上週末（10 月 16 至 18 日）在芝加哥 O'Hare（ORD）旁的 Holiday Inn Elk-Grove 舉辦了一年一度的 FlyerTalk Chicago Seminar 2015，聚集了大量哩程和信用卡界知名人士。筆者今年也前往現場，為大家帶來第一手消息。

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Chicago Seminar

Chicago Seminar 已經是第六次舉辦了，依然人氣旺盛。活動在週五、週六的安排以 Oral 為主，週日有 Workshop 和 Seminar（仿學術會議形式，但並沒有 Proceedings...）。本文最底部附上了今年的日程。做報告的包括各大主流部落格作者，Boarding Area, Frugal Travel Guy, Rapid Travel Chai, Frequent Miler, etc.

Howie @ Frugal Travel Guy（左）和 Ben @ One Mile at a Time（右）
Howie @ Frugal Travel Guy（左）和 Ben @ One Mile at a Time（右）

雖然週六的 Oral report 都十分精彩，但我認為更精彩的部分是週日的分組討論。Hotel Breakout 和 Airline Breakout 都依航空公司和飯店集團分組，進行更深入的討論。不論是搭飛機、住飯店、辦信用卡，還是製造消費，都能找到比自己更有經驗也更有趣的人交流。他們也都很樂於解答任何問題。

精彩細節

Visa 禮品卡

還記得 10 月 18 日我們發佈的 OfficeMax/Office Depot Visa 禮品卡 deal 嗎？在開會期間，一看到這個 deal，飯店附近的 OfficeMax 裡數量有限的 Visa 禮品卡瞬間就被與會人士掃光了。

班車

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Bluebird 和 All American（原 US Airways 的名字）都是亮點。

總結

如果你在芝加哥附近，又喜歡 social 和點數，不要猶豫，參加明年的 Chicago Seminar 吧！我相信，不論你懂多少，每去一次總會有新的收穫，連主辦方都是這麼覺得。本部落格也會在未來的文章裡，逐步和大家分享在 Seminar 上學到的新鮮知識。

附錄：Chicago Seminar 2015 日程

10 月 16 日星期五

  • 4pm - 830pm: Registration Desk Open
  • 5pm - 530pm: Introduction and Welcome to Chicago Seminars (thehowieee)
  • 6pm - 7pm:
    1. Rookie Bootcamp with Dave (Bikeguy)
    2. International Bootcamp with Stefan (Rapid Travel Chai)
    3. Become an Expert with ExpertFlyer (Chris from ExpertFlyer)
  • 730pm - 830pm:
    1. All About Delta with Rene (DeltaPoints)
    2. All About Southwest with Bonnie (FrugalTravelLawyer)
    3. Organizing Everyone's Points with Howie (thehowieee / FTG)

10 月 17 日星期六

  • 830am - 12pm: Registration Desk Open
  • 830am - 930am: Customer Service & Aviation with Captain Denny Flanagan
  • 945am - 1045am: Credit Cards with Rick the Frugal Travel Guy
  • 11am - 12p:
    1. Beginners with Summer (Mommy Points)
    2. Bluebird, Redbird and Serve with Greg (Frequent Miler)
    3. Dream Destinations on Points & Miles with Daraius (Million Mile Secrets)
  • 12pm - 1pm: Lunch
  • 1pm - 215pm:
    1. How To Find Cheap Premium Airfare with Ben Schlappig (One Mile At A Time)
    2. Maximizing Online Portals with Greg (Frequent Miler)
    3. Cruising with Shawn & Amtrak with Dave (Shawn Coomer & Bikeguy)
  • 230pm - 345pm:
    1. Last Minute Award Bookings with Ben Schlappig (One Mile at a Time)
    2. 101 Tips to be an Expert Traveler with Stefan (Rapid Travel Chai)
    3. Amazing Value on Aeroplan (via AMEX and SPG) with Miguel (PMMTravelConsulting / FTG)
  • 4pm - 5pm:
    1. Live: Award Booking with Ari Charlestein (Award Magic)
    2. Exotic and Adventure Travel with Matthew Klint (Upgrd)
    3. Booking Awards for Five or More People with Dave (Bikeguy)
  • 515pm - 615pm:
    1. Round-the-World Trips Since the Death of RTW Awards with Scott (MileValue)
    2. Award Stopovers with Drew Macomber (Travel Is Free)
    3. Sweet Spot Award Redemptions with Angelina Aucello (Just Another Points Traveler)
  • 7pm - 8pm: Happy Hour / Reception in Woodfield Ballroom

10 月 18 日星期日

  • 8am - 9am: Open Panel Discussion on Credit Cards
  • 9am - 10am: Sponsors Workshop
  • 10am - 11am: Charity Raffle
  • 1115am - 1215pm: Hotel Breakouts
  • 1215pm - 115pm: Lunch
  • 115pm - 230pm: Airline Breakouts
  • 245pm - 4pm: Event Closing & Open Panel on Everything Else