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During our 2016 first class round the world trip, my wife and I had a brief stopover in Dubai. After a great afternoon at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai

we decided we would just head over to the Dubai Airport to hang out in the Emirates First Class lounge before our flight. Our flight from Dubai to New York was scheduled to leave at 2:35 a.m. from Dubai (ugh!).

(READ MORE: Emirates First Class A380 flight from Dubai to New York)

(READ MORE: Help! I’m “stuck” in Emirates First Class on “only” a 777!)

As such, we had decided not to book a hotel for Tuesday night and just hang out in the lounge until our flight boarded.  Although the Radisson Blu Dubai did give us a late (3 pm) checkout – one of the only good things about our stay there!), we didn’t really have anywhere else to go, so we arrived at the airport about 6 p.m.

Attempting to check in (take 1)

We walked into the (very empty) Emirates first and business class check-in lines and gave the agent our boarding passes.  When she found out we were checking for the New York departure at 2:35 a.m. (the next day) she told us that we could not check in until 4 hours before the flight!  She made a call but basically told us “sorry about your luck”

I actually was a bit surprised that she wasn’t a bit more proactive in trying to help us.  I mean, I get that we don’t LOOK like super classy first class folks necessarily, and that we ONLY booked using miles (and partner miles at that!) but I was under the impression that airlines (especially Emirates and other non-US airlines) really bent over backwards to cater to first class passengers.  At least that’s how it played out in The Wedding Singer… 🙂

I felt like shouting out “BRING ME THE HEAD OF A PIG…. WITH MY BOARDING PASSES IN ITS MOUTH!!!

dont-you-dare

One more try!

There were a bunch of self service kiosks out there, so I thought I’d give those a try – I looked up my Emirates record locator, but no dice – it told me I couldn’t check in.  So I went over to the business class check in to see if they could check me in there, or at the very least give us gate passes so we could hang out in the lounge.  I was NOT looking forward to just sitting around in the landside part of the airport for 4 hours!

This agent also gave me the 10pm schtick, but then helpfully suggested that I could already check in online.  So I sat down and after 5 minutes or so had us checked in, at which point I returned to the counter where this same agent helpfully printed out our boarding passes and we were off to the (completely ridiculous) Emirates First Class lounge!

Don't you DARE try to check in at 6 p.m. at this airport lounge


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