Emirates Arrives at DFW Airport, Take Two

Our interns and editors have been busy today. While Glenn was out watching the inaugural flight of Emirates, Karley Osborn was trying to find her way around the airport. She may have struggled figuring out where to go, but it sounds like it all worked out in the end.

Emirates Airlines flight attendants' red chapeaus were a nice touch. Photography by Jeanne Prejean.

The arrival of the first-ever direct flight from Dubai International Airport to DFW is kind of a big deal. And I nearly missed it.

It wasn’t exactly my fault. The Emirates people didn’t seem to know where I should check in, either. Two women wearing the airline’s uniform—a red hat with a cream headscarf and khaki blazer—smiled and motioned for me to wait in an obscure corner until “someone” came for me. But there wasn’t someone coming—a fact I clued in to 20 minutes later when I noticed that I was still the only person documenting the gate attendants’ unceremonious struggle to roll out the inaugural flight poster.

But you know what they say: when in doubt, follow the signs to the red carpet. And act like you know what you’re doing.

Soon I’m breezing past security and following a cameraman onto an elevator, which leads to a perky PR person with bad news: the two of us latecomers had missed the bus to the tarmac where the plane was landing. The bright side? We would be able to watch the whole thing from inside the VIP lounge.

The camera guy I’d been trailing is hacked—he needed to get a camera shot, but suddenly it seems like he’d prefer to throw back a couple of the Jell-O variety. I settle comfortably into the swanky reception area, where mimosas and flutes of champagne are being served at 8:24 a.m. Apparently, it’s never too early to start celebrating international bridge building.

About 15 minutes later, an overhead announcement is made—the aircraft is approaching. Heads turn toward the flat screens sprinkled every 10 feet around the room. People begin to clap and prepare their cameras—Duane and Betsy from the Airport Ambassadors Program stand near me, all smiles while snapping pictures of the screen with their cell phones. Suddenly, the red Emirates logo fills the screen. Duane and Betsy’s smiles dim. The camera pans back to an empty runway. A plane is shown taxiing. A shot of some-aircraft that’s still in-flight follows. Is this prerecorded? Did we miss the big landing?

Oh, well. This is the mimosa party. Life is good.

Suddenly, the screen is back, and so is the mysterious announcer, this time yelling “touchdown” as the wheels hit the pavement and thematic elevator music crescendos in the background. Another round of claps and cheers ripple through the VIP party as the plane is hosed down by cascades of water like Sea Biscuit at the end of a race, or—in the interest of continuing our football theme—like Tom Coughlin in a Gatorade bath at the end of this weekend’s game (go, Giants). Could it be that the inaugural Emirates flight was the Super Bowl of international relations between Dallas/Fort Worth and the Middle East? His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, seems to think so.

“In many ways, we’re marking the opening of a bridge—a bridge that will expand trade, enhance diplomacy, broaden cultural understanding, and deepen the friendship that binds our countries and our communities even closer,” His Excellency said.

Fort Worth mayor Betsy Price had much the same to say, just in a slightly different accent. “Shall I say howdy, y’all? This is Texas, after all,” she said in her greeting to the press.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price

Decked out in a cowboy hat and custom cowboy boots, Mayor Price was every inch a representative of the Great State as she spoke about the world being round so that we can all hold hands and sing songs around it. Or something to that effect.

“I know I speak for every one of us here,” she said. “We are proud and honored to call Emirates a member of the DFW family.”

And what a shiny new member the airline seems to be.

The promo video shown before the press conference was full of promise: a lounge, children playing video games onboard, champagne, a woman luxuriously sweeping on mascara, another woman washing her mascara off in an on-board shower, and a golden teapot reminiscent of Aladdin’s lamp that seems perfectly suited for exotic in-flight tea service.

Thankfully, the plane itself doesn’t disappoint. There are multiple business sections and a killer first class on the aircraft that arrived at DFW airport early Thursday morning. Naturally, the aircraft is equipped with all the basics—reclining leather chairs, imbedded flat screen TVs—but it’s the little details that will lure the chic and the sheiks alike to Emirates’ lengthy flights. Silver stand mirrors and a snack basket decorate the expansive counter tops in first class, and each seat is enclosed like a pod so that guests don’t even have to see other rich people out of their peripheral. For our tour, the Emirates staff had even dusted the seats with flurries of rose petals, and set a beautifully plated seared scallop on top of the pullout table.

The make-up mirrors in the first-class suites seemed bigger in the promo video.

I couldn’t find the shower (or the fluffy bathrobes) from the promo video, and the mascara-mirrors seemed decidedly smaller in person. But still. From all appearances, it seems that relations between DFW and Dubai have taken off as smoothly as the inaugural flight.

We in the VIP lounge will raise our mimosas to that. —Karley Osborn