Going to Dallas this weekend for a social event. Which hotel(s) have good views of incoming/outbound traffic at DFW (aside from the Hyatt properties that are actually on the airport property)?

Depending on what the departure and arrival routes are you have a few options.

To the south, on 183, is an Embassy Suites (http://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/e...tyhocn=DFWSHES)

That's the only one I know of that will have good views of southern departures.

From the north, there are tons of options. Look for anything that has 114 north of the airport or 121 at 114.

You could probably get decent views from even farther north at 635 and 121 but 114 is just north of the actives.

Cool! That pretty much matches what I found: Embassy Suites on both ends (N & S) and a Hyatt Place (formerly Amerisuites?) on the N end in Grapevine. Even the Grand Hyatt at DFW itself has a lower rate than the Embassy Suites do!

I lived close to the airport for a while and noted that a lot of the time (read, normal days) arrivals were from the north. This is due to prevalent southerly winds. On weird windy days, they moved arrivals to the two angled runways, which are only easily viewed from side streets or Southlake.

Grapevine is close, but is farther north than you probably want to be. There are some hotel options off of 114 on the east-side of the 121 artery that are extremely close to the runway and next door to the shipping terminal (FedEx, DHL, etc.) (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...&t=k&z=15&om=1)

There is a planespotting area at DFW but it has been closed during a redesign of the taxiways.

If you are willing to be a little daring, you can do what I do and park at the AA/DFW operations building and watch the takeoffs and landings. It's got a somewhat restricted view, but you are definitely up close and personal when they are coming in from the south. http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&...,0.020084&z=16 (building on the left)

The 17L/35R from what I've seen, is not used that often, as ATC likes to use 2 runways for takeoffs and 2 for landings at the same time (usually one of each on each side).

The D/FW Airport Marriott off 114 is a good one. Ask for a room on the north side.

Heck...I would recommend going to hang out at Bear Creek. It's the 36-hole golf facility on DFW property. You'll have a plane flying over your head every 5 minutes.