Final HfP Christmas Party tickets sold at 10am – three new raffle prizes added

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• HP says:

  25 Nov25 November 10:44

  Gutted as would have really liked to go to learn a few more tips and tricks!

  Is there a waiting list / resale market in case anyone can’t make it? I would be very happy to reimburse anyone their £20 if they find they can’t make it nearer the time……

  Thanks

  • Genghis says:

    25 Nov25 November 11:19

    I heard TRH1 was flogging them for £50 a pop?

    • the real harry1 says:

      25 Nov25 November 11:26

      I thought of trying to get 1 in case Ian missed out, given his outlay on fares – aah!, what a softy – but went & had a shower instead lol

      I’d have thought you would have had at least 30 seconds, so as surprised as the rest of you

      given how generous the prize sponsors have been, it does demonstrate that HFP can give new vigour to approaching organisations for prizes/ competitions in future – it’s a win-win-win

      – they love the target readership getting exposed to their brand
      – we love the prizes
      – HFP gets an easy article (after the legwork finding the sponsors)

      • Henry says:

        25 Nov25 November 12:16

        So is anyone selling their tickets on?

  • Polly says:

    25 Nov25 November 11:40

    Last year 6 didn’t make it..so how about a “stand by queue”..just like at the airport! People can wait across the pub across road for their names to be texted! Lucky my daughter is fast fingered too. Had to pay her £20 too…No way was l quick enough on the draw yesterday!

    • Rob says:

      25 Nov25 November 11:58

      Since you can turn up at any point until 8, theoretically, that won’t work.

• Laineyling says:

  25 Nov25 November 11:08

  After being unsuccessful yesterday we managed to get tickets today through the event brite app, my husband was online trying to get tickets in case the app didn’t work.
  He never even saw tickets come available despite refreshing. My impression is that the app was somehow faster. Glad that we got tickets but do hope that the sites best and most loyal commentors get tickets too as they probably add the most value after Rob and Anika

  • tony says:

    25 Nov25 November 11:20

    This might make sense as I failed to get a ticket using my laptop. I was refreshing the screen every second, as soon as they came available I clicked through, it said 50 remaining, I clicked on the next tab to find it was sold out.

    Anyway, I hope all who did manage to get a ticket have a suitably festive evening. And to Rob & Anika, keep up the good work!

  • Ian says:

    25 Nov25 November 11:22

    Yeah I was refreshing my laptop every couple of seconds and doing the same with the app, and it was the app that showed the tickets. They never became available on my laptop!

  • Matthew says:

    25 Nov25 November 11:30

    I tried the app too but just got unsuccessful 1 second after 10am 🙁

• Sapiens says:

  25 Nov25 November 11:23

  Perhaps this is a case for more events / meetups (potential revenue stream for the business).

  Rob and Anika – I would do a quick online questionnaire around what sort of events the readership are interested in (and more data for you on general user demographics) . And what drove the huge demand for tickets.

  Obviously with 150 attendees, nobody was expecting a significant intimate 1on1 conversation with Rob/Anika. It was something else.

  I think that *something else* could be just meeting up with other people who are also into this funny hobby of ours.

  E.g. I would turn up if you just organized a pub evening on a Tues/Weds. No prizes, no presentations. It’s just grabbing a drink with other people who share an interesting hobby.

  • Polly says:

    25 Nov25 November 11:48

    I agree. Am looking forward to the networking and discussing insider secrets that can’t be posted on line. Am fascinated to see what else there is to learn. Its really all about sharing and helping. I get a kick out of helping and am so surprised when friends just can’t be bothered. Or just cannot understand the advantage of flying J for a few 100 more.
    So yes any kind of get together is good anywhere just to share ideas…

    Graham..are you not planning to live stream the event to the pub across the road? Great idea…

  • Sundar says:

    25 Nov25 November 12:58

    Yes, agreed. An annual event with prizes(and a bigger audience 300-500 considering how fast the tickets sold out) with a monthly or a fortnightly catch-up(Depends on how much time Rob/Anika have…) in a bar in London….
    Disappointed I could not get in this year after having missed out last year due to illness.

    • Fenny says:

      25 Nov25 November 15:21

      ” in a bar in London….”

      I know Rob & Anika live in London, but lots of us don’t. You could always do the arranging!

      • Genghis says:

        25 Nov25 November 15:51

        There’s always lots of complaining “why not in Scotland?”, “why not in Truro? (:))”. People need to make things happen.

        I didn’t realise there’d be so much demand.

        If people are interested in a casual get together for chats about points and travel (no prizes / free bar etc) I’d be willing to arrange something (so as long as OK with Raffles). It would’ be in London though as that’s where I live. Those interested, follow me on Twitter, genghis1232, I’ll then follow you and then send me a message. I’ll then see what I can organise in the new year based on demand.

      • Sundar says:

        25 Nov25 November 18:24

        Exactly Genghis, London is nearer/accessible for me, so the suggestion for London – Nothing stopping from people outside London organizing one for them.
        We should do frequent DO’s(as it is called in the US).
        Am up for London Genghis, will DM you on Twitter.

      • Nick says:

        25 Nov25 November 19:39

        Genghis, I would be up for your event but am not on twitface so do post a quick note here (assuming Rob doesn’t mind). I’m a bit outside London but within the commuter belt and would happily make the trip 🙂

      • Genghis says:

        25 Nov25 November 19:46

        Nick, I’m also genghis1232 on FT

• Aaron Quigley says:

  25 Nov25 November 11:23

  Hi,
  I think your work here is great and the party is a very nice thing to organise for your readers. I’m sorry some people are leaving you unkind feedback which isn’t justified given what happened last year.

  I hope you have a fun party, don’t let the ungrateful posters get you down. You might consider setting up a ustream for those who couldn’t attend to watch in if you like?

  All the best for 2018

  Aaron

  • Waribai says:

    25 Nov25 November 11:50

    Unlimited alcohol and ustreaming may not to be the best idea!

• Mark says:

  25 Nov25 November 12:08

  I got a ticket! I’m at the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi and only had my mobile so maybe I just got lucky but a lot of refreshing at 2pm and the screen changed from ‘not on sale’ to ‘buy tickets’.

  I saw a comment mentioning the lack of posts saying that they got tickets. I am an email subscriber and very very rarely use the website or post here so maybe a lot of the others that were lucky too are the same?

  Either way I am excited that I managed to get lucky. Just need to continue that trend for the raffle on the night!

• VeryGratefulReader says:

  25 Nov25 November 12:28

  I managed to get one this morning as I tried on my laptop and hit refresh at 09:59:59 (didn’t get one yesterday and was extremely disappointed as it’s the one event I was looking forward to throughout the year!).

  All I can say to the readers that didn’t get one is that this has shown that there’s a lot of demand for another meetup and this will fuel further events.

• Graham Walsh says:

  25 Nov25 November 12:42

  I know everyone likes a Xmas party but how about a summer party too next year in June time. Could be outside then as well (hopefully)

  • Rob says:

    25 Nov25 November 12:54

    May do. The Melia bar has a big terrace as it happens. Or we jointly do the Flyertalk one.

    • Mikeact says:

      25 Nov25 November 13:02

      The Flyer talk one that I went to, really appeared to be die hard regulars of this, so called, ‘hobby’. I didn’t meet one ‘newcomer’, but to meet some of the popular ‘handles’ was really interesting.

• Briandt says:

  25 Nov25 November 12:56

  Rob. I don’t see why you need all this hassle, for what is basically a private event. Next year ? …….. forget it. Just send out private invitations only…assuming you’re both happy to put the work in.

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