No place to go: Column about old KCI restrooms inspired horror stories from readers
Emails. So many emails about the column I wrote two weeks ago regarding my feelings about the bathrooms at the new vs. the old terminal at Kansas City International Airport. I could do a Ted Talk about it and it would be riveting because the personal experiences that were shared with me were frightening.
The horror story begins with the fact (a fact I wasn’t aware of and learned through, of course, emails) that back in the day, after 9/11 and increased airport security, for a moment in time there were no bathrooms — as in zero places — to conduct your very personal and most pressing business, once you entered the gate area of the old KCI.
If you had a call of nature you had to exit, use the restrooms in the outer ring of the airport and then go back through security — again. I heard from people with stories of missing their flights because they had to use the restroom. Other passengers held it until they got on the plane.
A retired flight attendant divulged that during this time of the “restroom desert,” planes had so many passengers boarding and immediately using the lavatory that sometimes it delayed takeoff.
Now, this is nothing compared to the stories of people actually wetting their pants or, my worst nightmare, soiling themselves in a public setting. Three people wrote to me to share their personal embarrassment of having a sudden stomach issue and not making it to the bathroom outside the gated entry in time. Just reading these emails caused my IBS to flare.
This is why some people were “grateful” when the old KCI got restrooms in the gate area, even if they had all the charm of an outhouse. That’s not to say people didn’t have tales of woe about those stalls of doom. One woman admitted to being so embarrassed about the bathroom situation that at times she wouldn’t disclose she was from Kansas City. I wrote her back saying she was not alone.
Another poor soul had a health issue and asked to please be allowed to use one of the two toilets and was denied by travelers who refused to give up their coveted place in line. Seconds later the woman passed out and left KCI on a stretcher. Fortunately she ended up being OK, but when I say those stalls were cursed I’m not exaggerating.
Other emails stole my joy about the new KCI restroom experience. When I used the ladies’ room in the Southwest section of the new terminal I was overcome with emotions of jubilation. It was all I ever dreamed of. But I have received reports of empty soap dispensers, no paper towels, trash cans overflowing and bathrooms in urgent need of janitorial attention.
Talk about a stab to the heart. How could this be happening? My precious, long-awaited women’s restrooms are now a mess? I literally prayed for the new stalls during the many times I stood in line to use the old bathroom, asking for divine intervention to save me from these toilets. Say it’s not so.
If this is indeed true, I must now rally all the women of Kansas City who have endured years of KCI airport bathroom suffering to join me in Operation Clean. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I will fight for my right to a KCI restroom experience that doesn’t make me wish I had driven to my destination.
We can do this. Our bladders and gastrointestinal tracts have earned it.
Reach Sherry Kuehl at snarkyinthesuburbs@gmail.com, on Facebook at Snarky in the Suburbs, on Twitter at @snarkynsuburbs on Instagram @snarky.in.the.suburbs, and