StarMegaDO3 -- Official Master Thread

The moment you have all been waiting for is here. The launch of Star Mega DO III!

For the third year in a row, the ULTIMATE travel junkie field trip is here!

Where else can you time after time take part in once in a lifetime experiences not open to the public, charter your own plane, hobnob with the big shots, get generous gifts from the companies you love.
And- of course - earn miles and points..

The team:

Ed Pizzarello-- (Pizzaman) Texas oil billionaire, poker genius, awesome father of two, horrible driver will be taking care of websites, registration, payments and logistics

Nathan Rau-- (MSY-MSP) Bill Gates' lawyer, fellow Norwegian, mediocre golfer will be taking care of our legals stuff and help with logistics

Gary Leff-- (Gleff) Super blogger, redemption king, TV star, will be our official blogger for our new TV channel (more to come)

Tommy Danielsen (tommy777) Mover,shaker, and SMD founder. Pug lover, horrible golfer, Norwegian Thunder. The guy who talks to the airlines and gets the 130K bill for the airplane in the mail

The sponsors and partners this year:

United Airlines
Lufthansa
Air Canada/ Aeroplan
Hyatt
Bombardier
milepoint.com
usingmiles.com

There will be two portions of Starmegado3, you don't have to do both. To get access to the entire program, you just need to be on the charter.

Here's the official program:

Wednesday September 7th

5:30 PM The United management and Hyatt management welcomes everyone at the Park Hyatt Chicago.

930PM transport to the official SMD3 hotel Hyatt Regency O'Hare

Thursday September 8th

7AM Diamond Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare

730AM-8AM Shuttle service to Terminal 1, O'Hare.

United behind the scenes tour at O'Hare.

1045AM The world second greatest magician Al James puts on a show at the C RCC, send off Champagne party.

1130AM Boarding of Star Mega DOs 3rd charter CO1904 starts at the C gates.

12Noon Departure O'Hare. Al James comes with us to Montreal and will entertain on the plane.

3PM Arriving in Montreal

Transportation to Hyatt Regency Montreal

7PM Air Canada, Aeroplan program at Hyatt Regency Montreal.

Friday September 9th

7AM Diamond Breakfast at Hyatt Regency Montreal

8AM Buses depart for Mirabel airport, Bombardier tour

1130AM Buses depart for YUL, Bombardier, Air Canada and Aeroplan program

530PM Our charter CO1904 departs YUL

Official party flight!!

730PM Arrival in Denver

Transport to the Grand Hyatt in Denver

Free & Easy night

Saturday September 10th

There will be 3 experiences to choose from this Saturday. The day is hosted in cooperation with our friends at the Jason Dahl's Scholarship Fund who commemorates the 10th anniversary of 9/11

Confirmed: Tour of United Airlines training facilities. Auction of simulator time on 777 and A320!!

Working on: Air National guard tour and F16 rides!!

Lockheed Martin Tour.

5PM Hyatt Program at the Grand Hyatt Denver.

Close at 9PM

The Charter

We have chartered a 737-900ER from Continental. Seating is to be found here: http://seatexpert.com/seatmap/131/Continental_Boeing_737-900_(Mid-lavatory)/

There will be 3 classes of Service

First Class -- 20 seats. Price per seat is 1675USD all in
Premium Economy 38 seat. Blocked middle seat through row 21. Price per seat is 1125USD all in
Economy Class 96 seats (15 blocked for airlines, sponsors and press. Price per seat is 750USD all in.

Miles miles miles

The flight is 2360 miles

Lufthansa -- You will be awarded on this flight like it was a scheduled flight

United -- Well, they screwed up this year. Here's what they are giving us.

Economy -- You will be awarded on this flight like it was a scheduled flight. In addition, Double EQM
Premium Economy -- You will be awarded on this flight like it was a scheduled flight, Triple EQM
First Class -- You will be awarded on this flight like it was a scheduled flight, Quadruple EQM

So EQM earnings will be:

Economy: 4720 EQM
Premium Economy: 7080 EQM
First Class: 9440 EQM

There will be elite bonus for earnings as it would be on a regular flight.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NUMBER OF SEATS AVAILABLE THIS YEAR IS OVER 30% LOWER THAN LAST YEAR! ONLY 135 SEATS AVAILABLE.

Hotels Partner (Hyatt)

Every SMD participant will get instant Hyatt Diamond status (by August 15th), it will be valid till 2/2013

There will also be point earning options for everyone and special gifts for existing Diamonds.

Prices for the hotels will be:

Hyatt Regency O'Hare: 99USD
Hyatt Regency Montreal: 169CAD
Grand Hyatt Denver: 145USD (available till Monday)

You HAVE to stay in our room block to receive the Hyatt gifts

EUROPEAN PROGRAM (OPTIONAL)

Monday September 5th, New York City
11AM Andaz Wall Street tour and program.
2PM Send off party at the Lufthansa Lounges at JFK
Finally, the Mega DO gets onboard the Airbus 380 LH 401 JFK-FRA 3:40PM
Tuesday September 6th
Arrive FRA at 5:15AM
Onwards to MUC on LH100 at 7:40AM
Rest in Munich till 3PM
Lufthansa and Munich Airport program. Visit Lufthansa SkyChef and also the Lufthansa Hub Control center AND more. Dinner after.
Wednesday September 7th
Depart MUC on LH103 at 825AM
connect to
LH430 FRA-ORD at 1045AM
Arrive at ORD at 1240PM

Ticket prices for US-Germany-US on Lufthansa (round trip ex taxes and fees)
Economy Class: 344USD (total price around 900 USD) Booking Class S
Business Class: 1638USD (total price around 2400 USD) Booking Class Z

So there you have it, folks!

****The official wiki (thanks to paranoiatx, 744 and others who helped put it together is herehttp://milepoint.com/forums/wiki/star-alliance-mega-do-3/

Public Charter flights operated under Title 14CFR Part 380 DOT PC 10 153 by FTEF Corp with flights on Continental Airlines. Conditions applicable to the charter are in the operator-participant contract, is available on www.starmegado3.com

REGISTRATION AND TICKETING IS NOW OPEN

This is what you need to do:

1. Purchase your ticket here. Once a specific class of service is sold out on the ticketing site, there are no more seats in that class.

2. Register here. The class of service you made your deposit for should correspond to the box you check on the form. If it doesn't, no soup for you!

If you've already made a deposit, all you need to do is fill out the registration form, checking off the corresponding class of service you want to travel in.

OFFICIAL AVATAR

milepoint has arranged an official SMD3 avatar for those members going along on this unique event. Feel free to add this to your profile.

SIGNATURE-SIZED AVATAR: For those who prefer this to changing their regular Avatar. If you go to your signature edit within your profile, add the following URL to the text box when prompted by clicking on the "insert/edit image" (it looks like a tree) and the signature-sized Avatar will show up in your signature.

NOTE: please, chose only one or the other Avatar to display at a time within your profile. Thank you.

Thanks, Tommy, Ed, Gary, Nathan, Greg!

Glad AC and Aeroplan is on board and very nice of UA to offer DEQM!

Cannot wait till registration starts!!!

One question re Hyatt Diamond status. Previously you mentioned that it would be good until 2013, has that change and it will only be good for 6 months?

what time or is that another surprise

United.BOMB is a sponsor?

1 million thumbs up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those Denver options are going to be hard to decide between.

Program sounds great as usual. Denver sounds like lots of fun.

For sake of consistency/clarity - is Hyatt till 2/12 (as per this thread) or 2/13 (as per the brazil original itin thread)?

Congratulations on the great and very difficult work.
Any way to participate in the EU portion without the Charter ex JFK?

9/12, but we can ask if we can get the rate extended

If there are seats over, yes. We only have a handful of seats on the scheduled flight, though

Thanks tommy777 for the super quick answer- no need for a seat on the trans-atlantic- just space to particpate in the EU portion(only) of the DO- if it doesn't work of course that makes sense. Regards, Travelsig

This sounds awesome folks! I'm totally excited. You guys did an amazing job turning this around, a double EQMs to quadruple EQMs is nothing to sneeze at

I think he was referring to the Hyatt Diamond gift (Pizzaman's original post said it would be good until Feb 2013, yours says Feb 2012), not the hotel rate.

Fantastic itinerary!!!!!!!!!!!

Are there special rates at Andaz Wall Street for those arriving Sunday?
Is there transport arranged to JFK or is it on our own?

seems like 6 months of diamond wouldnt be worth Hyatt's time to process everyone's app!!

You HAVE to stay in our room block to receive the Hyatt gifts

1. Do you mean stay at Hyatt for all three stays - ORD, YUL, DEN to get Hyatt Diamond status or just to get whatever gift they may provide at that hotel for that particular night?

I assume attendance at all Hyatt party events is OK, as long as you are on the charter - even if you do not stay at the Hyatt at a given location - say DEN.

2. I assume "United" means that points for charter can be credited to either a United or Continental account with same bonus EQM?

3. Also - Munich hotel is ___?

I believe the Kempinski at MUC

No, you will not get Hyatt Diamond or be able to participate in any of the special breakfasts we are doing if you stay at eg Marriott. Hyatt is spending a lot of money on this and if you want to take advantage of their top tier without a single stay, you have to stay at least one night at the 3 official DO hotels. But you can of course take part in any of the Hyatt events without staying at a Hyatt, but no extra points, Diamond and the joint Diamond breakfast planned

You can credit to op or mp

We are working with Kempinaki in MUC

My mistake. It's of course valid till Feb. 2013


I will update the first post when I arrive at my destination (damn iPad )

I HAD TO RUN MY DAUGHTER TO URGENT CARE (NOT SERIOUS), SO I'LL GET DEPOSITS WORKING AS SOON AS WE GET HOME. SORRY FOR THE DELAY.

Updated

So just to clarify, Hyatt Diamond is good through 2/2013