Terminal NORTH hosts 2 airlines.
Left turn for North Terminal or you miss Southwest and United
OMA’s North Terminal is the temporary island for Southwest and United, sitting apart from the main South complex with zero airside connector between them. Allegiant also uses this side, but the key point: if your boarding pass says Southwest or United and your driver glides toward the South Terminal, you’re in the wrong building and walking back outside in Nebraska weather.
From Abbott Drive, cars peel left for North, right for South; local TV interviews already have people saying they almost missed flights after being dropped at the wrong curb. Treat “North” like its own small airport: separate ticket counters, its own baggage claim, and security that only feeds North gates. Once you’re through TSA here, there’s no inside hallway to the South gates at all.
Because bags checked at North stay in the North system, local coverage bluntly says to confirm your airline and terminal before printing bag tags at the kiosks. Southwest and United counters sit in the North ticketing hall, and if you print a tag then realize you’re actually supposed to be at South, you’re backing out to the curb and hauling both luggage and time across the drive.
Food and retail inside the North Terminal are bare-bones for now; expect vending machines and maybe a small grab-and-go cooler near the gates rather than a full restaurant row. No airline clubs either: United hasn’t put a Club here, and there’s no shared lounge listed on OMA’s current terminal map. Build the buffer if you thought you’d eat or work in a lounge; you’re doing that before security or over in South, not once you’re at a North gate.
Moving between North and South, you’ve got two realistic choices: crosswalks along Terminal Drive at curb level, or the lower level of the South parking garage, which local reports call out as marginally more sheltered in snow or rain. There’s still no interior post-security corridor, so even a same-day United-to-Delta transfer is a full landside walk with bags in hand.
Regulars already simplify it to a mantra: “left for North, right for South” as they roll in from the south on Abbott Drive. Local guidance also says to hard-code “North Terminal” into your ride-hail notes or hotel shuttle requests if you’re on Southwest, United, or Allegiant, so the driver doesn’t default to the more established South side out of habit.
Connections across terminals on separate tickets are where this setup bites. Frequent flyers in the modernization explainers tell people not to plan anything tighter than an hour for a North–South hop, since you’ll exit security, cross via curb or garage, then re-clear TSA on the other side. Don’t waste a tight 35-minute layover trying to make a Southwest arrival in North line up with a Delta or American departure in South; treat it like changing airports across town.
One practical tip: as you turn into the airport, double-check both your airline and the terminal line on the boarding pass before the car chooses a lane. Fixing that choice at the curb takes at least 10 extra minutes of walking with luggage; getting it right as the car splits left for North saves the stress entirely.