Having read a number of critical reviews of the new Kansas City International airport by people who had not been to see it, had not been dropped off or picked up there, had not parked there, and had not taken a flight from or to the new airport, I decided to keep my powder dry, and wait to comment on the airport until I’d actually experienced it. See, I prefer to provide an informed opinion vs. an uninformed one (I know that makes me about as rare a commodity on social media as a blue lobster in the ocean).
So having taken my first flight out of the new KCI today, herewith is my review. For context, this comes from a guy who spent about 17 years of his career traveling 100 days or more a year, and has traveled extensively for pleasure, including internationally. I’ve flown in and out of about 100 U.S. airports, from Atlanta and O’Hare to Lihue and Elmira, and 15 international airports, from Heathrow and CDG to Marsh Harbour, Abaco and Blantyre, Malawi.
Warning: this will be a lengthy review, because I want to address the criticisms that have been leveled against the new airport in some detail. Change is hard; I get it – especially for us Midwesterners. Anyway, here goes.
First, the approach to the airport. I drove myself, and parked in the garage. The signage was good – there have been complaints that the signs directing people to the cell phone lot were unclear, and that’s why people didn’t use it, and instead drove to the terminal and parked by the curb to wait for their disembarking passengers.
Hogwash.
The signs directing people to the cell phone lot were clear, and well in advance of the lot. They even named the exit to take (Paris Street). It’s just that we Kansas Citians aren’t used to having a cell phone lot to use to wait for deplaning passengers. Well, welcome to the 21st century, Kansas City: other airports have had cell phone lots since at least 2015 (that’s when I first used one, and I figured it out).
I drove straight to the parking garage, and didn’t get lost once. There were numerous entry kiosks, not just the four that the old KCI garages had. The kiosk instructions were clear: I didn’t have an account, so I requested a printed ticket, and got one. There’s signage to tell you which levels are full, and which levels have spaces, and how many. This is where the one glitch popped up.
The sign said Level 5 had 5 spaces. Being fundamentally lazy, I decided to grab one of those spaces, instead of driving on up to Level 6, which had over 160 empty spaces. (I will say that, once you exit the ramp and enter a level, there aren’t good directions for how to get back to the ramp, but if you just remember which end of the garage it was on, it’s easy to find your way back to it – much easier than the garage at the old KCI, which was something of a maze.)
There are red and green lights on the ceiling to indicate where the empty spaces are in each row, which is pretty cool. So I drove down the rows until I spotted a green light, and turned down that row, and drove to the green light. Unfortunately, the “empty” space had an orange cone in it, and a sign saying they were doing some construction. Apparently the sensors that detect a car in a space, thus turning the light from green to red, won’t detect a plastic orange cone. So that needs some work.
So, I drove my lazy self up to Level 6, where I easily found an empty space, and parked in it. I walked to the bank of elevators. The levels were clearly marked – Level 3 for departures, which is what I needed – so I got on the elevator and went to that level.
For what it’s worth, the drop-off lane was operating smoothly. The early criticisms were related to long lines in the drop-off and pick-up lanes, but I saw none of that in the drop-off lane. And besides, those long lines had nothing to do with problems with the airport’s design. They were a function of the simple fact that we Kansas Citians do not know how to drive.
Doubt me? Try to exit I-435 onto Metcalf Avenue and seamlessly merge into traffic. You can’t, because the people in front of you drive to the end of the exit ramp and … stop, waiting until there is no traffic. Or try to execute a “zipper merge” when there’s a lane closure a mile ahead. (Most of you reading this don’t even know what a “zipper merge” is.) The majority of Kansas Citians see a sign that says, “Left lane closed one mile ahead,” and they immediately get in the right lane, causing a mile-long traffic jam.
The new KCI has arrivals on the lower level, where baggage claim is, and departures one level above, where the ticket counters are. This is how nearly all modern airports are designed. Sure, third-world airports are on one level, as are tiny airports in places like Elmira, NY, with its eight gates, or Beef Island, Tortola, where you deplane your prop-jet plane onto the tarmac and walk into the terminal. Or even some larger airports, like Mineta in San Jose, a sprawling one-level terminal. But those are the rare exception. (And Mineta is a hot mess if you’re returning a car, unless you like driving around in circles. Mineta was also built before Silicon Valley exploded into the mega-metropolis it is today.)
So part of the problem with the new KCI is that, right after it opened, people dropping off passengers were driving to the arrivals level, and people picking up passengers were driving to the departures level, and it was a zoo. Plus, a mile before the terminal, everybody was getting into the right lane, even though there’s signage that clearly says you can use two lanes to drop off or pick up your passengers, causing that mile-long traffic jam that Kansas City is as famous for as its barbecue.
You can’t really fault them for thinking everything was on one level; that’s the way the old KCI, with its archaic, third-world design, was laid out. As for getting in the right lane a mile early – well, that’s just Kansas City driving at its worst.
The other problem, especially with picking up passengers, was that people were parking at the curb and waiting for their passengers to exit the terminal, instead of using the aforementioned cell phone lot. Well, what if your passenger’s plane is delayed? What if they forgot what their bag looks like? (Believe me, it happens – a lot.) So they sit there at the curb, and no one else can get to the passenger pick-up area.
A big part of the blame for this lies at the feet of bad management of the old KCI. At virtually every other airport in the U.S. – probably the world – those people would have been chased off by security, and/or ticketed. Because, since 9/11, that’s a significant security risk. Imagine a car full of C4 (that's explosive material) parked outside a busy airport with a suicide bomber behind the wheel. Not a pretty picture. However, here in Cowtown, airport security let people just sit at the curb as long as they pleased, waiting for their passengers to show up.
Well, security at the new airport has finally decided that the grace period is
over, and they’re going to start ticketing those folks. That’s a good thing –
it’s safer for all of us. And it’s how the real world works.
So, the bottom line is that these dropping off/picking up/parking snafus are largely resolved, and will be completely resolved when we Kansas Citians 1) learn how a real, first-world airport operates and is laid out, 2) get ticketed to the point that our behavior changes (negative reinforcement works – ask your mother if you don’t believe me), and 3) finally learn to drive like the urban dwellers that we are, instead of a bunch of country bumpkins.
I may not live to see that last one.
On to the interior of the airport. In a word, it’s beautiful. Other words would be spacious, clean, and modern. The concourses are wide. No more feeling like you’re in a cattle pen in the 4-H barn, like the old KCI. The restrooms are clean. No more feeling like you need a shower after you use them. There’s actually more than one urinal in the men’s restrooms inside security! And there’s an electronic sign outside the restroom indicating how many stalls are vacant.
There are plenty of check-in kiosks. (I can’t speak to their efficiency; I didn’t use them, as I carried on my bags.) The security lines were efficient, though I have to admit I used TSA Pre-check. There was the usual confusion due to passengers going to the Pre-check line, not understanding that they didn’t have Pre-check, and then having to be redirected to the regular security line, but that happens with people who don’t fly much.
And … the new KCI has Clear, and Global Entry! Just like a real airport! I understand you can even apply for Global Entry at KCI now, which is huge. (Google it if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)
I ate breakfast before I left for the airport, so I didn’t get to sample any of the food offerings, but there was ample choice, and when I return home, I’ll hang around and have dinner there. There is barbecue, local Chinese (Bo Lings – if you know, you know), pizza, a salumeria, Shaq O’Neill’s chicken place, and plenty more. And it didn’t look like there was a lack of staff to serve customers, which had been another complaint. There were no long lines at any of the concessionaires.
One thing that I thought was cool: I stopped into a gift shop to get a bottle of water, and there were two people in line in front of me. The clerk let us know that there were self-pay kiosks we could use to check out with a credit card, and I used that. Very efficient. (For those of you who insist on a live person checking you out when you make a purchase, I can’t help you, other than to advise that you allow a little extra time in case there’s a line. For the rest of us, technology is a beautiful thing.)
I did check out the inclusive play area, and as the grandfather of an autistic child, I have to say it was nothing short of cool, and unlike anything I’ve seen in any of the 100+ airports I’ve been in.
The free wifi didn’t require signing in to a Boingo hotspot or sitting through a 30-second ad, which I appreciated during my layover in St. Louis, where I had to deal with both of those minor inconveniences. (In fact, St. Louis airport felt dated and tired by comparison, and the food was bad.)
Also, FYI, it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get from my home in south Overland Park to my gate, including buying said bottle of water and a nature break, and my gate was about as far from the entrance to the airport as it gets. (And that includes my sojourn through parking Level 5.)
One other thing that was very cool: the jetways are clear glass, so as you’re boarding (or deplaning), you have an open view of the airport around you, and the planes. I didn’t realize what a big deal that was until I boarded my connecting flight in St. Louis, where the closed jetway felt claustrophobic by comparison.
I may post a follow-up on my arrival/deplaning/dining/departing experience. I won’t be able to comment on baggage claim (and I may never be able to do that, since I’ve become an avowed carry-on traveler). I may Uber to the airport on my next trip, which will be in a few weeks, so if there are any snags with ride-share drop-off/pick-up, I’ll note that as well. I’ll probably never be able to comment on long-term parking as I’ve always either parked in the garage, or used Uber or a car service when traveling to the airport.
I had expected that the new KCI would be comparable to maybe Dallas Love Field, or Austin before it got so overcrowded. (I read one comparison, based on no experience actually using the new KCI, with Sea-Tac. Let me just say that the new KCI’s design in no way resembles Sea-Tac, and I’ve flown in and out of that airport more times than I can count.)
The bottom line is that, in all the airports I’ve flown in and out of, I can’t think of a comparable one. The new KCI is truly unique, and in a very good way. Where the old KCI – which I dubbed “the Continental bus depot of airports” – was among my least favorite airports in the world, the new KCI is already among my favorites. Considering that it’s my home airport, that’s a very good thing.
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