FTU Advanced San Diego tickets are now available.
The regular Frequent Traveler University events can be huge, they’ve been as large as more than 600 people. Participants often requested smaller, more intimate events allowing for greater in-depth discussion and really getting to know fellow participants.
Both the first FTU Advanced and the second one each sold out in under 24 hours. The former was held at the Marriott O’Hare at the end of July, the latter later this month at the same place.
- More advanced. FTU events welcome everyone, at all experience levels, and of course everyone is welcome. But the program will feature a more focused conversation geared to people that have spent more time with the activity. If you’re already a guru then most of it may not be new to knew, but topics will pre-suppose the basics and go beyond what can productively be done at an event for 600+.
- A different program. We’ll be able to go more in-depth, and we’ll be able to go more hands-on. There will be internet in the meeting rooms to facilitate learning by doing, not just telling and showing.
The San Diego FTU Advanced will be held at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay hotel from Friday March 6 through Sunday March 8.
Speakers include:
- Ben Schlappig a.k.a Lucky from One Mile at a Time
- Greg Davis-Kean a.k.a. Frequent Miler
- Stefan Krasowski from Rapid Travel Chai
- Scott Mackenzie from Hack My Trip
- Daraius Dubash from Million Mile Secrets
- … and Randy Petersen
Tickets are $249 and registration is nonrefundable, but tickets can be transferred to another individual for a $25 fee.
Events begin Friday evening with an open bar cocktail reception. The $165++ group rate at the hotel will include buffet breakfast. Event registration includes lunch on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets are available here.
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Gary, do you know how many attendees this will be limited to? I believe past Advanced FTUs were capped around 200. Will this event have the same cap?
Thanks.
@GB past FTU Advanced programs were capped at 125. I believe this is about the same.
The $249 fee just for registration is much too steep for me.
Gary, you were the star of the Chicago Advanced FTU program. Why are you not participating in this one? And this one in San Diego is pricey, with a 60%+ boost in both hotel cost and seminar registration fee. Are you trying to keep out the riff-raff?
Damn! I don’t get back from vacation until the 7th.
$250. Holy hell. Just… wow.
I still have two tickets for the Chicago FTU Advanced available, at cost, if anyone’s interested. It’s Sept 26-28 with most events on the 27th.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it. 🙁
You can contact me at jamesb2147 at gmail.
@Robert Concord: If you click through to the event page you’ll see that Gary is prominently featured as a speaker — no doubt it was modesty that caused him to leave his name off this blog post.
The Hyatt charges $29 per day for parking. That’s high even for California. Then there’s the $21 per night resort fee. Your $165 room just became a $215 room. It’s as if you buying a ticket on United or something!
I’ve been to that hotel and it’s nice, but I think FTU organizers should cater more to us cheapskates by choosing downscale properties for small events like this. Meet in a middle school auditorium and stay at a Hampton. We want the information, not the frills.
I was very excited about attending.
Then I got to $250, having to register 6 months in advance, and it being non-refundable. Not to mention a $25 fee just to let someone else take your place if 6 months later it turns out you can’t attend. Assuming you can find someone wanting to do that. Geezz…
But I do appreciate the warning that for folks who have been playing this game a long time, we won’t learn anything new. It’s really just a chance to bask in the reflected glory of M and P SuperStars.
Has it been announced yet how much you guys will be charging for autographs? And the fees to have our picture taken with each of you?
@Robert Hanson – oh come now. I don’t know the economics of the event, but I haven’t ever made any money off of these, and I’ve never charged for autographs. I show up, I share my thoughts, I talk miles and points with anyone that’s interested. And anyone that wants to go can — the smaller events though mean fixed costs get spread over fewer people, I do know that much. Apparently the thing sold out already so it must work for some!
Gary Leff’s autograph? I pray you are not serious.
“the smaller events though mean fixed costs get spread over fewer people”
Typically with events like this, the meeting room is free, with the hotel making it’s profit from rooms booked, (NSX says $215 a night), $29 parking fees for commuters, restaurant and bar sales, etc.
So who is making the money then? Is Robert Conrad wrong that the price is up 60% from the last one? And is there any reason for that, other than that it sells out in an hour or two?
“it must work for some!” I suppose the Delta FF program,
Hilton HHonors, and Spirit Airlines in general could say the same thing. But I still find it outrageous that to attend one has to commit a non-refundable $250 fee so far in advance, and then pay $25 just to let someone take our place if we can’t attend.
These are exactly the sort of policies and fees we all hate when the airlines do it. Why should we like it when FTU does it to us?
I’ve argued that the FTUA does not charge ENOUGH…because they’ve never bothered to figure out their open market value.
If these guys were just in it for a buck they’d relinquish control of the secondary market for registrations and figure out the peak value of a ticket…then charge that amount up front.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/external-miles-points-resources/1613215-ftu-advanced-inflation-ftua3.html
Sold out in 4 hours at $250. Impressive.
Next time if you guys take my advice about reducing the overhead (hotel expenses) you could capture more of the consumer surplus through even higher pricing. Personally I’d rather see my money go to you guys and gals than to a hotel that engages in drip pricing.
For the ultimate in cost-cutting I’ll make one more facetious suggestion. Hold the seminar at the headquarters building of Chase, Citibank, AA, or UA. The company gives you free meeting space in exchange for learning all the tricks we use to cheat them! This might be easier if you started with a second-tier loyalty program competitor like Capital One or JetBlue.
@kokonutz goes on to blast me for supposedly moderating him in the thread he links to above. Trolling a bit to gin up controversy in his own playground, I guess 😉
For the record, his comment above went into the possible spam queue because of the link he included. (Which I suppose is more right than the system even realized…)
I never moderated it. When I had a few minutes’ break I took a look at comments that were in pending status, and released it!
Gary, myself and a couple of others are trying to sell our tickets for the upcoming FTU, mine has been up forsale for 3 weeks, how about letting your readers know that there are people who have tickets for the Chicago FTU.. Thanks
Ouch!
Please, sir, can I have another!?
@Tony have you posted on a Milepoint thread about this, if so give me the URL and I can link to it
@kokonutz true is true, you might prefer to think of it as ‘being impish’ rather than trolling but if you’re going to throw out what I think is a pretty serious accusation (censorship) you ought to, you know, have pretty solid ground to think that the claim is true.
When you put a link into a post it’s one factor that makes WordPress think your comment could be spam (there may be gfanual settings here that I don’t know about). I’m not in my comments section in real-time. So as soon as I saw your comment trapped in the comments I approved it. I rolled my eyes at it. But I approved it. 😉
Here is the Milepoint URL:
http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/ftu-advanced-chicago-sept-26-28-sold-out.85910/page-4#post-2436095
Here is the FT thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/external-miles-points-resources/1607753-ftu-advanced-sept-26-2-tickets-sale.html
Is there someway i could be notified by someone who cannot attend and would like to sell me his ticket?
I’m interested in attending FTU Advanced in San Diego.
How can I be notified if a ticket becomes available?
Thanks.
@Mark follow the thread for the event on Milepoint
Is any one in need of ( 1 ) ticket to Frequent Traveler University in SAN Diego. I will not be able to attend, going to Kauai. Feel free to email me at rafaelsanchez619@gmail.com
Price is $250, I’ll cover the transfer fee.
My plans have changed as well and I have an extra ticket. My email is rajiv1 at gmail. I will cover the transfer fee.