and times where we can all get together at will, plus one RSVP event in the form of a Dinner with presentations, prizes, etc.

Or we could do all that and add a more formal element to the weekend by having a "focus group" or other Frequent Flyer discussion. Also the subject of possible sponserships and donations from from travel suppliers has been brought up.

We would like to have your thoughts on this.

I'll get things started by giving my thoughts. I'd like to see it stay informal unless someone like Randy agrees to come and host a discussion or such. I think we can graciously accept doorprizes/gifts from suppliers, but with no conditions attached other than mentioning and thanking the source. I don't believe we should accept "sponsership" of the event itself. I believe we should stay independent, and most importantly we should never give the impression that we are either trying to use our "clout" or at the other extreme, begging for goodies. I feel that this should remain mainly a fun trip (especially since many will be bringing spouses, etc), and a "conference," "convention" or other more formal structure, would be more appropriate if someone like FlyerTalk itself were to run an event under the name of their organization. There's my 2 cents worth.

PremEx, I was invisioning this as a fun get together and not a formal convention/trade show situation, and I think we should keep it that way as well. If we start accepting sponsorships, then it's turning into another
convention.

Omni related posting: I have been part of two focus groups and they were as dull. There is the chance the "Sponsor" could take over and direct the meeting to THEIR benefit.

We can have one formal meeting where Randy
can talk to us. (maybe he can come down and
enjoy a few days vacation as well!) But I think our spouses/significant others would not be happy to be going to paradise and attending a regulated, formulated convention.
And as I said before... we ALL need a vacation so this trip should be a time to
kick back with friends and have FEW (if any)
rules!

As PremEx says... we have time to plan this!
CATMAN

Hey, what's wrong with a "convention." The term also carries with it the unstated cache of "business related expense tax deduction."