Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

I'm making a little mileage run on NW on Nov 12th.

IND-MSP-MCI

MCI-MSP-IND

Was going to make a SEA run but that is being put off to somewhere between Dec 9th & 13th.

Total price for the IND-MCI run $129. Estimated FF miles to be earned with my 50% mileage bonus 2,800.

Member

Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 333
Location: St. Louis, MO

what times will you be in MCI?

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

I'll be there from 12:39pm to 2:15pm then I head back home. Not a long stay is it?

Member

Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 333
Location: St. Louis, MO

that's all there is to see at Kansas City though.

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

I discovered today that all 4 legs of my trip got 1st class upgrades .

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

Hope you enjoyed it. The MCI airport is big; I guess you could walk the terminal for a couple hours. At least get some Arthur Bryant's barbeque while you're there.

So give us a summary of your run when you get back.

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

I didn't bother walking to the other terminal but if the rest are built like the one I was in I can understand why it never worked as a hub. OMG. What a bad design. I walk off the jet and look right at security maybe 30 feet in front of me. 3 gates were enclosed in that security area. Apparently this is how the terminal is because it was built before checkpoints existed so there is no real room for a checkpoint. Bizzare. No other word for it. Oh I snapped a pic of a DL widebody at MCI. Apparently it was transporting an NFL team. Not sure if its the Chiefs or Raiders.

Service was good. God I am tired. I actually fell asleep on the last flight. I really learned something new about NW at IND when I got back. Look for info in the NW topic.

Member

Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 333
Location: St. Louis, MO

there really isn't much to that airport is there? a good mid continent location that could have fielded LOTS of commuter traffic from the Dakotas, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and perhaps even parts of Wyoming or Oklahoma or Arkansas for a stretch. definitely built in an era of a regulated airline industry.

i get to spend two hours there this week! exciting!

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

I think I mentioned it before, either here or on FT - MCI was designed and built in the same period as DFW and you can see reflections of the planning ideas that went into both airports. Both were stuck on huge plots of land far out from the central downtown area. And both were conceived of the semicircle-of-semicircles terminal design. Some similarities seen at EWR as well.

They actually tout the proximity of security to the gates as an advantage of MCI. But when you go through security and then realize you have to pee, it gets interesting. You end up having a little debate in your head about whether to wait until you get on the plane and up to altitude, versus going back out of the gate, taking a whiz, and then going back through security again. Fortunately, they're starting to fix this by building bathrooms within gate areas.

The thing that always strikes me about MCI is the underutilization. I think there are about 30 gates in each of the three terminals, 90 total at the airport. I would struggle to count 50-60 gates in use by a scheduled airline. Makes it tough to come up with the cash for upgrading the airport...