AFF Gathering #18 in MEL on 21-23 November 2025

Save the date! The 2025 AFF annual member gathering will be in Melbourne from 21-23 November 2025.

There will be a welcome dinner on Friday evening, a more formal dinner with two fantastic guest speakers on Saturday evening, and optional activities throughout Saturday and Sunday.

All AFF members and their friends & family are welcome to attend. Most people usually fly into the host city on Friday afternoon, and leave on Sunday afternoon/evening. Of course, if you're a Melbourne local, the flying part is optional.

You can read more about the planned activities, dinner venues and costs and post #2 of this thread.

There will be a $5 registration fee per participant, plus the cost of any activities and/or meals that you choose to join.

If you'd like to attend, and haven't already done so, please complete the registration form by clicking on the link below. Once you've done this, please also post your flight/hotel details in this thread!

For those unfamiliar with the AFF terminology:

• "Platinum" means your attendance is confirmed and you have booked flights/accommodation
• "Gold" means you're likely to attend but will need to confirm at a later time
• "Silver" means you're unlikely to attend at this stage
• "Bronze" means you're unable to attend.

The entire AFF team looks forward to seeing you in November in Melbourne!

Registrations have now closed.​

 

[Mattg]

Last night’s brilliant guest speakers:

Udhara de Silva from Singapore Airlines, who tackled all of AFF’s prickly questions with grace



A big thanks also to Singapore Airlines for donating lots of giveaways and prizes!!

And Phil Hawkins, former Flybuys COO:

 

[Mattg]

The Culture Capital Walking Tour will start at 11am outside the State Library of Victoria. See you there!

 

[cove]

Well @Mattg those speakers were really good picks.
Well done!
We are a group who are trying to fly better.

 

[Mattg]

This morning’s walking tour group:

 

[Oscarq]

Terrific evenings entertainment with a big thankyou to @Mattg and Wilson. Guest speakers offered great insight accompanied by a delicious 3 course meal. Great catchup with a number of old faces and met some new friends. Enjoy the walking tour everyone. See you at the next meet.

 

[Hvr]

The final official event for the 2026 Gathering has concluded. Another great time was had. Thanks to the organisers for a magnificent job and my fellow attendees.

Here's to 2026.

 

[bPeteb]

An excellent walking tour with our terrific guide Laura. Thanks again for organising this Matt and Wilson

I think this bloke should be famous for being related to my favourite martian (darn auto correct had made what I originally posted make zero sense)


Avoid the mushrooms


If you know you know


No need to avoid the mushrooms here. A very excellent French restaurant


The Court jester is in court

 

[bPeteb]

Lunch at Lucy Liu.

The neon sign said walk in, so I did.

Very good!

 

[MathNerd]

A big thanks to @Mattg and @WilsonM for organising a spectacular weekend of activities for AFF.

It was my first time at an AFF Annual Gathering (being a MEL local and finding out it was in MEL this year meant that it had to be attended in some way, shape or form), and I was blown away by just how good it was.

I only got to attend the drinks/dinner gig at Emerald Peacock on Friday night, and the Yum Cha lunch at Shark Fin Inn on Saturday afternoon. Regardless, the people I met, the stories we shared, and our shared passion for aviation, points, business class seats and everything remotely close to these, meant that we all got along from the get-go. As the saying goes, "I found my people" - it was a safe space for all of us to geek out on things we don't get to geek out on with friends/colleagues.

This was my first AFF attendance, but will not be my last.

Thanks again all for making it such a splendid experience for a newbie like myself!

Looking forward to more events, catching up with everyone and meeting new people along the way too!

Until next time, safe travels, and may your business/first class flights continue to have availability, and be comfortable

 

[Dantas]

Rubiras at Swallow, Port Melbourne

 

[Dantas]

Arrived safely back in HBA. Thanks for a great weekend everyone.

An interesting addition to our new terminal:

 

[bPeteb]

And another new salad.

Looks like the tiny galley on the A220 is becoming more familiar. Great service from our CSM Cade.

Descending into some stormy Brisbane weather with a beautiful sunset off to the west

 

[Mattg]

Everything looks great.

Sorry I couldn't be there tonight and this afternoon at the MCG. I am recovering from a fractured bone in my foot. My partner and I are in the middle of sorting out multiple house insurance claims for falling tree branches and water damage from a leaking shower. We're also planning a completely new ensuite as the one we have left is too damaged to be usable.

Have fun everybody. The Porterhouse steak looked great.

As I believe @QF WP mentioned to you, our second guest speaker Phil (the man behind the Flybuys account on AFF before he retired a few years ago) specifically mentioned you during his speech. He has a lot of respect for your engagement in Flybuys and contributions on this forum. It's a shame you couldn't meet him last night, but I understand that you couldn't make it and hope you recover as quickly as possible.

 

[CaviAck]

As I believe @QF WP mentioned to you, our second guest speaker Phil (the man behind the Flybuys account on AFF before he retired a few years ago) specifically mentioned you during his speech. He has a lot of respect for your engagement in Flybuys and contributions on this forum. It's a shame you couldn't meet him last night, but I understand that you couldn't make it and hope you recover as quickly as possible.

Oh don't worry QF WP made sure Phil got a nice surprise.

 

[LinaLee]

Thanks especially to @Matt Graham and @WilsonM for the excellent organisation. As Melbourne local made it an easy that I finally got to enjoy the wonderful community of AFF for this annual gathering. Especially great to meet old friends and catching up and also meeting new faces too to the handles and build on the friendship. Hopefully there will be other opportunities to attend other gatherings. Happy travels to all

 

[Big John]

Thanks especially to @Matt Graham and @WilsonM for the excellent organisation. As Melbourne local made it an easy that I finally got to enjoy the wonderful community of AFF for this annual gathering. Especially great to meet old friends and catching up and also meeting new faces too to the handles and build on the friendship. Hopefully there will be other opportunities to attend other gatherings. Happy travels to all

May I add my thanks to both gents as well. It was my first attendance at this premier event and won't be my last !