KCI Airport’s cellphone lot: How to find it and how to use it to pick up travelers
In the days after Kansas City International Airport opened its new terminal, traffic backed up at the arrivals curb as drivers picking up passengers parked there and waited for them to come out.
One solution recommended by airport officials is for people to use the airport’s cellphone lot to wait for passengers to exit the terminal and call them for pickup.
But some travelers did not know KCI had a cellphone lot or were unaware it had been moved in February 2020. In fact, the airport was a late adopter of the cellphone lot concept and the lot has moved more than once.
Here is how to find the cellphone lot, how to use and and what to expect once you’re there.
Where is the cellphone lot at KCI Airport?
The cellphone parking lot is located at 680 Brasilia Ave.
People driving into KCI have probably seen the Marriott hotel in the distance as they headed to the old terminals. The cellphone lot is nearby.
Coming in on Cookingham Drive, you can exit at Bern Street and continue to Brasilia Avenue. The entrance to the lot is off of Brasilia, just past the hotel.
There is a sign directing you take the exit at Bern, but it’s easily missed. To remedy that, temporary electronic signs were added last week to help direct people to the lot.
Don’t worry if you miss the turn off. You can still get to the lot off of Paris Street at the next exit. You just follow Paris to Brasilia and the entrance is just before the hotel.
How to use the lot
The cellphone lot has more than 90 stalls for regular visitors, including drivers of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.
It also has five bus parking stalls, 30 limo and van stalls and more than 50 taxi stalls.
Restrooms are also available in the building at the lot.
Drivers using the cellphone lot are limited to 45 minutes. They must remain with their vehicles. Unattended vehicles could be towed at the owner’s expense.
People looking to pick up passengers are encouraged to wait until their loved ones get off their plane and have walked through the terminal, picked up any bags and exit the building.
Once outside, passengers can let drivers know the number of the pillar they are standing by.
At that point, drivers should head to the terminal, which is a few minutes away, to pickup their passengers.
To get to the terminal, follow Brasilia to Paris. Then take Paris to Cookingham and follow the signs to the arrivals curb.
The curb is for active loading and unloading only. At peak times, drivers will be told to move along and circle around if their passengers are not there waiting. Unattended vehicles are subject to being ticketed and towed.
A little history
Up until 2011, KCI was one of the few major airports that lacked a cellphone waiting area.
That is when the airport began allowing limited free parking for people waiting to pick up passengers in one of its Economy Parking lots.
People however often missed the signs leading to them to the cellphone lot and tended to park all over the place. It was difficult for traffic control officers to direct them back out the economy lots.
So in 2016, KCI opened a parking lot near the control tower for those waiting to pick up passengers.
In February 2020, to make way for the construction of the new terminal, the cellphone lot moved to its current location at 680 Brasilia Ave. At that time, other staging parking lots were consolidated there as well.
During those years, many drivers found they were still able to park and wait for passengers at the terminals, even though the rules — then as now — said the curb was for active loading and unloading only.
There was more leeway at the old terminals, with multiple buildings spreading out the traffic. All that traffic has now been concentrated to the single new terminal in a smaller space.
Airport officials are appealing to drivers who are picking people up at the airport to think of others and only stop at the arrivals curb long enough to load passengers.
“If you’re sitting there for 10 minutes, that means there’s someone that can’t pull up to the curb and pick up their loved one,” airport spokesman Joe McBride said last week.
“You wouldn’t want that to be you waiting in line because someone’s sitting at the curb for 10 minutes or so and no one comes out.”
