FriendlySkies

Interesting! One of my UA friends said they heard a second lounge was planned, but we obviously ruled out the SC space being shared. At this stage, I can only hope it’s a PriorityPass lounge (it would seem unlikely for UA to add a lounge IMO, but stranger things have happened).

GUWonder

Rejection of reimbursement/expense reports for the membership fees would be more general. Amusingly I would see these things listed as a choice for expense report filings despite general policy being to reject them.

Corporate contracts Delta wants to lock up around the KCI area may mean something with regard to lounges, but then it’s still generally not going to make it into an approved reimbursement/expense report.

MCIksguy

I too would absolutely love a United Club MCI. DL was the first to enforce requirement to be only DL for sky club, AA and UA later followed suit with similar restrictions, so I agree some kind of access would seem unlikely. Another club in A concourse is potential good news, but with AA in A, it could be an AC, especially as MCI had an AC years ago.

Still, I can’t get over 11K sq ft for just DL, that seems huge for their volume - even if DL or a Skyteam partner does a Transatlantic route, honestly 5.5 really would seem about the right size for a MCI Sky or Admirals club given either’s volume. For comparison, the United Club at BOS seems large and it is 8K sqft (I can’t believe DL MCI has more pax or elites than UA in BOS). So with all that space, and UA on the same B North concourse, I am holding dim hope for something - Maybe DL subleases a portion (perhaps they just wanted something like 7.5K sqft), An LH route and contract lounge arrangement, etc. If LH adds MCI, it could drive a UC in its own right.

I agree a third party lounge would also work with growing WN service (they will have 9-10 gates in B South).

Beckles

Given that UA is a distant fourth place in traffic at MCI, I doubt it's a UA lounge.

AA did previously have a lounge and they have moved past DL to be the second largest carrier at MCI, but when you look at airports that have Admirals Clubs, American does not typically build them at cities with KC's level of traffic (an exception being SNA). I think a third-party lounge is the most likely, one of the concessions proposals included a Plaza Premium third-party lounge.

Dreams of any regularly-scheduled Intercontinental flights coming to Kansas City, other than an Icelandair-like ULCC with once or twice weekly service, I think are just that, dreams. While St. Louis has 3x weekly service on LH to FRA, that is supported by Monsanto/Bayer, Nestle/Purina, and several other St. Louis companies, I can't see that kind of support from KC-area companies.

It is a big SkyClub though, maybe Delta has visions of more for KC, most likely it would be MCI-CDG or AMS. Maybe Cerner/Oracle and some other smaller KC companies see European and beyond travel coming back (Cerner does have employees in India).

MCIksguy

I agree DL is making a long play and the large club probably portends a DL or Skyteam route to AMS or CDG at some point. I’m glad for DL flyers and glad the city is getting a lounge; I am sure it will help with attracting more employment and remote workers to the metro and more business events here - and maybe that elusive TATL route sooner than later.

Even so,11.5K sqft is very, very large for the market. SEA has roughly 4.5x the DL pax of MCI, but its Skyclub is 20K sqft; PHX Skyclub is expanded on a new concourse at 7.5K sqft and also more traffic than MCI. I just can’t see the need for that much space on its own and DL overpaying for 10 years. It just seems so odd, and makes me wonder if there will be something else there - sublease some space to another lounge, some kind of share (perhaps Amex or some other novel arrangement), etc.

Beckles

I flew out of the airport before Labor Day and it appears the lounge will be at the north end of A Concourse, there is new construction occurring there for what I would guess is this lounge. Build KCI posted a time lapse video at the end of July that showed the picture below, the red circled area is now under construction again, as opposed to being complete as shown in this picture from some time in July 2022.

FriendlySkies

Hmm, this will be interesting to see.

fwiw, this PDF which is geared towards attracting BA, has a schematic with the terminal layout. If I am reading the colors correctly, that is going to be by the AA gate lounges.

http://mediaassets.kshb.com/NWT/Sam/...815.1660926597

Beckles

Thanks, I was not aware that the State of Missouri had a program to subsidize such service.

FriendlySkies

I assume, though am not certain, this is what MCI used to lure FI’s KEF service in 2018/2019.

GUWonder

Seemed to me like MCI may have been trying to use “state support” financial incentives to lure TATL service, and that it would have applied to Icelandair too. Other than a limited play from something like Icelandair or maybe Condor, I wouldn’t expect much more in the way of any TATL service from MCI.

MCI getting TATL service from one of the airlines in the big 3 airline alliances? I would be surprised if that were to happen anytime soon. But if that were to happen, Aer Lingus and/or British Airways/American would be my bet.

Beckles

The program is paid for with ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds, that did not exist in 2018/2019, and it appears it was announced in May 2022 (details are scarce, as the linked presentation shows, the details of the program are still under development apparently), so even the Lufthansa STL-FRA flight probably does not benefit from that pot of money because it was announced before the program.

MatthewT

We're less than six months out from the new terminal opening. I know there's been conjecture but anybody know when we might learn about the operator of the second lounge?

Beckles

Even TPG couldn't seem to find anything out about this, no mention at all of the second club for their recent article.

As I said before, in my fleeting glimpses of the north end of the A concourse when I've been driving to the airport recently it definitely appears that the previously finished end of that concourse is now in a less-finished state as they add what I believe is a mezzanine level club. I've asked Build KCI on Facebook a couple of times recently, but those posts have been ignored (they often answer other questions on their Facebook posts). It apparently is a closely guarded secret for now ...

FriendlySkies

It is a very closely guarded secret. I still haven’t seen anything on the City website or anywhere else. Keep in mind it is by the AA gate area, so my guess is AA or PP.

Beckles

The City development website can be weird, there is development going on by my house and sometimes you can get good info on there about projects, other times you can't.

It could also be AMEX affiliated, either Centurion or AMEX-partner Escape Lounge (which would be fine by me), but yeah, AA is the only realistic airline options or 3rd party of some variety.