TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PARADE
UPDATE #1
FEBRUARY 15, 2007
As we proceed forward with this great educational opportunity, I will be sending a newsletter update when I feel that there is information to report. Please make sure you read carefully and possibly even copy this newsletter and keep it for future reference. There is no room for error on any correspondence so please make sure you understand all that I send. If you feel there is a reason to contact me, please feel free to contact me at the email address given. A special thanks to Diane Ellis who will be sending this info to you for me when I feel it is necessary. Please remember to respond to ME, not HER, as she may not know the answers of questions you may be asking.
MAKE ALL QUESTIONS TO ME IN AN EMAIL. My email address is : jhrichardson1@wcpss.net
FIRST PAYMENTS
Thanks to all for getting all the first payments and forms back in such a timely manner. It is a tremendous amount of paperwork for a trip like this but you have done a great job in getting in the medical, contact, insurance and grant information so it can be filed and used as needed. Please remember to send each monthly payment on the first of month and I will credit that deposit to your account. As you continue to look for sponsorships, please feel to send those at anytime. If you feel you would like to send more than the required $125.00 per month, please feel free to do so and I will make sure that it is all credited accordingly. Please make sure you mark TOR on the checks and present band members need to use your assigned band ID numbers.
NEXT PAYMENTS ARE DUE: March 1, 2007
GRANTS AND SPONSORSHIPS
We continue to look for all possible ways to finance this great trip. Many thanks to Latrell Maddox, Cheryl Wilson, Debbie Rossi, Kathy Barnes and Alexander Barfield for their countless hours of looking for alternate sources of revenue. If you have any idea on how to locate any finances, please feel free to contact me and we can move forward with your request. On a major trip of this nature, I am very "tight" on how many people will be making the "official" contacts to corporations and companies. I wish to make sure that we do NOT contact a company/corporation two or three times as that would make us look extremely bad in our organization of this trip. Yet as we look for all possible revenue sources, we always wish to contact all whom we feel can assist us. So please forward any more ideas you might have to me and we will move forward on your request provided we have not already made that contact.
TSHIRTS and PULLOVERS
Many of you remembered to submit both your t-shirt and pullover sizes. Some of you did not submit this info and someone from the band boosters will contact you in the next few weeks. If you should get a message at home, please respond via email TO ME so we can add your sizes to the ever-growing list of people wishing to travel with us.
AND HOW MANY PEOPLE?
As of last Friday, we have "official" reservations for 325 people. This includes both band members and all that wish to travel with us. This does NOT include others who will be traveling just to be there but are not a part of this "official" party. This trip is designed as "official" and "unofficial" travelers. If you travel from Raleigh and your entire trip is paid through the band boosters, you are "official." If you travel by yourself and pay your own expenses but wish to just meet us for the parade/dinner on the Queen Mary, you are classified as "unofficial." Regardless of your classification, we are THRILLED that you wish to be a part of this once in a lifetime travel opportunity. The official totals will rise once we know exactly which rising freshmen will be allowed to attend Broughton due to the magnet application process.
If you know of any person who might be coming to Broughton and plans to be a band member, it would be very wise for them to contact me ASAP! My one fear is once our airline seats and reservations are confined and booked, latecomers to the band program may be left behind for this venture. So please send anyone you know to me ASAP!
PARADE/QUEEN MARY DINNER TICKETS
If you are traveling "officially", your parade and dinner reservations will be part of your travel package. If you are "unofficial", you were notified at our January meeting that you will be charged for those costs. Expect to hear from me sometime by May 1, 2007 asking for complete payments for your parade/dinner tickets for your friends and other family members who wish to visit with us in the Los Angeles area while we are there. Our deadline for ordering these parade/dinner tickets has been moved up. Thus, I will need payment earlier. I will notify you of the cost in the next few months and if your travel plans have changed, then this will give you the opportunity to decline the parade/dinner ticket opportunity.
AIRLINE SEATS
At this time I am able to inform you that we are holding 377 airline seats to Los Angeles. All flights will be leaving from the Charlotte Airport. One flight is a United Airlines flight connecting into Chicago. The other four are all direct nonstop on USAIRWAYS. Booking airline seats has been a real nightmare and we are moving forward cautiously and carefully. Why Charlotte? Believe it or not, we were not able to get any decent possible fares from Raleigh. Plus Charlotte is a larger airport and allows larger planes which is what we will need for the total traveling party. When we traveled to Europe in 2001, we bused to Charlotte and were able to fly from there. We will do the same for this trip. Unfortunately, this adds a little added expense as all must be bused to Charlotte and back. But please don't complain. The South Dakota State University Band must bus 8 hours EACH direction from their college town just to get to a major airport to fly to Los Angeles. We have it much easier.
If you did not know, airlines today have fewer planes in the air daily than prior to 9/11. We all know that air travel took a hit after that tragic day and even though it has rebounded since then, the airlines have reduced the number of flights they offer daily. Their philosophy is that they will offer fewer seats and thus fill the plane, sometimes "bumping" cost to passengers because they know you have to have the flight to get to your destination. They do not like dealing with "groups" because why should they offer us a "discount" when they can offer full fares and completely sell out their flights. And if you call the airlines and say you are a group, then they feel they can "bump" the price because once again, they know you need the seats. So we have been very cautious in booking and are presently just waiting on the official price so that ALL costs for the trip can be calculated. Once that occurs then you will be notified I hope no later than March 1, 2007.
As an example, NORTHWEST AIRLINES is not one of the larger air carriers in this country. However, NWA offers 200 less flight per day than they did prior to 9/11. Based on the average plane holding 100 passengers, that is 20,000 seats less per day than prior to 9/11. Imagine the numbers for the larger airlines like AMERICAN, UNITED or USAIRWAYS. I hope this makes sense and you understand why it is hard and we still have no concrete information. You take what you can get and hopefully we will get a great airfare!
I do realize that many have already commented to me how they have been able to find "cheap" airfares "on line." If you wish to book your own airfare or possibly use your own frequent flyer miles from your favorite business airlines, please feel free to do so. The cost I will give you once it is known will be an airline cost and chartered bus cost from the Los Angeles Airport to our hotel. If you should book your own flights, please remember that you are responsible for your own transportation from your arrival airport to the hotel. I know there are other smaller airports in the area (Burbank and Ontario and Long Beach) that handle smaller airlines but these airports can't handle the larger airliners that we need for equipment that must be transported to southern California.
If you should decide to book your own flights, I MUST REQUIRE that you forward to me a copy of your flight schedule ASAP. Some of you have already informed me you will doing the Christmas holidays in the western part of the country and will meet us there. WORKS FOR ME! This will keep us from booking you a flight on one of our flights from Charlotte. AND PARENTS I WILL ASK: If you should decide to allow your child to fly across country using your cheaper flight or frequent flyer miles, are you save and secure with your child riding in a taxi to the hotel in a city as large as Los Angeles?? I will forward the exact flight numbers once I have them so hopefully you can co-ordinate the use of your miles with our flights. But please think about the safety of your child. Our jurisdiction on the safety of your child will commence once they arrive at the hotel. That is when they become part of the "official" party.
ACTUAL FLIGHTS AND NUMBERS
If you are wishing to use any frequent flyer miles to possibly be on the same flights that we have reserved they are listed below. I would cal either USAIRWAYS or UNITED as soon as possible as frequent flyer seats are very few on most flight. If you wish to book on any other airlines, please feel free to do so but understand we supply NO transportation to and from the airport to the hotel. If you should book your child on a separate flight, our jurisdiction and responsibility will begin when you child gets to the hotel.
Here are the flights:
FLIGHT #1 USAIRWAYS Flight #1431 departs Charlotte at 7:40 AM for Los Angeles on December 28 USAIRWAYS Flight #1490 departs Los Angeles at 7:10 AM for Charlotte on January 4 FLIGHT #2 USAIRWAYS Flight #1433 departs Charlotte at 9:35 AM for Los Angeles on December 28 USAIRWAYS Flight #0732 departs Los Angeles at 1:00 PM for Charlotte on January 4 FLIGHT #3 USAIRWAYS Flight #1435 departs Charlotte at 4:20 PM for Los Angeles on December 28 USAIRWAYS Flight #1496 departs Los Angeles at 1:00 PM for Charlotte on January 4 FLIGHT #4 USAIRWAYS Flight #0733 departs Charlotte at 5:50 PM for Los Angeles on December 28 USAIRWAYS Flight #1916 departs Los Angeles at 10:45 PM for Charlotte on January 4 FLIGHT #5 UNITED AIRLINES Flight #0517 departs Charlotte at 8:30 AM for Chicago on December 28 UNITED AIRLINES Flight #0445 departs Chicago at 11:30 AM for Los Angeles on December 28 UNITED AIRLINES Flight #0106 departs Los Angeles at 9:00 AM for Denver on January 4 UNITED AIRLINES Flight #0446 departs Denver at 3:45 PM for Charlotte on January 4
If you felt that moving 335 plus people was going to be nice, well it is not. This is the best we can do and I frankly am VERY VERY happy with how this has come together. We have the best flights available with all leaving and getting to Los Angeles on the same day. I imagine after we know exactly which rising 9th graders in WCPSS will be attending Broughton, we will be adding another flight.
PRESIDENT OF THE TOURNAMENT OF ROSES
I have just received official confirmation that Mr. CL Keedy, President of TOR and his wife will be visiting us sometime before the end of school to speak with us about the Parade Theme "Passport to the World's Celebration" and how the theme can be used by us as we prepare for the trip. He will be here for a few days and all band member and parents will be invited to visit with him and Mrs. Keedy while they are here. Much planning still to do and I will let you know more as it becomes available.
That is about all to report. I am expecting a complete cost for all participants to arrive in my office this week. If it holds like I think it will, the cost is going to be very good for all especially the students. Course when you wish to room one or two to a room, the cost will increase. And the adult cost will increase, as you need parade tickets, band fest tickets when we perform at the exhibition, bus parking for the parade, some meals, etc. The Tournament is very good about feeding band kids at various events (like band fest) and giving them free passes to see the floats. Those costs for others in the "official" party must be paid by those participants.
That is it! Keep the monthly payment and sponsorship money coming forward. Many are doing a great job. Please do not expect me, the people listed in this newsletter or the band booster board of directors to find YOUR money and give YOU a free trip. It will not happen. We are working for additional financing to lower the cost but the bottom line is you NEED TO LOOK and BE RESPONSIBILE for your expenses.
Contact me if needed and thanks for the continued support! This trip is going to be a wonderful experience for all!
JHRichardson