Welcome to MCI, Paul! I hope you find the house-buying process the same delightful shock we did (moved from Bergen County, NJ).

I was Silver on CO, which relegated me to Jungle Jets out of MCI. Had a business trip to India and took AA's Platinum Challenge, so now I'm Platinum, which will come in handy since my husband and I are leaving for London via ORD today.

IMHO, one of the few bad things about this area is getting anywhere. You're stuck with RJs, or going through a hub (sometimes on an RJ!), or Southwest. Southwest isn't bad for what they are, but if you like upgrades and free trips to Europe you're outta luck. I also hate the airport setup- beyond the secured area there are no bathrooms, no food concessions and generally no airline clubs (I think DL is an exception).

Too early to give you an experienced opinion on the switch to AA, but that's what I did.