A few months ago the next chapter of the StarMegaDO was announced.  The first StarMegaDO took us to Europe to visit Lufthansa, SAS and Airbus.  The second StarMegaDO found us visiting Lufthansa in Germany and then followed by Continental, US Airways and Boeing in the US.  At the kickoff party in New York, it was announced that the third destination would be Brazil with a trip to the Embraer factory which led to people warming up their mileage earning credit cards.

A few ...

For a few months now there has been a lot of speculation as to what will happen with BMI (British Midland) and its Frequent Flyer Program, Diamond Club since Lufthansa acquired the remaining shares earlier this year. 

This was one of the questions that was raised frequently at the Star MegaDO.  The answer?  None yet.

In various conversations, Lufthansa execs stated that they were "assessing" BMI.  They went so far as to say they weren't sure if they would keep it or sell it.   They also indicated it is up to the airline itself to decide to forego its own mileage program and join with Lufthansa's Miles & More. 

So, for the time being it appears Diamond Club is safe.  If Lufthansa does decide to keep BMI then we'll need to start lobbying for BMI to keep their own program but for the time being it sounds like it's safe.

Finally the last day of the Star MegaDO arrived.  Fortunately, for a select few it was discovered late on Thursday night that the morning sessions were being repeated in the afternoon, which meant more sleep!

After catching up on some of the lost sleep it was time to get down to the airport for lunch, marketplace and to hear Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman and CEO of Lufthansa and Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa AG executive vice president of sales and marketing ...

Day 3 of the trip was by far the longest and most fun.  The 4:00am wake-up call was rather painful but we did need to be at the gate by 5am.  Today's activities included a charter flight that would start in Frankfurt, head to Oslo where we would pick up some folks and spend the morning with SAS and then head off to Toulouse for a visit to Airbus.  While we had official cabin crew for all of the legs, some of the Flyertalk moderators also participated as ...

Upon arrival into Frankfurt, we wandered down to the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge which was a nice breath of fresh air.  The Welcome Lounge has 28 showers for patrons to use.  I decided to skip the shower and get a bite to eat.  The food selection included fresh frutis, hot foods, and a plethora of bread (including fresh pretzels).  

After the lounge it was time to check-in to the hotel and then meet-up to start the day. 

As we all met ...

As some may have noticed, I've been a bit quiet this week and with good reason.  This week marked an amazing event, the The Star MegaDO. 

In a nutshell, this was an event that was hosted by Flyertalk, United, Continental, Lufthansa, SAS and Airbus.   It involved a charter plane, much press and all told somewhere north of 200 people.

The event started in Chicago on Tuesday the 3rd.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend this part, but ...