‘It cannot be like that’: Passenger pickup delays tarnish experience at new KCI terminal
The frustration could still be heard in Anthony Depetre’s voice when he described the time it took just to get to the new terminal to pick up a friend who flew into Kansas City International Airport.
“Is this how it’s going to be?” Depetre asked Friday afternoon. “It’s going to take you an hour and a half to pick up a passenger now? It’s just not right.”
The Parkville resident was picking up a friend who was arriving on Southwest flight and found traffic was backed up for a good half-mile — to the Paris Street exit or maybe further.
“This was a Thursday night at 10:30. I can’t imagine what it’s like on a Saturday or afternoon,” said Depretre.
The part of the new terminal he experienced was terrible, he said.
“It cannot be like that for a new airport,” he said.
Patrick Klein, Kansas City’s aviation director, acknowledged Friday afternoon there have been issues with delays on the arrivals level of the new $1.5 billion terminal, which opened Tuesday.
“Our flying public is not used to just picking up at the curb when their flyer is on the curb,” he said. “They’re used to coming in, parking, sitting for five or 10 minutes and then taking off when they come out.”
That has changed with the design of the new terminal.
You can’t park and wait
People no longer can park along the arrivals curb and wait for a passenger to exit from baggage claim, Klein said. Instead, drivers need to keep moving and circling around the roads or go park for free in the cellphone lot and wait for travelers to arrive at the curb and are ready to be picked up, he said.
“When four or five flights land within 30 minutes of each other, there’s just too many passengers for everybody to park on the curb,” said Klein, who added that he was out on Friday for two hours helping with traffic control after he saw it backed up.
Traffic control officers need to learn more about keeping traffic moving, he said.
Because this is a big change at KCI, Klein said, they were speaking with the media and pushing out notices on social media to urge people to use the cellphone lots.
He also said they were looking to see what corrections could be made and what the public needs to do.
For instance, signs will let drivers know there are four lanes, but the two closest to the terminal are for picking up arriving passengers. The other two are for letting the traffic go through.
“It works perfectly,” he said. “The problem becomes when, you know, somebody pulls up and they decide, I want to wait, and you can’t wait.”
Airport officials also need to get the word out that the cellphone lot is available for free parking and that people can use restrooms there while they wait, he said.
But the cellphone lot is located a bit off the beaten path at 680 Brasilia Ave., near the airport Marriott hotel. The aviation department in February 2020 moved the lot there as it consolidated several of its staging parking lots to make way for the construction of the new terminal.
Signage to the cellphone lot, at least up until now, has been limited. Many travelers report they can’t even find it.
‘Problem sort of fixes itself’
With the new terminal up and running, traffic backs up when a bank of flights comes in, Klein said. Typically, he said, there are “three pushes” every day.
“Once we get out there and start working to move people along the curb quick enough, then they cleaned up pretty quickly,” he said. “The one this (Friday) morning took a little longer than normal.”
The problems are “absolutely fixable,” Klein said.
He doesn’t think it’s a failure in design.
Once people get used to and understand that they can’t park at the curb and traffic control officers learn how to keep traffic moving, “the problem sort of fixes itself,” he said.
On Friday evening, two lanes of traffic nearest the gates were somewhat congested with cars and trucks attempting to pick up arriving passengers. Airport employees, wearing yellow vests and blowing whistles, directed vehicles in waves to break up the jams.
One person who picked up their husband after a flight said on Reddit that, “It was chaos.”
“Two cops were making people move if the person they were picking up wasn’t right there at the curb, people were yelling back at them,” the person wrote. “It was nuts.”
When told by airport police to move, the person said they had to stop behind another car picking someone up in the middle lane. The officer “wagged his finger at ME and told me to keep moving.”
By then, the husband texted that he was almost at the curb, so they pulled into an open spot.
“A different cop told me I couldn’t be there unless my passenger was at the curb,” that person said. “I told him my husband just texted me that he is passing baggage claim and is almost here.”
The officer then “berated” another driver who had stopped at the curb. After the person got in, the officer turned and said, “OK he’s here you need to leave.”
‘My heart just sank’
David Neihart considers himself an advocate for the city, said he had returned Thursday night from an overnight business trip to Irvine, California.
While there, he told people how excited he was that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, and bragged how wonderful it was to have a new terminal to come home to at KCI.
His first experience getting in and out of the new terminal “was fabulous.” That was until he saw a long line of cars, bumper-to-bumper, backed up a quarter-mile or so trying to get to passengers in the pickup area.
“My heart just sank,” said Neihart of Prairie Village, who hoped the new terminal would be stunning and a showcase — a gem here in the Midwest.
“I thought they’re not going to have a very good opinion if their first experience is standing in a long line of cars, bumper-to-bumper at midnight,” he said. “That’s not a good taste in your mouth right from the start.”
The Star’s Bill Lukitsch contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 8:00 PM.
