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You can join the ultimate frequent flyer MegaDo trip this October

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MegaDo is a US group which organises what can best be described as ‘frequent flyer tours’.  It has just announced its first ever SkyTeam MegaDo which will take place in Europe this October.

I have done two of these trips in the past and reported on some of the events on HfP.  They are good fun, albeit slightly chaotic, and the attendees are generally a very friendly, totally normal and very much un-geeky group.

The event actually starts in Seattle with a tour of the Boeing final assembly plant.  However, you aren’t missing much if you skip this and start in Amsterdam two days later as the cost of the event does not include the transatlantic flight.

This is what you can do.  There is no ‘wow’ event such as the A380 test plane tour I had in Toulouse a couple of years ago, but there is plenty here for anyone who wants to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes with airports, airlines and frequent flyer schemes.

Sunday 14th October (Amsterdam)

AM – A trip to the Lelystad Aviodrome museum

PM – An afternoon with SkyTeam, Air France and KLM at the W Amsterdam

Evening – MegaDo welcome party at the W Amsterdam

W Amsterdam Exchange terrace

Monday 15th October (Amsterdam)

  • Behind the scenes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: follow the flowers from landing to departure
  • Visit the Aalsmeer flower auction and warehouse
  • Visit the KLM Technical Base
  • Visit KLM Catering
  • Visit KLM Ops
  • Meet the Flying Blue Management

Evening – An evening with SkyTeam, KLM and Air France

Tuesday 16th October (Amsterdam, Prague, Palma, Barcelona – in one day)

Private charter flight to Prague

  • A visit to Czech Airlines
  • Tour of the airline kitchen

Private charter flight to Palma

  • An afternoon with Air Europa. Meet CEO Juan José Hidalgo.

Private charter flight to Barcelona

  • Champagne reception at the Air Europa hangars

Wednesday 17th October (Barcelona)

A day with Marriott and SPG in Barcelona (format TBC, 3pm finish)

Costs

The majority of tickets are $999 with more expensive options available which offer better seating on the charter flight.

The price includes all of the events above, except for the aviation museum on the Sunday which is an optional extra.  It includes the private charter flights between Amsterdam, Prague, Palma and Barcelona.  Most meals are provided by the event hosts.

The price does NOT include hotels or your positioning flights to Amsterdam and from Barcelona.  Smart use of miles and points should cover most of this though.

I am hoping to attend, although I will probably miss the Sunday events due to family commitments.  However, for absolute clarity:

whilst I know the organisers, I have no part in organising the event

I do not receive any commission or reward of any sort if any HfP readers sign up, and I pay full price for my own ticket (albeit it is a tax deductible business expense for me)

based on the two previous MegaDo events I have attended, with the best will in the world these events never go to plan – anything involving aircraft and airports rarely does – and if you are not willing to ‘go with the flow’ then the event isn’t for you.  Whilst these are technically ‘for profit’ events, you can do the maths yourself (tried chartering a Boeing 737 recently?) and realise that no-one is getting rich on this.

Registration is phased. You can register from tonight if you want to attend both the US (Boeing tour) and European portions.

Registration for the Europe-only leg will open next Monday for business class and next Wednesday for economy.  The number of places available will depend on how many signed up for the ‘two continent’ package.

You can find full details on the MegaDo website here.

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, SkyTeam alliance partners

Comments (23)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Sam says:
    30 Apr30 April 03:49

    There appears to be a complimentary UX Suma Gold / ST Elite Plus membership for those who join the do. Which is an interesting side benefit.

  • David says:
    30 Apr30 April 03:49

    Note: Registration for the Europe-only option will actually be next week (in May).
    Until a couple of hours ago the dates were written in US format (month then day) and they also then had a typo – which is why it looked like June. Now fixed.

  • David says:
    30 Apr30 April 03:52

    I’ve also been on two of these before – one the same as Rob, the other a different one. They are great fun, and on both occasion what I had thought would be the highlight bit going into the event was good – but something else turned that looked insignificant in the schedule turned out to be even better.
    Just ‘go with the flow’ really is the way to approach it.

  • Mikeact says:
    30 Apr30 April 07:41

    As a KL/AF Platinum for Life since day one, I shall definitely try to get on board for the European section.

  • Stu N says:
    30 Apr30 April 08:58

    The Boeing factory tour is excellent, really enjoyed it last summer. The future of flight museum isnt brilliant but good to fill half an hour or so before your tour leaves. Probably better combined with a visit to Seattle than a tour of Europe though…

    • the_real_a says:
      30 Apr30 April 12:34

      I was very dissapointed with the factory visit to be honest. Its a 10 minute peek over the edge of a walkway into the factory. That’s it. The “museum” was much more like an outreach center for school and university groups when i was there with very little to entertain you. There is a 15k IHG hotel on the site however which is useful if you have a rental car.

  • Alex Sm says:
    30 Apr30 April 09:03

    Would be fun if they did Moscow-Riyadh-Guangzhou leg as well for the most advanced and adventurous!

  • Chris says:
    30 Apr30 April 09:12

    2 OT questions as there is no ‘Bits’ article

    1. Booking a work trip MAN to MCO in July, how bad is thomas cook air in economy? the return is thomas cook are but serviced by Air Tanker which i’ve never heard of reviews are not great.

    2. My Gold amex is up for its first year end soon. if i close it can i still keep the reward points active in my amex account as my corporate green amex is linked to my gold account (but the green card earns me no points)

    • Rob says:
      30 Apr30 April 09:55

      2. How do you know your corporate Amex is linked if it doesn’t actually earn points? If it is then, yes, you’d be fine.

      • Chris says:
        30 Apr30 April 11:39

        When i log onto my amex account online i can see both cards, i assume this means they are linked.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          1 May1 May 06:13

          They are linked in your AMEX account but the actual MR account might not be linked.

          See robs other article about the free ARCC you can apply for or indeed the new gold credit.

          Have you considered an upgrade to Platinum for 20k points?

    • the_real_a says:
      30 Apr30 April 12:38

      Haha i just made a comment on the other article. I was blown away with Thomas cook economy. The staff are very friendly, the food was very good (but noticeably better from Manchester than NYC). The IFE is part free, but i found a couple of movies of interest in both direction. You can pay £10 to unlock a bigger library. Seat was comfortable. I would choose Thomas Cook ahead of BA/Virgin any day in economy.

      No idea about air tanker.

  • Stuart_f says:
    30 Apr30 April 12:05

    AirTanker is the joint venture that delivers RAF’s air to air tanker called Voyager. As part of the agreement there’s a fleet of 14 Voyagers, 10 are used day to day by the RAF and the remaining 4 are damp leased to Thomas Cook, TUI and Jet2. The leased ones are in company colours externally but depending on which particular aircraft you get may have been refitted inside (to add Premium Economy for example) or might still be in military spec.

    • the_real_a says:
      30 Apr30 April 12:40

      Wow!

    • mark2 says:
      30 Apr30 April 12:49

      so do you face backwards in the military spec aircraft?

      • Stuart_f says:
        30 Apr30 April 15:42

        No, that was the VC-10s that had the backwards seats and they are long gone.

        The only difference the passengers will notice is that the mil-spec aircraft has no seat-back entertainment.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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