Did AA get out just in time? One reviewer's opinion of St. Louis/Lambert
(As a side note, I agree with every word he wrote).
St Louis Airport by Jeffrey D Sarver
3 November 2002
I have practically grown-up transiting St Louis' Lambert Field. Like all other airports it was once a pleasant experience, before the hub and spoke system destroyed all civility in the flying experience, especially in the larger airports. As airlines disappeared after deregulation of the industry in 1978 and huge, omnipresent carriers, like TWA which used reign at STL, took over the show, STL became a nightmare and remains one to this day. STL is one of those horribly designed octopus-airports. You have a choice of walking down one of the two endlessly long gate corridors (running is usually the mode of transport unless you are lucky enough to snag a golf cart or wheelchair which isn't easy given the hoardes of the elderly travelling cheaply on Southwest airlines which hubs there) and when you finally have arrived at your gate of departure there is rarely anyplace to sit, but that usually doesn't matter because boarding has already begun and one is lucky to have made it in time from the connection gate 1/2 mile away in the dusty old bus-terminal-like annex used for the commuter planes that buzz like flies in from all over the midwest! Not a pleasant experience. If you are travelling point to point on any other carrier besides American or Southwest you will not have to wear your running togs because all the other airlines are stuck in the little old terminal off to one side. The only advantage to that quaint old building is that it is next door to the restaurant, which has since become an enormous McDonalds. I may be wrong but I don't think there is a proper dining facility at STL any longer. Anyway the other advantage to arriving at the old terminal on the other carriers is that you can get out of the airport very quickly, which is a good thing. My point being, don't join American's frequent flyer program just because you do business in St Louis alot, stick to your hometown carrier. If you are strictly into "cheap" then STL is the place for you. Southwest is rapidly gaining strength in that market. That's good because the money you save on flying like a heifer to market is that you can then afford a hot-dog and beer at one of the grossly expensive junk food emporiums that abound there. The hot-dog stands (ubiquitous in St Louis Airport) and dirty bars are grossly over-priced unless you want a half-gallon-sized plastic beaker of Budweiser which is the most cost-effective purchase in the gate areas, not to mention the fastest way to numb yourself to the chaos around you, that is if you've managed to miss your flight or arrive in time to sit down and dry off for a few moments before running to your connection. I no longer transit STL when visiting "home". It's too degrading. Every time I have found myself in the vortex of that maelstrom in one of those endless arms to infinity I find myself meditating on Dante's Inferno and wondering which circle of hell I have landed myself in this time. I doubt very much if American Airlines can improve a bad situation that TWA didn't seem to notice. The airport staff, once past the check-in counters, are nasty and unhelpful and slightly threatening more often than not and clearly hate their jobs. So, if you are going to the Midwest, which is a nice place to go, skip STL and use Chicago O'Hare. At least at ORD you will have a choice of airlines to fly, meaning lower airfares if transiting on to the west coast or the southwestern US.
(As a side note, I agree with every word he wrote).
St Louis Airport by Jeffrey D Sarver
3 November 2002
I have practically grown-up transiting St Louis' Lambert Field. Like all other airports it was once a pleasant experience, before the hub and spoke system destroyed all civility in the flying experience, especially in the larger airports. As airlines disappeared after deregulation of the industry in 1978 and huge, omnipresent carriers, like TWA which used reign at STL, took over the show, STL became a nightmare and remains one to this day. STL is one of those horribly designed octopus-airports. You have a choice of walking down one of the two endlessly long gate corridors (running is usually the mode of transport unless you are lucky enough to snag a golf cart or wheelchair which isn't easy given the hoardes of the elderly travelling cheaply on Southwest airlines which hubs there) and when you finally have arrived at your gate of departure there is rarely anyplace to sit, but that usually doesn't matter because boarding has already begun and one is lucky to have made it in time from the connection gate 1/2 mile away in the dusty old bus-terminal-like annex used for the commuter planes that buzz like flies in from all over the midwest! Not a pleasant experience. If you are travelling point to point on any other carrier besides American or Southwest you will not have to wear your running togs because all the other airlines are stuck in the little old terminal off to one side. The only advantage to that quaint old building is that it is next door to the restaurant, which has since become an enormous McDonalds. I may be wrong but I don't think there is a proper dining facility at STL any longer. Anyway the other advantage to arriving at the old terminal on the other carriers is that you can get out of the airport very quickly, which is a good thing. My point being, don't join American's frequent flyer program just because you do business in St Louis alot, stick to your hometown carrier. If you are strictly into "cheap" then STL is the place for you. Southwest is rapidly gaining strength in that market. That's good because the money you save on flying like a heifer to market is that you can then afford a hot-dog and beer at one of the grossly expensive junk food emporiums that abound there. The hot-dog stands (ubiquitous in St Louis Airport) and dirty bars are grossly over-priced unless you want a half-gallon-sized plastic beaker of Budweiser which is the most cost-effective purchase in the gate areas, not to mention the fastest way to numb yourself to the chaos around you, that is if you've managed to miss your flight or arrive in time to sit down and dry off for a few moments before running to your connection. I no longer transit STL when visiting "home". It's too degrading. Every time I have found myself in the vortex of that maelstrom in one of those endless arms to infinity I find myself meditating on Dante's Inferno and wondering which circle of hell I have landed myself in this time. I doubt very much if American Airlines can improve a bad situation that TWA didn't seem to notice. The airport staff, once past the check-in counters, are nasty and unhelpful and slightly threatening more often than not and clearly hate their jobs. So, if you are going to the Midwest, which is a nice place to go, skip STL and use Chicago O'Hare. At least at ORD you will have a choice of airlines to fly, meaning lower airfares if transiting on to the west coast or the southwestern US.
