The signup page opens to the public at noon Eastern time on Thursday. Folks who attended the launch party in Los Angeles earlier in the month got to start booking at noon today (the page is password protected for the first 24 hours, but don’t worry there weren’t as many people at the launch party as there are seats on the plane).
There’s an optional part of the trip at the front end, that’s not available for booking yet, though you can indicate your interest during the booking process. That begins in New York on January 23, flies to London, and winds up in Dallas for the start of the main event.
But what opens tomorrow is the US portion of the MegaDO —
- Begins in Dallas on Wednesday January 25 with an American Airlines and Hyatt reception in the evening.
- On Thursday there’s a day with American — access to the airline’s senior management, behind the scenes tour of the airline.
- Then the charter will take everyone to Seattle, landing at Boeing Field.
- On Friday there will be a tour of a part of Boeing’s operation that’s not open to the public and hasn’t been open to past MegaDO events. Friday evening we’ll fly down to Los Angeles.
- Saturday is a daylong surprise program with multiple oneworld airlines.
The surprises along the way look awesome.
The booking tool is really cool, it will show you up front the seat map, which seats are available, and even ‘usernames’ of those who have booked seats. So you can pick where you want to sit, and even who you want to sit near (or avoid!). No more mystery over seat assignments, no more manual assignments, and mousing over the seat will even show you its price:
Randy Petersen blogged some advice about the booking process.
Here’s the pricing:
- $1699 for first class
- $1199 for “Tommy class” (blocked middle seat)
- $799 for coach
First class earns 15,000 elite qualifying miles, Tommy Class earns 10,000, and economy earns 7500 for the trip.
Personally I’ll be flying Tommy class, I can use the extra elite qualifying miles, as of now I’m looking at those pushing me over the top for 3 million miles lifetime. Plus the extra room will help me blog the trip inflight. First class is looking popular, the cabin is already showing 75% full and it’s not even open for public booking yet.
Not to worry, though, there are even 17 aisle seats in economy left as of this writing, and 18 Tommy Class seats as well. But there’s little question the event will sell out quickly.
Hyatt and oneworld have an amazing show put together. Full details at MegaDO.com. Get ready to jump on the bookings, because seats will go quickly. Shortly I will detail the amazing elite status challenge that American Airlines is offering. It could finally convince me to make the switch myself.
I’ve already booked my Tommy Class seat, and am looking forward to the DO. And the most amusing part about the numbers is that only one middle seat has been booked so far.
Gary: Any idea if Hyatt will give Diamond status to all participants?
@Carberrie all participants get temporary diamond and a challenge in order to keep it.
What does the pricing above include? Is it just the chartered flight from dfw-sea-lax?
@mike choi pricing includes the charter flight (DFW-SEA-LAX) with meals and drinks onboard. It includes the MegaDO events themselves, including ground transportation from the start of the event through its conclusion (ie you’re on your own from DFW to the event opening and from the end of the event back to LAX to go home). It does not include hotel nights (there are specially negotiated rates at the event hotels, but you are not obligated to book those) and it does not include any other meals/drink along the way you might wish to purchase. But meals/drink are pretty well covered throughout..