Trains, buses, rental cars: Travel alternatives from Kansas City if flight was canceled

With hundreds of flights canceled at KCI this week, thousands of travelers are left stranded at the airport with limited options for getting back home or to their destinations before the new year.

As of Tuesday, Southwest had canceled 81 flights, or 73% of its scheduled flights, going into or out of KCI, according to data on Flight Aware. The airline has also canceled 82 flights Wednesday and 50 flights Thursday traveling into or out of KCI, or 74% and 61% of its scheduled flights for those days, respectively.

If you’re looking to get a refund for your canceled flight, check out this guide The Star put together.

If you’re looking for an alternative way to get where you need to go, this is what we know about what’s available.

RENTAL CARS

Options are slim in Kansas City for rental cars, according to Bleu Car KC’s Gia Bleu. A lot of travelers stranded in KCI called her rental car service asking for availability, since she’s heard from callers that national companies like Avis and Enterprise have low availability.

Since it is a local establishment, Bleu Car KC mostly focuses on the Kansas City area and can’t help people travel to places out of the region. They offer flat rate charges between $90-140 a day for people who book their service and can return the vehicle to KCI, where it’s available for pickup.

“We try to service the community as best as we can, but we can only do so much with this particular case because it’s such a rare anomaly where you have so many people stranded that are trying to get back to places that are elsewhere,” Bleu said.

Car rental services at airports in Kansas City and across the country struggled to meet the needs of travelers whose flights had been canceled.

A national representative for Enterprise, Alamo and National told The Star they’ve received lots of calls from customers asking for extensions on their rentals or to change the drop-off location of their vehicles, allowing them to drive it home when their flights were canceled.

Both options can lead to hefty added fees for customers.

“We are running out of vehicles,” the representative said. “We’re receiving a lot of calls regarding the situation.”

Ordering a rental car from Enterprise from Kansas City’s midtown store and driving it all the way to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago can cost you anywhere between $598-657 depending on the vehicle you choose. The dates you choose to rent also play a role in the price.

Avis is also showing similar prices for any rental car that’s open. There are no options open for travelers looking to leave Kansas City and bring the car to another location, but you can rent a car to drop off within the city for anywhere between $73-246 daily.

TRAIN OPTIONS

The Amtrak at Union Station is the only train station in service in Kansas City. Seats are filling up as people try to leave before the New Year.

If you’re taking the train from Kansas City to Chicago on Thursday, it can cost you $219 for a 17-hour trip using three mixed services: the 316 Missouri River Runner, getting off in St. Louis and taking a connecting bus to Carbondale, Illinois using the 58 City of New Orleans train.

Trains to Chicago are sold out on Friday, and New Year’s Eve options are around $102 one-way for the 318 Lincoln Service, which is an 11-hour trip. The train for this trip is currently 50% full. This same train is also open for New Year’s Day on Saturday, but it’s 70% full as of Wednesday and it costs $136 one-way

BUS OPTIONS

If you’re willing to be in it for the long haul, bus services out of Kansas City still have some tickets available over the next couple days.

Departing from Kansas City’s bus station at 1101 Troost Ave., Greyhound has options departing as early as Wednesday, ranging from $71 to $358 depending on the destination.

Most Greyhound options to Chicago are sold out for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. A more than 24-hour trip to Chicago departing Wednesday night would cost you $140, and a 14-hour overnight bus trip departing Thursday night costs $119 per person.