This is the kind of program that stretches a DMC to its limits. With very little information, no time to spare (students were to begin arriving less than 20 hours after our first call from the client), and no roadmap to follow (especially in regard to the recently announced “Shelter in Place” orders in Dallas), we buckled down and put a plan in place.
Within hours of our first call with Spanish Heritage, we had booked a team of 27 fearless greet staff plus drivers and motorcoaches to provide full coverage at both airports and all five terminals of DFW airport. We made special arrangements to have greeters inside security as well as at baggage claims in order to better assist the students. We would not receive flight manifests until well into the evening and students’ flights were arriving scattered across airlines, terminals and throughout the day.
Here’s how it unfolded:
- Ultimate Ventures (UV) received an SOS call from Spanish Heritage at 10:00 AM on March 25th.
- A flurry of calls and emails were made to staff, vendors, and the airport to communicate the magnitude/complexity of this last-minute movement and our plans for execution. Snacks were purchased, staff instructions were created, radios were procured, all in record time.
- Due to the pandemic, staff were briefed and screened with health and temperature checks as part of brand-new pandemic safety protocols.
- The first scheduled flights arrived at DFW Airport at 6:00 AM on March 26th.
- Upon arrival, students were greeted and shuttled to the Hyatt Regency DFW to check in and rest. UV assisted with the check-in process, answering questions, helping with lost luggage, etc. since there was no “group leader” traveling with the teens.
- UV served boxed dinners to 300 students at the hotel and then shuttled them back to DFW Airport for their late night flight.
- The group was scheduled to depart at midnight on their charter flight (but had no flight crew at that point!)
- Actual flight departure time was at 1:40 AM on March 27th. Adios amigos!
Just a few “never before” challenges we handled included:
- Working with the clients’ request for us to procure 300 masks within a few hours (when there were none to be found on the local market)
- Getting the Consul General of Spain through airport security to see the students off
- Getting assistance from a high level DFW Executive to provide aid when the charter’s flight crew did not make it through TSA Security before it closed for the night
Our team was extremely proud to play a small part in Spanish Heritage’s master operation to get these students safely home to their families.
Side note – Both of UV’s owners have 16-year old children (and the majority of the students were 16-17 years old) so this program was immensely personal to us. We were all invested in getting those children safely home to their Spanish mommas! And we love happy endings! J
