Jacobin777, nice post.
Are you saying, as other have suggested, that an ORD-DXB could be done using current equipment and few if any weight restrictions? Combined with Open Skies, as well as the new airport in Jebel Ali opening eventually, along with many other things (route scarcity, OW penetration in the market, etc) this could actually happen.
As someone who flies to DXB for business every once in a while, I'm always forced to make the terrible choice to connect in Amman or take the more than comfortable Etihad or EK flights. For those that have done the AMM connection, while it's not totally painful, the arrival timing makes it tough to be even remotely coherent when you get in DXB extremely late at night.