DebConf11/GroupsDiscountAirfare

Group discount on air fares coordination

The airlines and airline alliances have various programs to provide group discounts, either based solely on volume or based on other common factors like attendance at a specific event. This page documents info related to how they might work for DebConf in future years, as well as how we might make something work in the short term for DebConf11.

Available programs (with description, requirements etc)

Most of these programs give a discount of 10-20% off of the lowest applicable published airfare. Economy class ticket discounts are typically closer to the 10% end of the range. They also typically give a single point of contact for attendees across all airlines covered by the program. Once the agreement is put in place with one of our legal entities like SPI, it can probably be reused in future years.

None of these programs' websites indicate whether they require exclusivity.

(Even more than most of the info on this wiki, all of this information is likely to be changed with little notice. This page was originally drafted in May 2011 with regard to DebConf11. If it is reused in future years, please re-verify the information with the original websites.)

Star Alliance Meetings Plus

This includes 27 airlines. Special procedures apply for Japan and New Zealand (to be clarified). Travel to/from South Africa and Australia is excluded.

Requirements:

• At least 50 participants in total
• Attendees from at least 3 countries other than the meeting destination
• A minimum lead time of 30 days
• A travel agency assigned to issue the tickets. (We would have to find one.)

Website: http://www.staralliance.com/en/business-solutions/meetings-plus/

Star Alliance Conventions Plus

This is meant for larger conventions than DebConf (minimum 500 participants), so isn't something to consider unless DebConf scales up in the future. It has the benefit of allowing attendees to contact any member airline or travel agency directly and provide a convention code to obtain the discount vouchers.

Website: http://www.staralliance.com/en/business-solutions/conventions-plus/

SkyTeam Global Meetings

This program seems like a hybrid of Star Alliance's two options. It requires at least 50 participants from 2 countries of origin, does not specify the required lead time, and seems to involve central logistics and customizable registration without needing us to appoint a specific travel agency. It also seems to give some kind of incentive to our organization based on the various bookings, which could be useful for future Debian or DebConf travel assistance.

Website: http://globalmeetings.skyteam.com/

Single-Airline Programs

We would look to single-airline programs if none of the alliance-based programs are suitable for DebConf11. These vary, but Continental Airlines' program described below is representative. We'd use whichever airline was is convenient for the people involved, given their geographic locations.

The benefits seem markedly better with a group of 20 or more as compared to 10-19.

Continental Airlines GroupWorks

• Requires 10 or more participants traveling on a common flight to a common destination
• They use words like "special pricing" and "guaranteed fare", but don't explicitly say discount
• They would offer a group coordinator at the airport (not at all airports), boarding announcements upon request, plus priority check-in, boarding, and baggage claim.

Continental Airlines MeetingWorks

• Requires 20 or more participants traveling to the event's destination from two or more origin cities (can be same country).
• Gives us "our choice of" (whatever that means) global zone fares or discounts off the lowest applicable published fare.
• Some sort of "productivity credits"-based incentive benefit for the organization applies here, as in SkyTeam Global Meetings Plus.

Action items

• Jimmy Kaplowitz will submit requests for proposals to Star Alliance Meeting Plus and SkyTeam Global Meetings, to determine feasibility for DebConf11, (separately) for future DebConfs, and what other unstated requirements such as exclusivity might exist.
• If the number of interested people for DebConf11 is below the threshold for the alliance-based programs but fits the requirements for a single-airline program, we will proceed with those for this year.

People interested

Please list yourself here if you want to do a group booking for DebConf11.

Name	Contact Info	Travel Origin	Departure From Origin	Departure From Conference	Airline or Alliance Preference
Asheesh Laroia	paulproteus	BOS or New York City area	?	?	?
Eric Dorland	eric@debian.org	New York City area	Start of debconf	End of debconf	don't care
Andrew McMillan	?	New Zealand	?	?	Star Alliance
Daniel Kahn Gillmor	dkg	New York City area	start of debcamp	end of debconf	don't care
Rafael Rivas	tato@debian.org.sv	San Salvador, El Salvador	July 23	unknown: may stay longer	Skyteam
Micah Anderson	micah	east coast US	start of debcamp	unknown: may stay longer	continental
Michael Shuler	michael@pbandjelly.org	TUL (or XNA), US	start of debconf	end of debconf	don't care

See also

• DebConf11/Travel-Arriving (to the country)
• DebConf11/Travel-Arriving-Bus, DebConf11/Travel-Arriving-Rail, DebConf11/Travel-Arriving-Airport (to the city)