MCO and MCI--how early to arrive?

[AllesonWonderland]

Counting down days to our Disney trip! MCO and MCI are new airports to us. Anyone have tips on how early to arrive? We are flying Southwest. Our flight from Kansas City leaves at 7:15pm on a Saturday night and our flight home from Orlando leaves 7:20am Sunday morning. TIA for the advice!

 

[goofy4tink]

I always plan on being at the airport 2 hrs before my flight departure time. It doesn't really make any difference what the airport is. If you are new to an airport, then you might want to leave a bit more time. At MCO, security can be long. With an early morning flight it might not be so bad, but I have found that MCO is always busy.

 

[donmil723]

We have flown out of MCI on SW many times. Arriving at the terminal 1 hour in advance is plenty of time. If you need to park and take the shuttle to the terminal, you need to allow additional time for that. MCI is pretty small and very easy to get around. At MCO you need to be there at least 1 1/2 hours. Again, allow additional time to return a rental car, etc. Always check to see if the skycap line at MCO is shorter than the inside ticketing line. It is right outside the ticketing counter. Have fun!

DD and I leave early this Sunday. We missed the good airfare from SW but finally got decent airfare on AA from St. Louis. At least we don't have to drive especially now with gas prices on the rise again.

Donna

 

[newcomer52]

Donna is correct, KC is fairly small and easy to navigate. If you're parking in remote lots, that will take a half an hour or so to get to the terminal. Once you clear security into the gate area, there are no bathrooms so don't go in too soon. There are separate security check points for a small number of gates so that doesn't take long.

(good to see a Husker fan here!)

Jerry

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Thanks for the replies!

Donna, glad you found some good rates. I've been watching for a ding for a later flight, but I don't see that happening. Thanks for the skycap tip, I hadn't heard about that before. Enjoy your trip--looks like good weather is ahead!


Jerry--Go Huskers!! LOL I'm from northeast NE, how about you? We're parking at the actual airport economy lot. Considered the Thrifty lot but found a coupon for a free day at the airport lot. We were planning on grabbing a bite to eat before the flight (but want to do that plenty early since I have a little one who might feel queasy on the plane) The bathroom tip is a good one--especially with kids. I'm guessing we'll have A passes on the trip down since I'll be able to check us in plenty early. We haven't flown SW before...do you have to plop yourself in line right away?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[gw_lit]

Once you clear security into the gate area, there are no bathrooms so don't go in too soon.

There are bathrooms now inside in the secure area, at least at the Southwest gates. I don't have first-hand experience at other airline's gate areas, but I thought after the new security went into effect after 9/11, KCI made an effort to put bathrooms inside all of the secure gate areas.

 

[disneydave]

Midwest and Frontier have bathrooms in the gate area's at MCI as well.
As far as parking goes you might check into the parking spot. A little more per day but you don't have to wait as long for the shuttle bus as they follow you to your parking spot and then haul you right off to the terminal. Pickup at the terminal has always been fast for us as well. They ususlly have coupons online.

 

[Jeanne B]

I would arrive at MCO no less than 2 hours prior to your flight, the SW lines can be VERY long at times!! We arrived just under 1-1/2 hrs prior one time last year and barely made our flight. This past December was the first time in many trips that we arrived for a SW flight and the lines weren't incredibly long like we'd gotten so used to but I will still always arrive there 2 hours early, there's nothing more stressful than wondering whether or not you're going to make your flight, not a great way to end a very relaxing vacation.

 

[sassyredhead]

For MCI, 1 and 1/2 hours should be fine, especially because your flight time is pretty early.

MCO--I personally arrive 3 hours prior to flight time as it makes me feel better since the lines are so much longer than at my home airport. I always feel a bit overwhelmed at MCO! There are lots of restaurants and shops to wile away the time, unlike MCI.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[Michael623]

This is always a hot topic. I"m speaking only of MCO (never been to KC) but I think it depends on several factors. Time of flight, route taken to airport, which rental car company (on-site or off) you're using if relevant etc. With all of that taken into consideration our flight home is usually about 8pm, we always rent from an on-site company, and we always take the southern route (417) to the airport. There have been plenty of times when we're riding the monorail back to the TTC at 6pm or later. Plus we have to stop for gas and we've never had a close call. Of course this plan isn't for the faint of heart, especially the first time but you get used to it. I like to stretch my vacation to the max.

 

[ducklite]

DH and I both fly the MCO to PHL and MCO to EWR routes regularly. We never check bags. He still arrives at MCO, only his laptop case and boarding pass in hand, and still allows 90 minutes. He's going to get a CLEAR card next time he's down here though.

I have a CLEAR card so I cut it closer, but even with that arrive at least 45 minutes in advance.

Anne

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

A few hints to make your flight out of KCI a little easier:

Print out boarding passes in advance (24 hours).

Use the curbside sky cap to drop off luggage

There's a new mexican restaurant in the SW terminal. It's pretty good. A big improvement over previous offerings.

 

[jls886]

Counting down days to our Disney trip! MCO and MCI are new airports to us. Anyone have tips on how early to arrive? We are flying Southwest. Our flight from Kansas City leaves at 7:15pm on a Saturday night and our flight home from Orlando leaves 7:20am Sunday morning. TIA for the advice!

In all actuality, MCI is not that small, but seems that way because it is divided into 3 separate terminals: A, B, and C. Southwest is in Terminal B. Like they mentioned before, you can print your boarding passes up to 24 hours in advance, and that saves so much time! Southwest has curbside sky cap to check your bags and that also saves some time. You can also still go inside to the counter to check your bags if you like. Unlike most airports where you go through one large security area and then go to your gate, MCI has security for each set of gates. I believe Southwest's gates are like 31-35 or something like that. It is somewhat annoying if you want to go get pizza or something because you have to leave the gate and then go back through security again. Although, the lines are not usually long. There are restrooms and also a place to buy pop inside the gates now that security restrictions have changed. Southwest usually calls for preboarding about half an hour before the departure time. An hour and a half is more than enough time to get there and get in line for your flight.

Also, I wasn't sure how you're getting to MCO, but if you're taking ME, you won't have any control over when you go back to the airport for your departing flight. My friend and I used it last year and the bus picked us up 3 1/2 hours before our flight, but we just spent the time to grab some dinner and shop around a little bit.

 

[jls886]

Oh, and to answer your questions about the "A" line for Southwest, you probably don't have to get in line if you don't want to. If I have an A pass, I just go sit in the chairs and then get up when they're boarding and get in the back of the A line. There will still be plenty of completely empty rows. If you want a specific row, like the emergency exit for more leg room, then yes get in line as soon as you get there. If you don't mind where you sit, sit down and relax until the line starts moving.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Thanks for all the knowledgeable answers!

I'll be sure to have my boarding passes printed in advance when we fly out of Kansas City. When leaving Orlando we will have to print them there. I'm working on getting someone to check us in early though. (we aren't taking the laptop with.)

We will have a rental car for WDW, so we'll need to drop that off beforehand. I wish I could have found a ding for a later flight, as I think it will not be fun waking the kids up in the middle of the night to get to MCO for our early flight. Ah well, hopefully they'll sleep on the plane.

Thanks for the line tips. I don't care where we sit as long as each parent can sit by a child. Is there different advice if you have a B or C pass? I'm not sure we'll have A's for the trip home.

 

[Microcell]

There are bathrooms now inside in the secure area, at least at the Southwest gates. I don't have first-hand experience at other airline's gate areas, but I thought after the new security went into effect after 9/11, KCI made an effort to put bathrooms inside all of the secure gate areas.

That was not the case in January when I took a friend to MCI. She was on Southwest, because she used my Rapid Rewards. The bathrooms were most decidedly outside security.

It would be sooo costly to redo all that and move bathrooms. It is a semi circular track on the outside with restaurants, gift shops and the restrooms, with alcoves along the way with luggage carousels. All that is in the secure areas is the seating. Some of the gates have soda machines and coffee inside the secure area, but no restrooms.

MCI is a very easy airport to navigate, and as others have told you, an hour and a half is plenty!

By the way, with Southwest if you have a child five and under you have what I like to call the "Golden Ticket". It does not matter what group you are in (though if you check in online right at 24 hours before your flight you should get A) you can pre board with a little one!!!

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

Thanks for all the knowledgeable answers!

I'll be sure to have my boarding passes printed in advance when we fly out of Kansas City. When leaving Orlando we will have to print them there. I'm working on getting someone to check us in early though. (we aren't taking the laptop with.)

We will have a rental car for WDW, so we'll need to drop that off beforehand. I wish I could have found a ding for a later flight, as I think it will not be fun waking the kids up in the middle of the night to get to MCO for our early flight. Ah well, hopefully they'll sleep on the plane.

Thanks for the line tips. I don't care where we sit as long as each parent can sit by a child. Is there different advice if you have a B or C pass? I'm not sure we'll have A's for the trip home.

I would highly recommend renting a car with Budget and signing up for the free Fastbreak membership. It makes it very easy to return your car and walk across to the Southwest terminal. I dropped the rest of the family off to check in before returning the car. We also had the 7:15 a.m. return flight, but were there in plenty of time.

As far as the restrooms, I do remember seeing some inside security in our Southwest gate. I know SW has several gates, so it may depend which gate you have.