New KCI terminal should open in late February (Kansas City, St. Louis: home, transfer)

[KC_Retiree]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsfHwLVzFhM&t=28s

Good video of the new KCI terminal. The terminal is getting rave reviews by most users.

[CrownVic95]

For a billion and a half dollars, I'm even more underwhelmed than I expected to be. Looks like it could be the Edsel of US airports and as quickly as the ill-fated car was. 1.5 billion to replace a terminal that was far superior 50 years ago and still superior today.

luzianne hasn't posted for a good while, but I hope she chimes in here with her take on this boondoggle. I'll reserve final judgement until I either hear from her or visit myself, but there's no plans for that in the foreseeable future.

[James Bond 007]

I checked it out last weekend. It was nice, but ultimately just a typical modern airport.

The one really cool thing were the lights on the ceilings in the parking garage that tell you where there are open spaces. That's definitely a hand convenience.

[sub]

The videos I've seen didn't make it look like anything special other than being much more modern in what it offers.
I guess that's a big deal for the frequent flyer types.
Ultimately, it needs to make KC a more legitimate airport in the minds of airlines and travelers. It seems like it can accomplish at least that much.

Was hoping for something more iconic though.

[Okey Dokie]

Originally Posted by James Bond 007

The one really cool thing were the lights on the ceilings in the parking garage that tell you where there are open spaces. That's definitely a hand convenience.

Not that I have any travel planned, but I’m looking forward to the similar green lights above the rest room stalls.

[SPonteKC]

Flew in last weekend to visit family. It's an unremarkable, convenient, nice airport. Probably smells better than any other airport in the world and has a really insane amount of food options for a small city, non-hub airport. Certainly an enormous upgrade over the dump KC used to have.

[KC_Retiree]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

For a billion and a half dollars, I'm even more underwhelmed than I expected to be. Looks like it could be the Edsel of US airports and as quickly as the ill-fated car was. 1.5 billion to replace a terminal that was far superior 50 years ago and still superior today.

luzianne hasn't posted for a good while, but I hope she chimes in here with her take on this boondoggle. I'll reserve final judgement until I either hear from her or visit myself, but there's no plans for that in the foreseeable future.

It's a huge improvement over the old terminals. The old terminals seemed convenient but that was mostly because KCI is just simply not a very busy airport. The 31st largest metro in the US with the 43rd busiest airport. The design of the old terminals is one of the main reasons the airport has not been all that busy; KC missed out on becoming a hub during the establishment of that era and it was missing out on increased point to point routes as airlines have started to move away from a strict hub and spoke system. Hopefully, the new terminal is not too late to capitalize on these changing business practices. You may end up having to take a few more steps next time you fly to get to your gate (oh the horror - it's probably a good thing for most of us) but it won't be that many more steps and every other part of the airport experience will be vastly improved.

[Weaubleau]

You may end up having to take a few more steps next time you fly to get to your gate (oh the horror/

Yeah, I think it is this for the people who don't like the new airport. The TSA line is not going to be that much different, and an additional 10-15 min wait at most is outweighed by the fact you are not trapped in a holding area like cattle with very limited services and tiny disgusting bathrooms. Also just the ambiance of the airport is more, well airport rather than concrete bunker bomb shelter.

Finally, if the old airport was so great, why did the major carriers avoid having layovers there like the plague? Just check an Oklahoma City to Des Moines flight, The flight OKC to DEM lays over in Dallas and the DEM to OKC flight lays over in freaking Charlotte of all places Both of these are logical layovers in KC. Same thing Denver to St Louis, either non stop or layover in Dallas.

[KC_Retiree]

Originally Posted by Weaubleau

The TSA line is not going to be that much different, and an additional 10-15 min wait at most is outweighed by the fact you are not trapped in a holding area like cattle with very limited services and tiny disgusting bathrooms.

From everything I've read and heard, the TSA lines are no longer at the new terminal than they were at the old terminals. And why would they be? TSA lines are a function of how busy an airport is, not how it is designed. A lot of people mistakenly regarded the single TSA security area in busy airports as the problem when they just didn't understand that the queue's were there because the airports were much busier than KCI. Fly out of Tulsa sometime, you won't see any lines at all in their single TSA area either.

All that said, I don't mind waiting in line for TSA. It means that our airport is the airport of a growing city with a lot of business travelers, enough wealth that a large percentage of its citizens can travel when they please and is a city that a substantial amount of people want to come to and visit. That's what makes a busy airport and all the incumbent challenges they bring.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by KC_Retiree

It's a huge improvement over the old terminals. The old terminals seemed convenient but that was mostly because KCI is just simply not a very busy airport. The 31st largest metro in the US with the 43rd busiest airport. The design of the old terminals is one of the main reasons the airport has not been all that busy; KC missed out on becoming a hub during the establishment of that era and it was missing out on increased point to point routes as airlines have started to move away from a strict hub and spoke system. Hopefully, the new terminal is not too late to capitalize on these changing business practices. You may end up having to take a few more steps next time you fly to get to your gate (oh the horror - it's probably a good thing for most of us) but it won't be that many more steps and every other part of the airport experience will be vastly improved.

A much busier, much more congested HUB airport....every lemming's wildest dream.