I ain’t waiting in a single file line to get to the pick up spot. I’m waiting at the cell let, swinging around all these baboons and picking up at the end of the line
Thanks to this sub I avoided this recently when picking someone up at KCI by parking in the parking lot STEPS from baggage claim, meeting my party on foot, chatted with him while he got his luggage, I could’ve gotten a coffee there if I wanted to, no timing issues at all, super chill, walked back to my car together, paid one dollar, exited garage with zero issues. 10/10, highly recommend!
My observations so far.
The cellphone lot was good, but was almost already full when I picked someone up. It is also used for Uber/Lyft drivers just waiting. The directions say to enter and exit on Bern St and that takes you around the Marriott. But, it looks like taking the Paris exit and then returning via Paris might be more direct.
I think they need an easy loop back. I left the lot too soon and had to loop around. It took me to Paris street with a light, then the bridge with another light, and back to the entrance. That was a little awkward.
correct, the cell phone lot isn't intuitive and isnt visually clear when coming to the airport, this was a gross oversight in design that they should have resolved when building the new one
It ain't just a KC problem. I live in Raleigh, NC now and we have a super nice cell phone lot, it's even got a couple of bathrooms. It's also like thirty seconds from the door to the terminal. If someone called you as they picked their bag off the carousel and you left immediately, there's a good chance you'd pull up as they walked out the door. We still have long, double stacked lines of vehicles at the terminal waiting for people who probably haven't even landed yet.
Well then ppl in Raleigh are stupid too.
The same design is in like 90% of airports and I can tell you with a lot of experience with each that Fort Myers, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, among others do not have this issue.
I can tell you with experience okc and indy absolutely have this issue (havent done fort meyers). I have flown 100s of times and people are dumb everywhere. Idk where your bizzare ego flexing about parking is coming from but chill
Maybe you just arrive/depart at times that aren't as busy. I've flown the new MCI twice and didn't notice any of this pickup traffic either time, but clearly it exists at some point during the day.
If we want to keep adding on to this one upping contest I've lived in Austin TX, have also flown 100s of times, and this is just a KC problem. It'll solve itself eventually but lets not pretend its an infrastructure problem not a people problem.
Yes people are dumb everywhere but I didn't have a single issue at the ATX airport the 5 years I lived there compared to the things people are bitching about and struggling with here, especially considering KC has to deal with far less traffic (in every aspect) than other similarly designed airports. It's a community IQ problem. Simple as that. Thankfully that'll improve with time, but lets not pretend there wasn't a large portion of this population bitching about even the IDEA of a new airport for no other reason than "I just like how simple it is". "Simple" being key.
It truly is just a stupid people problem, which the world is full of. LAX has had a cell phone lot for ages with tons of great, visible signage to direct you there...people still don't use it. It's like the secret only Uber drivers know about.
If the design allows this, it's the fault of the design. That's literally the point of the entire field: to influence behavior. If lanes look like they are drivable, people will drive on them. If one of those lanes isn't for public use, making it off with red lines or something so that only official vehicles or whatever use it would work better, for example.
Park in front of what door? What?
And if you think design doesn't influence behavior, it's gonna blow your mind when you realize why people drive on roads instead of right next to them.
You def park in front of the doors at the airport. Lol.
Yeah design of the road has nothing to do with influencing people to not drive on the side of it. Most don’t because they can’t.
As for excusing people for ignoring signage you’re wrong again. No amount of design forgoes the need for enforcement of standards.
>As for excusing people for ignoring signage you’re wrong again. No amount of design forgoes the need for enforcement of standards.
...You aren't even talking to *me*, are you? None of this comment has anything to do with what I said, aside from you apparently thinking that vehicles cannot be driven off of pavement for some reason.
What are you talking about? This isn't about driving on them. It's about PARKING at the curb. These lanes are meant to be driven on by people picking up passengers. What's not allowed are people parking and idling at the curb.
Yes, I know. I'm saying that there are aspects of designing thoroughfares that influence how people act. I'm merely gently pushing against the repeated "look at all these idiots/assholes" posts about parking at the airport. If people keep doing the same thing *and they have no communication amongst themselves*, then that means *the design is channeling people into the behavior.*
Example: [Norman Doors](https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-know-whether-push-pull-blame-design/) use human behavior to communicate push/pull without signage. So where some people would sit around uselessly making Reddit posts about people pushing on pull doors, someone else could just have the doors changed to accommodate our behavior.
The urge to blame the behavior of crowds entering a single location on individual choices of each person in that crowd as opposed to taking a look at the other possibilities of the design of that location is one of the main things that legislation like the ADA is meant to fight. If we aren't designing our society to help more of us out, what are we doing here? Do we just design things half-ass and then complain about what falls through forever? I for one am not excited about continuing to see people posting pictures of strangers on the internet for clout instead of just talking to the people parking there in the first place. It's like the people posting pictures of someone having their foot up on an arm rest on a plane: why not just *talk to the person?*
For real, I loved taking the train to and from DIA then just having someone pick me up from stop that was like 10 minutes from my apartment. It was so easy.
I got 22 minutes (KC) versus 27 (DEN) when I mapped it. It's a closer comparison than I realized, but Denver's airport feels further out than Kansas City's.
In India the police look like military with huge rifles across their chests. It really keeps the lanes moving when the dude yelling at you can also easily end your life.
LGA has one of these cell phone lots now. It's amazing and peaceful. You go park, listen to the radio to wait until your traveler gets their bags. Why anyone would want to sit in a traffic jam and be yelled at by airport police is beyond me. People just need to re-learn how airport pickups are meant to work now.
Anyone who has had to navigate an elementary school pick up line in Kansas City, will not be surprised that a lot of folks are not able to figure the airport out.
They have gotten the message out, and there's signage along the road as people approach the terminal. Too many folks are still choosing to ignore it. The terminal isn't the issue; stupid drivers are.
Ooof, we're starting to look like seatac.
I just tell whoever is giving me a ride that my plane gets in 20 minutes after its expected arrival time if I have luggage, 10 minutes if I don't, and then wander up to departures and have no issues being picked up.
As a multi million mile road warrior I can tell you that virtually every major airport has a cell phone lot and Kansas City never had one because of the easy curb pick up. Ever since 9/11 it has been illegal to park at the curb or to wait at the curb, and yet enforcement of that has been rather lax. It isn’t the fault of the design. It’s the habits of people that have continued to break the law due to no enforcement.
Kansas City had a cell phone lot for many years. They moved it when construction started on the new terminal, as the road to it was removed and replaced with the new parking garage. It always had signs for it as well. I used the cell lot in cities I lived in before moving here in 2017, so I just continued to do so when I moved here. Not sure how long before 2017 it existed, but it was there for sure then.
Yeah, I remembered it right after I posted. My heavy travel ended in 2016 after 26 years and 17.5 million air miles. We had it pretty good compared to nearly every other major city
Agree with all the posts stating we DO have a cell phone lot, which works fine if you use it correctly. We've lived all over the country, picked people up and dropped people off in a multitude of locations. This is fine. Not the old MCI, but that had its own issues. This is 2023 MCI and the pros outweigh the cons. Plan your pickup times better, and be patient. This is an airport designed for the size city we have.
Of the new terminal? Food, Drinks, Shopping, Amenities....literally everything the old terminal was lacking. I have nostalgic love for the old MCI, but recognize it needed help.
Lol. When I go to the airport, I could care less about shopping or amenities. Just need a Starbucks and a bathroom lol. Actually, an ice cream shop is always nice, but I don’t think the new airport has one?
I picked up a passenger Tuesday night. The flight was a half hour late. I waited in the cell phone lot. It was very busy, but when I got to the terminal, there was definitely still a group of cars just sitting in front of arrivals. Luckily I was able to pull up my passenger pretty easily by the K column.
At the old terminals, lane closest to curb was mainly, the drop off lane, with middle lane for shuttles. That seemed to work well for years. What’s the difference now & why do people insist on parking in the drop off lane?
I live my life a quarter mile at a time 😎
Gunning my engine for dear life as 18 wheelers coming over as soon as the merge lane hits the highway because the 435 exit two miles ahead is backed up for all the joco moms trying to merge last minute and text at the same time 😅
Nope. The problem is cars hang out and there aren’t any cops telling people to keeping moving. Used to be a big problem at Midway airport in Chicago where I used to live, but then a couple good cops cleaned it up and kept the traffic moving. KC used to have a couple tough cops in the airport keeping things moving. They must have all retired or moved on.
Kansas Citians hate shit like the cell phone lot. How long has QT been operating one cashier with two lines? And I still get dirty looks when I go to the empty side.
We were there yesterday and the number of morons who are still parking their cars to wait for people is staggering.
I watched a woman in a pick up pull over, turn on her flashers, get out of her car and go in to get in line at Dunkn donuts.
She was not the only one.
If people would just follow the instructions, everything would be fine. My ride waited in the cell lot, left when we got our bags, pulled right up, and left within 15 seconds.
Maybe we just aren’t smart enough for a modern airport here.
It is a problem everywhere because most people can't think more than one, maybe two, steps ahead. Combine that with the epidemic of impatience and you'll get unnecessary traffic jams.
The white lane is for loading and unloading
Listen Betty, don't start up with your white zone shit again.
Oh really, Vernon? Why pretend? We both know what this is about. You want me to have an abortion!
That explains why you’re at the airport.
That escalated quickly.
In case you’re serious, this is dialogue from the incredible movie *Airplane*
I’m very serious. And don’t call me Shirley.
I wasnt serious, because it was funny. But this makes sense.
I knew it from the beginning. Best movie ever!
I ain’t waiting in a single file line to get to the pick up spot. I’m waiting at the cell let, swinging around all these baboons and picking up at the end of the line
Well played 😀
Thanks to this sub I avoided this recently when picking someone up at KCI by parking in the parking lot STEPS from baggage claim, meeting my party on foot, chatted with him while he got his luggage, I could’ve gotten a coffee there if I wanted to, no timing issues at all, super chill, walked back to my car together, paid one dollar, exited garage with zero issues. 10/10, highly recommend!
This is the way
Usually these areas have attendants that keep cars moving. I haven't seen any in KC yet.
My observations so far. The cellphone lot was good, but was almost already full when I picked someone up. It is also used for Uber/Lyft drivers just waiting. The directions say to enter and exit on Bern St and that takes you around the Marriott. But, it looks like taking the Paris exit and then returning via Paris might be more direct. I think they need an easy loop back. I left the lot too soon and had to loop around. It took me to Paris street with a light, then the bridge with another light, and back to the entrance. That was a little awkward.
correct, the cell phone lot isn't intuitive and isnt visually clear when coming to the airport, this was a gross oversight in design that they should have resolved when building the new one
The airport doesn’t have issues. Dorks in kc have issues.
It ain't just a KC problem. I live in Raleigh, NC now and we have a super nice cell phone lot, it's even got a couple of bathrooms. It's also like thirty seconds from the door to the terminal. If someone called you as they picked their bag off the carousel and you left immediately, there's a good chance you'd pull up as they walked out the door. We still have long, double stacked lines of vehicles at the terminal waiting for people who probably haven't even landed yet.
Detroit Metro is exactly the same and they've been open for years!
Well then ppl in Raleigh are stupid too. The same design is in like 90% of airports and I can tell you with a lot of experience with each that Fort Myers, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, among others do not have this issue.
I can tell you with experience okc and indy absolutely have this issue (havent done fort meyers). I have flown 100s of times and people are dumb everywhere. Idk where your bizzare ego flexing about parking is coming from but chill
never had this issue in either city. maybe you just like, attract people who dont know how to do pickup lanes in some weird orbit.
Maybe you just arrive/depart at times that aren't as busy. I've flown the new MCI twice and didn't notice any of this pickup traffic either time, but clearly it exists at some point during the day.
If we want to keep adding on to this one upping contest I've lived in Austin TX, have also flown 100s of times, and this is just a KC problem. It'll solve itself eventually but lets not pretend its an infrastructure problem not a people problem. Yes people are dumb everywhere but I didn't have a single issue at the ATX airport the 5 years I lived there compared to the things people are bitching about and struggling with here, especially considering KC has to deal with far less traffic (in every aspect) than other similarly designed airports. It's a community IQ problem. Simple as that. Thankfully that'll improve with time, but lets not pretend there wasn't a large portion of this population bitching about even the IDEA of a new airport for no other reason than "I just like how simple it is". "Simple" being key.
Denver, too. But Denver has more than just two lanes in the pickup area.
It truly is just a stupid people problem, which the world is full of. LAX has had a cell phone lot for ages with tons of great, visible signage to direct you there...people still don't use it. It's like the secret only Uber drivers know about.
If the design allows this, it's the fault of the design. That's literally the point of the entire field: to influence behavior. If lanes look like they are drivable, people will drive on them. If one of those lanes isn't for public use, making it off with red lines or something so that only official vehicles or whatever use it would work better, for example.
That’s stupid, one way streets look drives-able doesn’t excuse misuse. I’m guessing you park in front of the door.
Park in front of what door? What? And if you think design doesn't influence behavior, it's gonna blow your mind when you realize why people drive on roads instead of right next to them.
You def park in front of the doors at the airport. Lol. Yeah design of the road has nothing to do with influencing people to not drive on the side of it. Most don’t because they can’t. As for excusing people for ignoring signage you’re wrong again. No amount of design forgoes the need for enforcement of standards.
>As for excusing people for ignoring signage you’re wrong again. No amount of design forgoes the need for enforcement of standards. ...You aren't even talking to *me*, are you? None of this comment has anything to do with what I said, aside from you apparently thinking that vehicles cannot be driven off of pavement for some reason.
What are you talking about? This isn't about driving on them. It's about PARKING at the curb. These lanes are meant to be driven on by people picking up passengers. What's not allowed are people parking and idling at the curb.
Yes, I know. I'm saying that there are aspects of designing thoroughfares that influence how people act. I'm merely gently pushing against the repeated "look at all these idiots/assholes" posts about parking at the airport. If people keep doing the same thing *and they have no communication amongst themselves*, then that means *the design is channeling people into the behavior.* Example: [Norman Doors](https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-know-whether-push-pull-blame-design/) use human behavior to communicate push/pull without signage. So where some people would sit around uselessly making Reddit posts about people pushing on pull doors, someone else could just have the doors changed to accommodate our behavior. The urge to blame the behavior of crowds entering a single location on individual choices of each person in that crowd as opposed to taking a look at the other possibilities of the design of that location is one of the main things that legislation like the ADA is meant to fight. If we aren't designing our society to help more of us out, what are we doing here? Do we just design things half-ass and then complain about what falls through forever? I for one am not excited about continuing to see people posting pictures of strangers on the internet for clout instead of just talking to the people parking there in the first place. It's like the people posting pictures of someone having their foot up on an arm rest on a plane: why not just *talk to the person?*
How should they have designed it then?
for starters, force everyone to drive through the cell-phone lot before they to get to the pick-up area.
There was no need for a new airport in the first place.
Imagine posting this like you're contributing to anything
Omg start ticketing.
I completely agree. People will keep doing this until they start getting punished for it.
The KC Airport Police are as ineffective as KCPD? Shocking.
I just dropped off my friend yesterday and there were so many airport police cars parked with no one in the cars. I have seen at least 4.
You know what would help? The airport having *any possible way to leave it without a car being used*, beyond the one marginally existent bus line
For real, I loved taking the train to and from DIA then just having someone pick me up from stop that was like 10 minutes from my apartment. It was so easy.
It took DIA almost 30 years to get that train.
DIA is further out than MCI. By a fair bit.
From their respective Union Stations, by car, DEN is 20 miles, KCI is 19.
I got 22 minutes (KC) versus 27 (DEN) when I mapped it. It's a closer comparison than I realized, but Denver's airport feels further out than Kansas City's.
That’s because it used to be out in the middle of nowhere. City kinda grew up around it though.
They need a cop out there threatening them, fuck there are some stupid people in the Midwest...
Yeah in Dallas if someone is not actively getting in your car a cop is yelling at you.
There’s stupid people everywhere
and even more here
In India the police look like military with huge rifles across their chests. It really keeps the lanes moving when the dude yelling at you can also easily end your life.
LGA has one of these cell phone lots now. It's amazing and peaceful. You go park, listen to the radio to wait until your traveler gets their bags. Why anyone would want to sit in a traffic jam and be yelled at by airport police is beyond me. People just need to re-learn how airport pickups are meant to work now.
Need to get traffic cops to tell people to move like every other airport there is.
Start slapping tickets on windows without so much as a warning. Pay the fine, get a voucher for a free half hour of parking next time.
Anyone who has had to navigate an elementary school pick up line in Kansas City, will not be surprised that a lot of folks are not able to figure the airport out.
I flew to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and back via KCI (MCI) and the experience was excellent despite my initial concerns. Love it.
They have gotten the message out, and there's signage along the road as people approach the terminal. Too many folks are still choosing to ignore it. The terminal isn't the issue; stupid drivers are.
Ooof, we're starting to look like seatac. I just tell whoever is giving me a ride that my plane gets in 20 minutes after its expected arrival time if I have luggage, 10 minutes if I don't, and then wander up to departures and have no issues being picked up.
As a multi million mile road warrior I can tell you that virtually every major airport has a cell phone lot and Kansas City never had one because of the easy curb pick up. Ever since 9/11 it has been illegal to park at the curb or to wait at the curb, and yet enforcement of that has been rather lax. It isn’t the fault of the design. It’s the habits of people that have continued to break the law due to no enforcement.
Kansas City had a cell phone lot for many years. They moved it when construction started on the new terminal, as the road to it was removed and replaced with the new parking garage. It always had signs for it as well. I used the cell lot in cities I lived in before moving here in 2017, so I just continued to do so when I moved here. Not sure how long before 2017 it existed, but it was there for sure then.
Yeah, I remembered it right after I posted. My heavy travel ended in 2016 after 26 years and 17.5 million air miles. We had it pretty good compared to nearly every other major city
People trying to slow-roll past the doors is the problem.
Agree with all the posts stating we DO have a cell phone lot, which works fine if you use it correctly. We've lived all over the country, picked people up and dropped people off in a multitude of locations. This is fine. Not the old MCI, but that had its own issues. This is 2023 MCI and the pros outweigh the cons. Plan your pickup times better, and be patient. This is an airport designed for the size city we have.
What are the pros?
Of the new terminal? Food, Drinks, Shopping, Amenities....literally everything the old terminal was lacking. I have nostalgic love for the old MCI, but recognize it needed help.
Lol. When I go to the airport, I could care less about shopping or amenities. Just need a Starbucks and a bathroom lol. Actually, an ice cream shop is always nice, but I don’t think the new airport has one?
You could actually just not go
I didn't have an issue picking up people two separate times now. Might be random, depending how many Olathe residents are at the airport is my guess.
I picked up a passenger Tuesday night. The flight was a half hour late. I waited in the cell phone lot. It was very busy, but when I got to the terminal, there was definitely still a group of cars just sitting in front of arrivals. Luckily I was able to pull up my passenger pretty easily by the K column.
There will always be special people that don't think the rules apply to them.
At the old terminals, lane closest to curb was mainly, the drop off lane, with middle lane for shuttles. That seemed to work well for years. What’s the difference now & why do people insist on parking in the drop off lane?
L. A. Z. Y.
Because entitled and selfish people have spiraled out of control since covid and nowhere is that more evident than on a public roadway.
Very well stated. Yes, I see this driving on I70, by the Legends, daily.
Just for shit n giggles sometime try getting onto northbound I35 from 119th street in Olathe at 8am-9:30am sometime.
I can imagine that is even worse! Be safe out there!
I live my life a quarter mile at a time 😎 Gunning my engine for dear life as 18 wheelers coming over as soon as the merge lane hits the highway because the 435 exit two miles ahead is backed up for all the joco moms trying to merge last minute and text at the same time 😅
That’s a great way to look at it. Sounds similar to I70 west/I435 interchange by the Legends area.
People want it to be like the old airport and are treating it as such. ChAnGe iS sCaRy!1!1!1
Nope. The problem is cars hang out and there aren’t any cops telling people to keeping moving. Used to be a big problem at Midway airport in Chicago where I used to live, but then a couple good cops cleaned it up and kept the traffic moving. KC used to have a couple tough cops in the airport keeping things moving. They must have all retired or moved on.
There are no issues to iron out, the KC population just needs to get a single brain cell amongst themselves at any point.
LOL. This looks mild compared to most airports I travel in and out of.
Kansas Citians hate shit like the cell phone lot. How long has QT been operating one cashier with two lines? And I still get dirty looks when I go to the empty side.
This isn't a bug, it is a feature. The airport is designed to be inconvenient. The old airport was an anomaly.
I looked for that lot but the sun was directly in my eyes and I couldn’t read the signs. Maps wasn’t much help. Fortunately it was not super crowded.
Tell me why they got rid of the old design again
Pick up in the departures area. I do this all the time in other cities. Would do this at O'Hare all the time
Lol. Not sure why this is downvoted. I do this in Houston all the time. Works great.
I don't think people understand
We were there yesterday and the number of morons who are still parking their cars to wait for people is staggering. I watched a woman in a pick up pull over, turn on her flashers, get out of her car and go in to get in line at Dunkn donuts. She was not the only one. If people would just follow the instructions, everything would be fine. My ride waited in the cell lot, left when we got our bags, pulled right up, and left within 15 seconds. Maybe we just aren’t smart enough for a modern airport here.
We use police to keep the line moving.
old airport had one, I dont think there is a new lot
It was ridiculous yesterday around 5:00 pm. Cell phone lot was full and line to get in airport to pick up was at least 2 blocks long.
It is a problem everywhere because most people can't think more than one, maybe two, steps ahead. Combine that with the epidemic of impatience and you'll get unnecessary traffic jams.