captaink

It shouldn't be a big deal and it's good that they have them, but I get the impression KCAD leadership chose to write their press releases to drive more publicity and/or controversy by insinuating that there aren't any gender-specific restrooms or that the All Gender restrooms don't offer a higher degree of privacy. There are some KCAD staffers who seem more interested in making a political statement and getting in their "gotchas" replying to random upset people on twitter than clearly stating upfront what "All Gender" means so this would be a non-issue from the start...

Beckles

In general it seems like there is a lack of adequate cleaning staff at the airport, lots of overflowing garbage cans throughout the terminal, even worse than at the old terminals.

susiesan

Lots of very negative comments on both the KCI twitter account and FB page. The parking/pick up and drop off traffic areas are huge problems. Very poor design for the new terminal that we are stuck with. I have a flight out in May and am concerned about missing the flight while stuck in traffic trying to get to the drop off area. I don't want to arrive 3 hours before for a domestic flight.

equals42

It seemed a pretty standard modern airport design for drop-offs. Wasn’t confusing to me. If you’re worried, you can always get dropped at the rental car center and take the shuttle in. They know where they’re going and had me in-in-out quickly. They drop off in shuttle lane in the adjacent multi-story car park. From there it’s an easy 20 meter walk to the check-in.

Beckles

At the previous airport the parking enforcement/police only rarely enforced that you weren't supposed to sit on the curb in your car waiting for passengers, so it came as a surprise to some when this could not be accommodated in the new terminal and the airport authority started having to do crazy things like tell people to wait in the cell phone lot. Of course then people complained the cell phone lot didn't exist or couldn't be found (I have used it with the old terminal, so I knew where it was), so now they've added a bigger electronic sign pointing people to the cell phone lot.

The old terminals did have tons of curb space, but it doesn't change the fact it didn't have lots of things, including adequate gate space, adequate bathrooms and had too many separate security checkpoints.

susiesan

Were you dropped off on the upper departing level or the lower arrivals level? Did you get stuck in a traffic jam trying to approach the terminal? I have seen photos of all the lanes backed up to Bern Street. There doesn't appear to be a through lane to get to the upper departures level.

MatthewT

I've visited the new terminal once since it opened just to see it and have now done two roundtrips in and out of it. The only traffic backup I've seen is at the arrivals. I would not be surprised if you saw traffic backed up to Bern the first weekend with all the pick up problems but I don't think you face a real threat of not reaching the departures area anymore.

There's a point where we just need to live our lives. I can worry all day about an accident on the interstate or a flat tire. I think those are bigger threats to missing your flight than a traffic backup on the departures level.

kstateinALB

I've done multiple roundtrips through the airport in the past month. Although the first week there were jams as people were getting used to the road routes, I haven't seen any recent issues getting to departures. Arrivals can be another story because there are handfuls of people not understanding that you can't wait in that area for 10 minutes until your party arrives like the old airport. There needs to be more consistent enforcement to not allow idling in arrivals for a long period of time, and have people use the cell phone lot or wait in the parking garage. You should have no issue whatsoever with making your flight - no need to get there three hours before.

Overall, this terminal is a slam dunk. You may have to walk a little more to get to the B gates but the open space, plenty of charging areas and restrooms, and amenities makes it an extremely worthwhile investment for Kansas City. The longest I've waited in TSA Pre is 10 minutes, and that was when the Clear line wasn't open. The old airport was a dump and that's a nice way to describe it.

FriendlySkies

When I flew up to PWM last Friday morning, I wandered over to the A gates to see the walled off space. If you didn't know the shelled space was there, you might not even know it exists.

I haven't heard anything new, but this could be a cool concept, especially since its accessible by Priority Pass.

(ref. The Club).

https://www.afar.com/magazine/chase-...r%20Newsletter

MCIksguy

Oh that’s interesting speculation thanks for sharing and a potentially strong business case: Chase is Southwest (WN)’s (and UA’s) credit card partner and for example PHX T4 is WN’s hub; and MCI is almost a WN focus city with nearly 80 weekday flights. Thus Chase has base to mine, and especially for WN RapidRewards cardholders, they could add an option to their lounge network in addition to offering Priority Pass options (PP is not an option on WN Chase cards today}.

If a Chase lounge were to come to fruition, for myself with MCI as home and as a Chase UA Club cardholder, I can only hope Chase would add an option for Chase lounges without having to get a separate Priority Pass bundle/card.

EAJuggalo

These threw me for a loop when it was the only restroom open on my walk from the gate to baggage claim upon arrival. Really would have liked a urinal rather than just stalls with toilets but no issues.

galeaoguy

We were there a week ago.. very smooth.. I did notice that security is contracted out, and not TSA officers per se..

Transit between terminals was less than 5 minutes, with two moving sidewalks

traffic jam at or near MCI? not in my experience.. we rented a car and drove north.. Of course, I flew out of EWR to MCI and they're completely different worlds.

I also have to say, the hospitality there was fantastic, I really felt welcome..

susiesan

Flew into MCI 2 nights ago to terminal B UA gate. One of the moving walkways was shut down, broken. It's only been 7 months.

niftyflyer

Maybe I have missed it, but I haven’t seen any other discussion of a new multi-airline lounge at MCI. Has there been any progress on putting in place an agreement with an operator?

MatthewT

I don't think you've missed anything. Certainly nothing on here. I asked Justin on Twitter about two months ago but he didn't respond. This thread should be the place to be when the news comes.