If his connection is more than two gates away he'll have to exit security anyway.

Thanks for the dates supplied above... I didn't realize MCI had soft-opened as early as '69, but I knew it's been obsolete from a security-flow standpoint pretty much its whole life. It's kind of a shrunken DFW without enough floorspace to do DFW-style chokepoint checkpoints.

I believe that all of the F9 gates are in the same secure area now.

My brother flew MCI-DCA last month and made the mistake of waiting until he was inside security to search for food. He ended up buying a Rice Krispy Treat. Naturally, he was not thrilled.

Me too, There's not much else in the airport area.

KC built KCI for TWA and to there recommendation. TWA at the time was based in KC with over 10,000 employees. KCI was a total innovation and won awards from around the world. When hijackings started occurring TWA wanted millions of dollars in renovations done which the city could not afford. Thus TWA moved its hub based to St Louis. DFW's designed was based on KCI/MCI's. KCI's security lines are never more than 5-10 minutes long, so it's no big deal. The city would build a new airport if they had the money, the have long realized that KCI is a white elephant. But like everyone else, the city doesn't have the money to rebuild it. There's 90 gates, 30 gates per terminal. What the city should do is make one central checkpoint per terminal, but that could be hard to do because the total depth of the terminals is just 75 feet wide.

Thank you again and for sharing some of the history. So unless my flight schedule gets totally messed up, exiting and reentering the secure area should not be a problem.

And thank you for the reminder for not going straight unless I intend to exit. I think I did this the other time I connected through MCI while not intending (I saw a bathroom, was jetlaged from a flight from Australia, and in general, just all screwed up). It is something I will definitely keep in mind.

People make way too much about the security gate cluster of gates at MCI, the only issue if connecting is going outside the secure area and not being able to bring a drink through. Any flight from MCI to any point in the US, Canada or Mexico is 3 hours or less. Eastern Airlines and Braniff both ran over 100 flights a day during their days and people were just fine in connecting, of course that was before 9/11 and newer security. Plus, if the security lines get backed up any TSA gets people to the front of the line based on how soon their flights are taking off.

Well, if you can't get those things, remember that MCI has free, relatively fast WIFI. That is how I usually spend my free time there.

If it's on time. Add in the possibility of sitting on the ground due to w/x and it can be longer.

Not sure if you've flown yet, but if you're still looking at a longish layover at MCI (like 1:45) I would not hesitate to leave security and hit the bar/restaurant in the terminal, provided your arrive is not especially delayed. Been to MCI lots of times and have never had much wait at security. I would not consider leaving the airport. If you're interested in a bar/restaurant in a different terminal there is a free intra-terminal shuttle, but in my opinion 1:45 is a little tight to venture that far because you're at the mercy of that shuttle.

Leaving the secure area is a non issue, the only issue is taking a drink back into the gate. All you have to do is , if outside the secure area, is say my flight is leaving in 5 minutes and you're going thru security. KC has over 2 + million people and no one in that city wants the airport change. So no sweat.

I want to thank everyone for their savvy advice and let everyone know that it was absolutely no problem leaving and reentering security for a lunch.

BTW, if you want good microbrew, go to the Brewpub, which is the restaurant to the right (as you leave Frontier's gate area). You can get Boulevard on tap there.

Glad you didn't have issues with the gate setup. KCI/MCI is not difficult due to the security gate setup. People make more of an issues than it is. It's not the most spacious terminals and that design would never be used again in the building of a major airport, but it can work for airlines.

+1

The food isn't great, but it is well worth the hike from the other end of the terminal (for those not flying frontier) for that giant glass of Pale Ale...

Terminal A had better food choices when Midwest was located there. There was a place that served some great BBQ.