Drumroll Please: The StarMegaDO4 Giveaway!!!!!!

And now the moment that everyone has been waiting for….

The StarMegaDO4 giveaway!!!!!

I have been talking about this for a while now but the logistics of the SMD4 and running the contest were quite complex, however it is now time to release the kraken!

What You Talking About Willis

For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about when I say StarMegaDO4 or SMD4, it is basically a frequent flyer / aviation enthusiast’s dream!

More information can be found in my previous post but for the last 3 years, 200 or so frequent flyers have chartered an entire commercial airplane and jetted around the world for a week. On previous MegaDOs, participants have gotten behind the scenes access at various airports, visited Boeing, Airbus, and Bombardier Headquarters, got serious facetime with Airline Executives, and even have gotten to fly actual United flight simulators!

Thanks to Randy Petersen, I was fortunate enough to go on last year’s StarMegaDO 3 and it was an amazing experience!

Although it was a whirlwind trip comprising of 3 countries, 6 cities, and over 11,000 miles in 5 days, it was well worth the jetlag!

I am a big fan on the concept of paying it forward and since Randy gave me the opportunity to go on the SMD3 last year, I think it’s only fair that I provide that opportunity to someone else.

I am fortunate enough to have a real job outside of Frequent Flyer University, so any money that I receive when FFU Readers sign up for Credit Cards goes directly into a separate account with ING Direct that I don’t touch. I use this separate account as a means to give back to all the loyal FFU Readers and fund any giveaways and contests for the site.

That being said, I will also be sponsoring a Reader to come to Chicago for the Chicago Seminars in October, and more than likely the OneWorldMegaDO in January 2013 if they decide to do that again.

So when you sign up for a Credit Card on FFU, you can give yourself a big pat on the back because your hard work of earning free frequent flyer miles is directly helping fund these once in a lifetime giveaways for FFU Readers.

Hopefully one day you will win!

The Prize

As described above, 1 lucky FFU Reader will be chosen at random to tag along with me on the StarMegaDO4.

I will cover all expenses for the trip including:

• Positioning flights for getting to and from San Francisco & Chicago
• The $999 Coach ticket for the U.S Charter portion of the SMD4
• Your own room at all Hyatt hotels during the trip
• Meals if needed

Basically you are my guest for the entire duration of the SMD4.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) as more and more people have heard about the great experiences people have had on the StarMegaDOs, the more people end up signing up for the MegaDO the following year!

The only problem with this exponential growth is that there are only a limited number of seats on the Chartered Airplane.

Since I don’t have any special connections,  I will be in line with everyone else trying to snag 2 seats. 

I am fairly confident that I will be able to get 2 seats, but in the event that I am unable to secure any seats on the SMD4, whoever wins the SMD4 giveaway will get a $1,500 United Giftcard and a $500 Hyatt Giftcard that they can use to have their own vacation of their choice.

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that because the SMD4 is really a once in a lifetime experience, but it is important to have a contingency plan.

If you are selected as the Winner of the SMD4 giveaway, I will email you and ask you to the provide the information that is need to register for the SMD4 like Passport Number, Date of Birth, etc.

Date & Schedule

The SMD4 has 2 parts – the U.S Chartered portion and the optional European portion.

I am doubtful that I will be able to do the European portion, since that would be almost a full week off of work, so I will most likely just be doing the U.S portion.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012 – Charter begins in San Francisco with a Hyatt reception as well as a meet and greet with representatives of EVA Air and Singapore Airlines. Charter then flies to Houston for a Texas BBQ party and a stay at Hyatt.

Thursday, November 15, 2012 – Charter departs Houston for Chicago for a face to face meeting with the CEO of United and other United Executives. There will also be a reception and tour of United.

Friday, November 16, 2012 – Star Alliance Reception in Chicago.

The Contest

If you read FFU on a daily basis, you know that my number one goal for the site is to help other people learn how to travel for free.

It is for that exact reason that I’ve created The Beginners Guide and am always accessible via email to answer any questions, big or small, related to frequent flying.

When coming up with how I wanted to administer this contest, the one thing I realized is that most people don’t even know that websites for frequent flyers even exist!

If more people knew how easy it is to take world class vacations for free, I am fairly certain they would jump at the chance to do so!

Therefore I think it is time to tell them!

How To Enter

To enter the SMD4 giveaway, simply complete any of the following entry methods below.

You can enter once a day, and are free to do all 3 if you want.

If you came across the site because of a friend who was entering the SMD4 giveaway, you are free to join in as well!

I know there are some technology adverse readers (ie. my mom), so I have included a non-social media way to enter as well!

For all of the entry methods, you need to sign up for FFU Email Updates because that is how I will contact you if you win!

Sign Up For FFU Email Updates

• You can sign up for FFU email updates by submitting your email address in the box to the left.

• I promise that you won’t ever get spammed, as it is automatically set up to send ONLY 1 email a day with a summary of the day’s posts.

• This is how I will contact you if you win! So if you don’t submit your email address, I won’t be able to contact you. 

Entry Method 1 – “Like” Frequent Flyer University on Facebook

• Once you have “liked” FFU on Facebook, simply use @FrequentFlyerUniversity in a status update.

•  Your status update can be anything, good or bad as long as you use @FrequentFlyerUniversity in it.

Entry Method 2 – Follow @FrequentFlyerU on Twitter

• Once you are following @FrequentFlyerU on Twitter, simply use @FrequentFlyerU or #SMD4 in a tweet.

• Again, please surprise me. It can be funny, silly, goofy, etc. It doesn’t matter to me!

Entry Method 3 – Email Your Friends

• If you don’t have Facebook or Twitter, you can simply email your friends/family and encourage them to visit FrequentFlyerUniversity.com and CC or BCC FrequentFlyerUniversity@gmail.com

 

Contest Duration

From what I have read the SMD4 registration opens on July 9th, so this contest will run until Friday, July 6, 2012 11:59PM Central Time.

I will export all of the names from everyone that enters via Facebook, Twitter, and Email into Excel and then use a random number generator to select a winner.

If you win, I will contact you via email on Saturday morning or I may show up at your doorstep with a big fake check and a camera crew. I haven’t decided yet.

Questions

If you have any questions, please email me at FrequentFlyerUniversity@gmail.com

Good luck to everyone and remember that all it takes is 1 entry to potentailly be the winner!

-Parag