A Final Emirates First Class Farewell!

In the introduction post to the series, I mentioned that I had a very special flight from Florida to the Middle East with an airline.

Celebrating Toby’s Emirates retirement flight

I flew from New York to Milan on the A380 in May. Toby was getting ready to retire after 15 years at the airline. I was going to be in Europe until after July 2nd, so I figured that would be my last flight with Toby, or at least that's what he believed.

Toby is an awesome person and a great friend, and I have had the pleasure of flying with him many times before. I was on his last flight and there was an award available in first class.

If I didn't tell Toby I was on the flight, it would be more enjoyable.

Convincing Toby I wouldn’t be on the flight

Toby and I talk about travel. I had just flown from Sweden to New York in Finnair's new A330 business class, and I almost talked to Toby about it. He wasn't supposed to know I was going to the US.

On July 2, I lied to Toby. Ford was flying home from Europe that day and I was pretending to be him so I could send him pictures.

It was shortly after Lufthansa lost its Skytrax 5-star rating.

Ford had booked a room at the Marriott at the airport, and they tried to put him in the Sheraton at the airport. He reminded them of Marriott's ultimate reservation guarantee.

I believe I had Toby convinced.

Deciding how to approach Toby

I was trying to think of a way to get Toby's attention. He had no idea that I was coming.

I thought it would be fun if I just boarded the plane and sat down. I assumed that once he got on the plane, he would have a list of passenger names, and that he would be looking at how many passengers were in first class, etc.

I headed to the check-in at 6:30PM for my flight. The Club at MCO is the lounge used by most airlines in the terminal. It was almost completely filled with Virgin Atlantic and British Airways passengers. In the summer, Virgin Atlantic has a lot of flights to Florida.

I was going to approach Toby after he cleared security because I knew he would arrive at the airport around 6:30PM.

When I took the tram back to the main terminal, I didn't realize that you can't stay airside once it's taken. I rushed back through security because I knew Toby was close by.

Toby was at the very front of the crew as I was waiting to go through the checkpoint. Toby passed through the metal detector and I didn't realize I was in front of him.

At that point, I turned to him and asked if he was going to fly to Dubai. I am happy that he was caught off guard. I got a great picture with the entire cabin crew after taking the tram to the concourse.

Onboard Toby’s retirement flight

I have reviewed the A380 first class, the new 777 first class, and the old 777 first class. I won't be doing a traditional flight review, but I will be focusing on what made this flight special, which is Toby's retirement

I boarded the plane in the middle of the night. The plane was a Boeing. It wasn't the new first class, but it was still one of the older planes.

I ordered a sparkling water to drink because Dom Perignon isn't served on the ground when I leave the US.

I was the only one booked in first class, but there were two other people in row two. I think it was a retired captain and his wife.

I was lucky to be on this flight because Toby was onboard, but also because Refka, the flight attendant from Tunisia, was very professional. She was perfect in her professionalism, even though the service can be hit or miss.

Having the chance to fly with Toby was not related to my excitement about flying out of Orlando. When I was a kid, I didn't think Emirates would serve a destination so close to my home.

All of Toby's lasts were documented. He had to give a passenger a menu again.

He had to open a bottle of Dom Perignon on this flight and I wanted to make sure he had that experience again.

He has done a service before.

I don't have to buy anything when I fly with Toby. He knows what I'll get. He will serve me whatever I want, even if I don't want it, because I like it.

I began with a glass of Dom Perignon and some nibbles. There was a duck with pineapple and a poached prawn in the canapes.

It was more than once that I had caviar. Toby wanted to know if I wanted a shot of alcohol with my food. He suggested a shot ofvodka in my Dom Perignon because I didn't need that. I suppose we can call it the "Grey Perignon" or "Dom Goose" because it was a classier version of the "Stoli-Bolli"

I went straight to dessert after skipping Appetizers and Mains. I didn't know which to have, so the crew made all of them for me.

It was sleep time when I got really tired. Refka made my bed and I fell asleep. There are stars on the ceiling of the airline.

I woke up when my TV suddenly turned on. If you don't have eyeshades on, that can wake you up if you don't know what you're doing. Why didn't my screen stop? I was receiving a call.

I think they pushed buttons accidentally because there was a child in that seat.

We were just under seven hours away from the UK. I was happy about the wake-up call because sleep wasn't the priority here.

Toby was still on his break, so I ordered a coffee from Refka, which she served with some sweets.

Toby's break was over soon enough. I was served more Dom Perignon after Toby came back to work.

Since the other two passengers in first class were not awake, I was able to talk to Toby, which was great. I thought we could keep him busy so he wouldn't cry on his last flight, as I didn't think it would bother him that this was his final flight.

I decided to have another meal before I got to the airport. I usually order an Arabic mezze and a lot of caviar on the airline. I think I did a decent job of recovering the high fuel surcharges I paid for this flight.

I drank a cappuccino after dinner.

There were some amazing views before the plane touched down.

We did a photo shoot because we had to document Toby's last flight. I recorded all of Toby's announcements as he did great PAs.

We were on our way down before we knew it.

Toby treated this flight the same as any other flight he has made. Passengers gave Toby a round of applause when the first officer announced that it was Toby's last flight.

It wasn't a goodbye for this trip, as I'd see him for dinner a couple of hours later, but I said bye to Toby on the last flight.

Toby leaving Emirates is bittersweet

I shared a lot of information in a previous post, but I met Toby on my first ever flight, and we have been friends ever since. Toby is an amazing, kind, honest, funny human, and someone I am fortunate to call a friend.

Being a cabin crew at an airline is a lifestyle as well as a job. It is still a pretty good job, even though you are always tired.

Toby has a mixture of feelings about this. I am sure he will enjoy being able to sleep more frequently.

This was my last flight with Toby and it was definitely not my last flight with him. I can't wait to take more flights with him as he's down to go just about anywhere.

We might be able to get him to write guest reviews for us.

Bottom line

I was able to be on Toby's last flight with the airline. He is a one-of-a-kind person, and it was a pleasure to be there for all of his last flights. I'm looking forward to more flights with Toby.