Customer Convenience Should Come First

Op-Ed

Customer Convenience Should Come First

By Sam Graves

Some of the Kansas City area's most successful companies are built on one simple theme: customer convenience. Garmin wants to make it easier to get where you are going. Cerner wants healthcare technology to be more user-friendly. Even H&R Block wants to make paying your taxes easier.

People want things that make their lives easier and getting things done a little more convenient. However, Washington is more concerned with creating bureaucracy and filling out forms. Those two competing visions are on full display as we look at our airport's future.

The federal government requires that every ten years a new master plan be filed with the Federal Aviation Administration. The federal bureaucracy is very good about strapping requirements on local governments, but they aren't very good about understanding the needs of those communities.

One recommendation of the master plan could be for KCI to combine those three terminals into one single terminal, like many other big airports in the country. The one thing those airports have in common is that they are not anywhere near as convenient as KCI. I personally think that KCI is well-served by the three-terminal design.

J.D. Power recently agreed with that assessment, ranking the airport #1 in customer satisfaction for mid-sized airports. Many of my constituents and small businesses have chosen to locate near the airport because it is so convenient. I hear time and time again how much they like the current three-terminal design.

It is a valid criticism to say that multiple checkpoints are less efficient, but we should also acknowledge they are more effective. More eyes, screening fewer passengers, means that screeners and security checkpoints perform better when compared with other airports.

Efficiency is important, but I believe we need to take customer convenience and satisfaction into account when planning for the future. Currently, the federal government gives no consideration to convenience or satisfaction when it comes to drafting master plans.

As a member of the Aviation Committee, I want to make sure that the federal government doesn't railroad KCI into creating a single-terminal airport. I will file legislation that will add customer convenience to the list of features to be taken into consideration when planning for the future. All good airports are about more than just revenues and departures. They are about serving their community well.

There will be another master plan required in ten years for the Kansas City airport. At that time, we will be much closer to determining the future of our airport. We will know how much air traffic has increased and we will know the new challenges that our airport will need to address. I want to make sure that customer convenience is not lost in the shuffle.

There is no doubt that the majority of Kansas Citians are happy with their three-terminal airport. I will advocate in Washington for our city to keep its unique airport as long as we want it.

Whatever Kansas Citians ultimately decide, I will support. However, the key is that Kansas Citians should decide what kind of airport they want- without trying to check all the boxes of a worksheet designed by some federal bureaucrat in Washington.

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