Photo Contest to Be My Seatmate on the Star Alliance Megado!

The fourth Star Alliance Megado is coming up in November, and even though it sold out within minutes, as a sponsor of the event I managed to snag an extra ticket for the domestic portion - and I want to take a lucky reader along with me for the ride like I've done in the past.

What the heck is a Mega Do?
Basically, it's when the frequent flyer community teams up with airline alliances to create the ultimate travel event that includes amazing access to airline facilities and executives along with chartered planes. This November is the fourth Star Alliance Mega Do and the itinerary will have us jetting around the US on a plane full of Star Alliance execs, bloggers and members of the media. Tickets went on sale July 9th and sold out almost instantly, but luckily I was able to get an extra seat next to me in a bulkhead Premium Economy seat.

Here's the schedule of events on the Star Alliance Mega Do 4:

Tuesday November 13th
8 PM Welcome reception @ Hyatt SFO sponsored and hosted by Hyatt

Wednesday November 14th
7 AM-8 AM Breakfast is served
Morning program at SFO Airport
1 PM The FIRST Mega DO flight ever on a widebody goes SFO-IAH.
6 PM Arrival in Houston. Barbecue party upon arrival Sponsored by United, Hyatt and Milepoint
Overnight @ the Hyatt Regency Houston

Thursday November 15th
530 AM-615 AM Breakfast at the Hyatt in Houston
730 AM Departure from Houston to Chicago
10 AM Arriving in Chicago
United hosts us in Chicago
7 PM United hosts reception @ Hyatt Schaumburg in Chicago.

Friday November 16th
7 AM Breakfast at a Hyatt TBD in Chicago
United Program continues and eases in to the 15th anniversary Star Alliance reception hosted by Star Alliance
9 PM The official SMD party ends

Saturday November 17th
9 AM Brunch Hyatt Schaumburg

The actual flight distance (San Francisco – Houston – Chicago) totals 2,650 miles. Participants accrue more than that in a United MileagePlus account (note: United MileagePlus is the only program offering mileage credit for the charter). Since you'll be traveling in Economy Plus with me, you'll be earning 7,500 PQM/RDM's.

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What is covered: In addition to a seat on the charter and access to these events, I'll also cover hotels for Tuesday-Friday nights. Of course, I'll let you pay for them so you get the Hyatt Gold Passport points and then reimburse you!

What is not covered: You will need to get yourself to San Francisco on Tuesday, November 13th and home from Chicago.

Estimated value of the prize: The cost of each seat was $1,249, plus hotels will be around $600 and the overall experience will be priceless, for sure.

Since this prize is a pretty valuable "once in a lifetime" experience, I want to make the lucky winner work for it a little bit - like what I did for the Oneworld Megado in January, where the winner Conor rapped in his video explaining why he should be selected. Instead of creating a video, this time it's all about photos and you have two ways to enter.

All you need to do is create a photo with caption explaining why I should choose you. In the example above, I decided to do a "Texts From Hillary" style entry so you get what I'm talking about. You don't have to be in the photo yourself - it can be of anything!

However, I will be judging based on creativity and humor, so try to be original. This site will help you make your own photo with a caption in no time. There are two ways to enter and you can use both methods, but you need to create a unique entry for each.

1) Follow The Points Guy on Twitter

and Tweet your photo to @thepointsguy and include the hashtag #greatseatmate in your Tweet.

2) On your smartphone, download the free Instagram App and then follow me at thepointsguy:

Then click the camera button and upload your photo. Make sure you include @thepointsguy and #greatseatmate in your caption so it is included as an official entry

You have until 4:00pm EST on Sunday October 14, 2012 to enter your photo and caption. I will select my 5 favorite entries and announce them in a blog post and on the TPG Facebook page and finally as Instagram photos on Monday October 15, 2012. I will then crowdsource feedback on the entries through comments on the blog post, comments/shares on the Facebook posts and "Likes" on the Instagram photos. I'll take all of that into consideration and announce the grand prize winner at 5pm EST on Tuesday October 16. A runner-up will be selected in case the grand prize winner can't attend the actual event and there will be other prizes for the other finalists.

Rules: I will disqualify/delete any offensive or obscene entries. Please stay away from politically charged captions - politicians can be in the photos (like my Hillary example), but don't get political in your caption. Overall, just have common sense. After all, I wouldn't want to be stuck next to a crazy seatmate for three days!

Feel free to ask any questions here or Tweet me. Bottom line – be creative and have fun and even if you can't enter the contest, enjoy the entries. I know I will!
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