Kansas City Airport Sucks!! (Raytown, Gladstone: rent, home, construction)

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

P.S. It's funny that we recognize the airport is a long way out but people keep stupidly wanting to sink huge huge amounts of money running an epic length light rail out to it THROUGH LARGELY UNPOPULATED AREAS . It would be cheaper to operate a free limo service.

Who is seriously proposing this? Sure, it would be fun, but everyone knows that light rail to the airport is a pipe dream. At least for a few decades, anyway.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I have said it before and I'll say it again. LAX is WAY worse than MCI, yet I don't see LA people screaming that it has to be rebuilt to please out of towners. Why is LA okay with their airport and Kansas Citians are supposed to be "embarrassed" because of theirs?

You make it sound like people trying to change who they really are to please others. But cities are not people. They're cities.

And cities have Convention and Tourism industries, which contribute significantly to their economies. Not to mention chambers of commerce, working hard to attract new employers to town. Can you imagine what would happen to a city if it stopped caring what "random out of towners" think?

P.S. What are your conclusions above based on? In what way is LAX "way worse" than MCI? Are you sure there aren't people proposing to build a new terminal there? And what makes you say the city is "okay" with their airport? Seems like a lot of assumptions or personal opinions getting projected onto the larger populace.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

P.S. What are your conclusions above based on? In what way is LAX "way worse" than MCI? Are you sure there aren't people proposing to build a new terminal there? And what makes you say the city is "okay" with their airport? Seems like a lot of assumptions or personal opinions getting projected onto the larger populace.

Do an internet search and you will find all of this. LAX is ALWAYS said to be one of the worst airports, worse than MCI.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Do an internet search and you will find all of this. LAX is ALWAYS said to be one of the worst airports, worse than MCI.

Here we go again. LAX and MCI should not even be mentioned in the same sentence. It's like comparing KC to Chicago. There is no comparison. You can't compare them. One tiny part of LAX would be busier than all of MCI. I believe LAX has about seven times the traffic. That's SEVEN Kansas City International Airports. KC will never ever ever ever ever have an airport like that. So what is the point of comparing them? For a smallish airport like KCI, it sucks period. Sure, there are some massive airports out there that may have some issues, but I would still rather be stuck in LAX anyway over MCI. If you are delayed two hours at LAX, at least you can easily get a freaking meal.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by lovekcmo

I just picked up two out of town friends from Houston at the airport. They landed and deplaned before I got there so they had a bit of a wait. The first words out of their mouths when they got in my car was "that's weird small airport" They were shocked at the airport within their first ten minutes and was not impressed. Also, they couldn't believe the distance drive it was back to Lee's Summit. So for them, they thought the airports location was in the outskirts of no where and not impressed of KCI's terminal.

Okay, while I'm used to picking up people at KCI and getting the "what the hell kind of airport was that" response, I still just don't get the location thing. I'm really confused on that.

First off, Houston's big airport is not exactly close to many the growth areas of metro Houston and when you factor in traffic it can be brutal to get to. I would say it's similar to KCI. It's close to the suburbs that are close to it, but it's far from the suburbs on the other side of the metro, a LOT further than KCI is from KC's southern burbs. It's also about the same distance from the central city as KCI, only again, you have much worse traffic in Houston so those 20 miles are probably rarely 20 minutes like it always is in KC. Same deal with Hobby, it's a little closer in, but it's not very close to most of the growth areas of metro Houston which is mostly west.

Lee's Summit is far from everything. The entire suburb is sort of broken off from the built up KC area. You really can't get much further from KCI than Lee's Summit. Hopefully when you pick people up at KCI you don't drag them though the countryside via 435. The drive from KCI Lee's Summit via 29 to 70 to 470 is built up nearly the entire way so at least you have something to look at during the long drive to Lee's Summit.

KCI's location is fine. There is already 350,000 people that live in the northland and the airport is also very close to KCK, Leavenworth County, St Joe etc and not that far from downtown. the northland will probably have approach a half million people in the next 15-20 years. KCI will be right in their backyard. There is more to metro KC than Lee's Summit and southern joco. You can't have the airport close to everybody in the metro area.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

What's wierd is that within the pace of a couple years upgrading the airport and noting it's problems has somehow shifted from being "hating by trolls" to "a push for progress".

It's a fine airport for flying out of and back to just quick in and out.

I would not want to be stuck there however for any length of time since it lacks many amenities but for me I'm not impacted by this so it's fine for me but I recognize the valid arguments others are making about it.

As for being "far out" well that's not going to change anytime soon and frankly criticizing the place because you happen to live out in the far opposite corner of the metro is *shrug*.

Regardless, it isn't moving.

P.S. It's funny that we recognize the airport is a long way out but people keep stupidly wanting to sink huge huge amounts of money running an epic length light rail out to it THROUGH LARGELY UNPOPULATED AREAS . It would be cheaper to operate a free limo service.

Is KC within a couple of years of upgrading the airport? I'm not so sure about that. They want to, but it will be an uphill battle. The airport needs to issue bonds to fund an upgrade and they have to ask a bunch of very stubborn residents that don't even care about the facts or long term needs of the city and just don't want to change the airport, period. Good luck with that.

It can be okay to fly in and out if you are not flying with your family, especially kids, are not checking bags, are not flying during peak times, are dropped off, don't have to get there early and there are no delays.

I totally agree with you on the location. I have always been against the idea of light rail to KCI. It doesn't make any sense what so ever. It's a good idea to plan for some sort of transit connection in the future, although for the next 50 years, I think running coach commuter buses to KCI every 30 minutes from the RiverCrownPlaza corridor is all you really need and it would actually work better since it would be faster and be much cheaper than Light Rail.

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Lee's Summit is far from everything. The entire suburb is sort of broken off from the built up KC area.

It's so "broken off" (by the Little Blue River valley), in fact, that Lee's Summit is not included in KC's Urbanized Area...

[lovekcmo]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Okay, while I'm used to picking up people at KCI and getting the "what the hell kind of airport was that" response, I still just don't get the location thing. I'm really confused on that.

First off, Houston's big airport is not exactly close to many the growth areas of metro Houston and when you factor in traffic it can be brutal to get to. I would say it's similar to KCI. It's close to the suburbs that are close to it, but it's far from the suburbs on the other side of the metro, a LOT further than KCI is from KC's southern burbs. It's also about the same distance from the central city as KCI, only again, you have much worse traffic in Houston so those 20 miles are probably rarely 20 minutes like it always is in KC. Same deal with Hobby, it's a little closer in, but it's not very close to most of the growth areas of metro Houston which is mostly west.

Lee's Summit is far from everything. The entire suburb is sort of broken off from the built up KC area. You really can't get much further from KCI than Lee's Summit. Hopefully when you pick people up at KCI you don't drag them though the countryside via 435. The drive from KCI Lee's Summit via 29 to 70 to 470 is built up nearly the entire way so at least you have something to look at during the long drive to Lee's Summit.

KCI's location is fine. There is already 350,000 people that live in the northland and the airport is also very close to KCK, Leavenworth County, St Joe etc and not that far from downtown. the northland will probably have approach a half million people in the next 15-20 years. KCI will be right in their backyard. There is more to metro KC than Lee's Summit and southern joco. You can't have the airport close to everybody in the metro area.

Lee's Summit and Johnson county is where the growth went in KC. KCI should have been built either straight north of gladstone or south Kansas City. Another thing about a vote on KCI. That vote, from what I understand will only be KC MO residents. I think I've heard that 40%+ of the people using KCI are Johnson County residents. I wonder just how much of the eastern side population of KC who will be able to vote on KCI, actually use the airport at all, even for picking up people. So a vote on KCI will be done by people who have probably a low percentage that actually use it, but people like myself, from Lee's Summit or Kansas residents won't have a vote in even though we have more "skin in the game" than the residents of KC. I wish Topeka was in better shape than they are so that they could just build a new airport, for the majority of residents who use KC, in Gardner.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by lovekcmo

Lee's Summit and Johnson county is where the growth went in KC. KCI should have been built either straight north of gladstone or south Kansas City. Another thing about a vote on KCI. That vote, from what I understand will only be KC MO residents. I think I've heard that 40%+ of the people using KCI are Johnson County residents. I wonder just how much of the eastern side population of KC who will be able to vote on KCI, actually use the airport at all, even for picking up people. So a vote on KCI will be done by people who have probably a low percentage that actually use it, but people like myself, from Lee's Summit or Kansas residents won't have a vote in even though we have more "skin in the game" than the residents of KC. I wish Topeka was in better shape than they are so that they could just build a new airport, for the majority of residents who use KC, in Gardner.

By your thinking, there are a lot of major airports around the country that need to be moved . Again, while the northland will probably never catch the south suburbs in population, it's growing very fast up there and will be a very large portion of the metro. And you are seriously saying to move it five miles to the east so it's north of Gladstone? That's going to make a difference? I guess I just don't get it.

Also, Kansas residents are 40% of the people that use KCI not just JoCo. I think joco is most of that 40% though. Talking about the location of kci now is really ridiculous. If we are going to talk about a remote pipe dream of moving something, lets' at least talk about the baseball stadium. It might might move int he next 40 years. KCI is not going anywhere.

So I take it you do take 435 to KCI. That is such a terrible first impression of KC. It makes KC look like a farm city with. The drive from KCI to Lee's Summit via 435 would be terrible. No signs of civilization till you hit the industrial areas near the river. You can't see any of the shoal creek growth from 435. So you have 30 minutes of rural followed by 30 minutes of industrial along with some suburban blight down near 435/470, then rural again, then Lee's Summit. At least make it a "little" better by taking 29 through platte county which is pretty developed and then through downtown. That's what I always did and KCI really doesn't feel like it's in Omaha when you take that route.

[lovekcmo]

Yes, I did/do take 435, it's the most direct route to get from the airport back to civilization. 435 should have been developed before 152 that has been going on in the northland.