KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There are some people who bought tickets just to be on the very last flight out of Terminal B Monday night and the first ever flight into the new single terminal at the Kansas City Airport Tuesday morning.
Over a dozen passengers on the Southwest Airlines flight to Chicago have a group chat going called "Six Hours in Chicago" where they’ve been communicating before the flight. Some were already friends, while others have never met and connected online.
“It’s just exciting," Nicholas Morris said. "It feels like you’re actually participating in history in real-time. Saying goodbye to the old terminal feels the most fitting way to truly fly out of it, live all the memories of past flights, while also coming in and seeing the brand new one. That’s going to be exciting.”
While some passengers are looking to participate in history, another says it will be "a fun story to tell."
“When I saw they were both Midway I thought, 'well, maybe we should do that,’ and texted my wife, like, ‘Am I crazy to do this?’, Ryan Mott said, adding that his wife was on board.
Mott said he's been calling it the red-eye flight to Kansas City, from Kansas City.
The group has already been planning what to do during those six hours.
“We’re thinking maybe some of us will go into downtown Chicago, go to a late-night bar for a few hours, maybe a diner, and then head back to take our early morning flight,” Peter Carnesciali said.
Former Kansas City, Missouri, City Council member Jermaine Reed said the hard work the city council put in to help the terminal come together is well worth the effort.
“It, for me, is a combination of a lot of hard work," Reed said. "A lot of reading, a lot of negotiation and it’s a celebratory moment to just be in this sort of historic moment in our city."
The flight takes off just before 10:30 p.m. Monday and lands at the new single terminal after 7:30 am Tuesday. Watch for updates from KSHB 41 News Reporter Charlie Keegan, who will also be on that flight!
