SamH

Hi. I'm in the Kansas City area this week for some work. I drove out yesterday and picked up some equipment we need for our work. Then today, I had to drive out to the airport to pick up my colleague who flew in from PIT.

His itinery from Expedia lists the airport as MCI - Kansas City International. All well and good. I plug MCI into my tomtom and get routing to the airport. All still good. As I approach the airport I see signs that say KCI. Hmmm I'm thinking. Did I cross into Kansas or something?

I was at the right place. The signs at the airport all say KCI.

I checked expedia and it wouldnt accept KCI as a destination airport. Orbitz and Continental sites would accept both KCI/MCI as Kansas City International.

Did I miss something?

mjz_kc

The official airport code is MCI and our airport is called Kansas City International (KCI). It's as simple as that.

rkkwan

MCI is the IATA code. The airport was originally called (or designed to be called) Mid-Continent International.

But now, its official name is Kansas City International. So, locals call it KCI, but IATA code is MCI.

There are other cases like this. For example, Denver's current airport is known locally as DIA, but its IATA code is DEN (same code as when it was at Stapleton).

mjz_kc

Oh yeah, in case you care. MCI = Mid Continent International.

SamH

That's a good enough explaination for me and it makes sense.

I noticed that Expedia would not accept DIA as a valid airport code and Orbitz did. CO accepted it but asked for clarification between Denver and I think Colorado Springs.

Guess Expedia is a stickler for details.