KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you haven’t been to Kansas City International Airport since last holiday travel season, you’ll notice differences getting to the terminals because of construction on a new $1.5 billion terminal.
Construction has forced the airport to close lanes approaching the terminals, reduce speeds and resulted in a short merging distance between terminals B and C.
“If you're going 20 miles per hour, you can react to stop if need be, allow someone to merge in, be courteous,” explained Joe McBride, KCI spokesperson. “But if you're blowing through there at 40 miles per hour, that's unsafe and you could actually create and accident and then everyone is going to be delayed.”
McBride’s best piece of advice is to plan on arriving at KCI at least 90 minutes before your scheduled departure.
Friday marks the beginning of a 12-day Thanksgiving travel period. KCI expects to see 400,000 passengers during that time, which is nearly 100,000 more passengers than a standard 12-day period.
McBride said holiday travelers aren’t necessarily frequent travelers and there may be delays going through ticketing and TSA security checkpoints.
“If you're that person that is slowing other people down, maybe you didn't give yourself enough time or get prepared. But also, if you're behind that person who is slow, give them a break and understand not everyone travels all the time and they're not familiar with it,” McBride reminded travelers.
The airport is stressing the importance of using the cellphone lot if you’re coming to pick someone up from the airport. You can park in the lot until the person you’re picking up calls you to tell you they’re ready at the curb.
Getting to the lot is a little different because of construction. You now drive past the terminals and then follow the signs on the left. To return to the terminals, you have to drive as if you’re exiting the airport and use the Paris or Bern street exits to turn around and get back to the terminals.
Check the status of arrivals and departures at flykci.com before going to the airport.
