Over the next week I’ll be blogging over at the Mega DO website.

That’s where I’ll have extended posts about all of the activities, experiences, and insights that are going on during the ultimate frequent flyer once in a lifetime experience that starts in New York, heads over to London then Dallas on American Airlines with a visit with oneworld European carriers.. then visits with American Airlines execs in Dallas, there will be flight simulator time for participants and even a real simulated water evacuation of an aircraft and folks get to go down the emergency slide. We all hop on a chartered 757 party plane (I’m told, quadruple catered with liquor) up to Seattle for tours of private parts of Boeing and a cocktail reception with industry execs as well, and then take the chartered plane to Los Angeles where the days activities will involve a Cathay Pacific 777 and a Qantas A380. Be sure to check that out, bookmark it, subscribe to the RSS feed.

I’ll be live tweeting from @OWMegaDO. Follow that twitter feed for all the live updates, including insights gleaned from airline execs and aircraft manufacturers over the course of the trip. If you’re going to be on the trip, or want to follow others that are, use or search the hash tag #OWMegaDO.

A big thanks in advance to American Airlines and the whole of oneworld, and also to Mega DO sponsor Hyatt hotels.

Three times now a group of frequent flyers have gotten together and built an experience like no other, convinced the airlines that they patronize that their excited, loyal, and excitable customers were worth spending time with — perhaps they thought anyone crazy enough to get together and out of their own pocket charter the plane for the experience must be crazy enough to be worth talking to. A year ago I love how Randy Petersen put it to me, Tommy Danielsen the lead organizer is someone who “makes a bad idea work out well.” And certainly going on the hook for a six-figure aircraft charter on the belief that 150 friends and strangers would want to come along for the wild ride was a very bad idea, made good.

The first three events were held over the course of three different years in conjunction with members of the Star Alliance. After seeing the success, the attention, and the overall excitement, American Airlines actually approached Tommy about putting something together with oneworld. And you just know it was going to come out as something special, no need to cajole the airlines and convince them to play host. American was on board, and with their help for the introductions airlines like British Airways, Finnair, Qantas, and Cathay Pacific would be as well.

Of course, American gets a charter fee out of this, and that’s not cheap. But they’ve dedicated tremendous time and thinking and generosity and goodwill to playing host. And they’ve helped put together an amazing set of fundraisers along the way. The events are all done out of the pockets of the participants, with the idea only to cover costs, the charter price is determined based on an expectation of what things are going to have to come out of pocket, with a few percent overage for contingency, and anything left over at the end goes to charity.

Well, American and the other sponsors have come up with prizes and participants in the event have responded in kind, everyone will have to wait until the end for the final events but it will be tens of thousands of dollars to charity as well, such as American’s charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Hyatt’s Hands on Education Services. At the same time as lifetime memories are being creative, everyone is doing something good.

Not just American, and their oneworld partners, either. American has made a valiant play for the attention and loyalty of the participants, I know that their Executive Platinum challenge has meant a lot for my own flying, I expect to end January with over 60,000 elite qualifying miles showing in my AAdvantage account. But Hyatt hotels and the Hyatt Gold Passport program has been an amazing partner.

Hyatt has made everyone on the trip a Diamond member, we all get our checkin amenities and Diamond breakfast throughout the trip, they’re not just hosting the breakfasts but receptions and giveaways as well and they have executives joining us on the trip. Everyone was able to participate in a challenge to retain Diamond status, and earn bonus points for stays. The Hyatt Churchill in London, Hyatt Regency Dallas, Hyatt Regency Bellevue (mmm — soup dumplings next door!), and Hyatt Regency Century City will be our homes along the way when we’re not up in the air on an American Airlines 757.

Kickoff dinner in New York tonight, events at JFK and then a flight from New York to London. I won’t be joining in the transatlantic portion but I’m promised photos and updates along the way to share. I’ll turn up in Dallas for the launch of the domestic portion of the trip.

Sit back, relax, and follow things over at the Mega DO blog and on Twitter. It’s going to be a fantastic ride!