OFFICIAL - New KCI Terminal

[KCPowercat]

Check in hall is the only impressive/monumental part of terminal. The low ceilings and narrowness of the terminals with the clerestory concourse ceiling reminds me of Ward Parkway mall circa 1970's. Seating areas are tight with seat rows ending right at concourse pavement. The gates at the ends of the wings are tightly bunched may be sort of chaotic, especially at Southwest. Unsure of how all the food offerings will make it, as it seems to me that most food at airports is partaken by those with layovers changing flights, which KCI at present has not so much of. In past month had two four hour layovers in Salt Lake which has similar size terminal now undergoing addition. Has much higher ceilings and width. The pillars supporting the concourse are massive oval columns not 12 by 12 posts. They have a claustrophobic long tunnel connecting the concourses, KCI above ground connector much more pleasant. Baggage hall and carousels are massive and light years better than old horseshoes. This is a terminal that out of towners can arrive at and can discern familiar function. Like how parking garage has red/green lights that indicate stall availability so drivers do not need to drive needlessly up and down the aisles.

Interesting. Everything I see on twitter is how wide and open it feels. Maybe that's them comparing to current bunkers, er, terminals.

[KCPowercat]

Is there a full service restaurant in departures level pre-security?

Dunkin is it. Nothing else pre security

ahhh, I had Soiree but see it's right there past security.

I'm fine with this, I can't imagine a pre-security full service place making it. No real reason for one here. I'm surprised any of them make it in any city

[moderne]

Hard to compare the new with the old, like 2 different animals. The new is wide and open. But I think it will not feel as wide and open when it is actually full of waiting passengers.

[WoodDraw]

Apparently this is the just make shit up thread.

Again, my concern isn't the health of any industry. My concern is people landing and getting where they need to go with the least friction possible.

For many people, taxis are still that. And I think they should be well supported at the airport.

How is this a controversial idea?

[Sani]

The concourses seem plenty wide to me, at least on par with Southwest Florida's new terminal from 2005. When I think "cramped and claustrophobic," I think of the A through D concourses in Atlanta, especially D. Much lower ceilings, narrower corridors and hold rooms, no windows over the corridor itself. The new terminal seems plenty open and spacious. The only part that maybe seems too tight is the pedestrian access around the City Market at the center of Concourse B. It's the lack of sightlines from the connecting corridor to the gate areas that might leave people feeling a little unsure if they're going the right direction. Maybe once City Market is open and you can walk through it, that will be less of an issue.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

Hard to compare the new with the old, like 2 different animals. The new is wide and open. But I think it will not feel as wide and open when it is actually full of waiting passengers.

Idk, the concourses were pretty damn full, and had photos booths set up in some spots, and don’t seem to feel cramped IMO. Gate areas have more depth than I think we’re giving them credit for, and we don’t have enough flight traffic for severe overlap, even in the concourse end caps. WN node on the S side of B has boarding areas that stretch behind the commercial spaces there, so conflict doesn’t look to be too bad.

[langosta]

All of the sizing is based off of the level and type of traffic the airlines expect in KCI. Food offerings, size of hold rooms, concourse width, etc

[TheLastGentleman]

[TheLastGentleman]

This is probably a very standard airport terminal when compared to all the other airports out there in the world, but I'd be surprised if there's been as big a leap in the quality of two terminals like KCI is about to experience. The reality really sank in for me today, that THIS will be KCI now.

[moderne]

What was not good when it was built, became ridiculously bad post 9-11. The history panels on the link between the concourses is candid about this. Better late than never, but we needed this decades ago. Maybe KCI and environs will eventually become what was optimistically envisioned over 50 years ago.: the major airport in the center of the country located halfway between the geographical center of the 48 and the population center of the 48. KC never capitalized on this then other airports built modern terminals and TWA vanished.

[Chris Stritzel]

Some more photos from tonight, including a focus on the pick-up "underground". The American Royal BBQ shop in concourse B was prepping their smoker, so you could smell that. They also had live Jazz music playing, which is something I hope is common here since live music is common at Nashville's airport. Justin Meyer said two businesses will have stages for music, one is pictured below, but I'd like to see a central stage with live jazz music every so often.






Delta Sky Club Renderings...



Interesting that some gates have these face scanners at the gate counters...


Baggage carousel and ground transportation board...


Ground transportation area...







Rendering vs Reality...



Ground-level garden bench detail.
I crouched down for this picture and I like that it honors the outgoing circle terminals. It's a little detail, but it deserves to be showcased because not many people will notice.

[TheUrbanRoo]

I'd be surprised if there's been as big a leap in the quality of two terminals like KCI is about to experience. The reality really sank in for me today, that THIS will be KCI now.

I toured it and I still haven't fully processed it yet. I kept thinking I must be in Denver or something. I can't believe we're making that monumental of a jump up.

[KCPowercat]

Been seeing more and more face scanning for boarding passes at gates lately. Good to see.

[DaveKCMO]

Ground transportation area...

Those blue squares in the pavement are for charing the electric buses for satellite parking.

[beautyfromashes]

Been seeing more and more face scanning for boarding passes at gates lately. Good to see.

Yeah, I personally hate this.

[shinatoo]

Been seeing more and more face scanning for boarding passes at gates lately. Good to see.

Yeah, I personally hate this.

Why now?

[beautyfromashes]

Been seeing more and more face scanning for boarding passes at gates lately. Good to see.

Yeah, I personally hate this.

Why now?

Continuation of tracking my every damn move. Nanny-state watching me. Adds cost to travel and doesn’t help stop terrorism at all.

[Highlander]

Pictures of the airport look great. I have two remaining concerns:

We went from having almost no food choices to a plethora of choice. Is it too much? Will there be enough demand at the airport to justify the number of restaurants? I hope that KCI starts getting more connecting flight traffic because those are generally the people that eat at airport restaurants. Locals will contribute some of the business but not sure enough of them would dine at the airport to support what we have now.

The pick-up and drop-off areas are now much different now than in the prior terminal configuration and most Kansas Citians have experienced that arrangements unless they've been paying attention when they have flown outside the city. While the pick-up/drop-off area is much shorter than it was with the circular terminals, it's also divided into a pick-up and drop-off level and the buses hopefully will not share the same space with vehicle traffic. It appears that the stop/wait areas are now two deep rather than the single space in old configuration. Also, all pedestrians coming from the garage will need to use a crosswalk to get to the terminal. It will be interesting to see how that all goes down in the first few months of operations. Hopefully old habits of using every lane but the curb lane as a through going street and ignoring pedestrian right of ways will not prevail.

[WoodDraw]

I agree that food and drinks will be interesting. There are so many known unknowns because of how outdated our airport was.

Having all the airlines together will allow services that previously couldn't survive. Even locals might get to the airport earlier now and grab food or a drink when before they wouldn't.

I normally fly Delta and they stopped opening the restaurant after covid and the bathroom was so small it couldn't handle people drinking and eating anyway. It made no sense to get to the terminal early. Even outside the terminal the restaurant was serving only cold sandwiches when it was open.

[langosta]

I agree that food and drinks will be interesting. There are so many known unknowns because of how outdated our airport was.

Having all the airlines together will allow services that previously couldn't survive. Even locals might get to the airport earlier now and grab food or a drink when before they wouldn't.

I normally fly Delta and they stopped opening the restaurant after covid and the bathroom was so small it couldn't handle people drinking and eating anyway. It made no sense to get to the terminal early. Even outside the terminal the restaurant was serving only cold sandwiches when it was open.

Its based on the ratios at other peer airports.