There was a time when St. Louis was a hub of aviation, Lambert Airport ranked on the top ten list of busiest airports in the US, thanks mostly to TWA, whose hub at St. Louis occupied three of the five concorses. Those days are long gone.
Following TWA’s “merger” in 2001 with American, St. Louis began to dwindle, until it became little more than a regional airport. Served mostly by CRJ’s, ERJ’s, and American MD-80’s, STL began losing shopping and restaurants inside the terminal. In 2008, Lambert closed most of Concourse D, left vacant by TWA’s demise. American occupied half of Concourse C, and American Connection — run mostly by Trans States Airlines — occupied the other half. Concourse A held a variety of airlines, Delta, Continental, AirTran, and others. Concourse B was mostly deserted, following the end of Regions Air back in 2007. The “East Terminal” named Concourse E held the two remaining international gates — served by USA 3000 Airlines and Champion Air for routes to Cancun mostly, and the bustling Southwest Airlines gates.
Two weeks ago I flew Cape Air from my home airport in Marion to St. Louis for a trip to San Francisco on American Airlines. I was shocked when I landed in St. Louis. The South side of Concourse C, formerly housing American Connection, was completely deserted. I flipped open my laptop and quickly found that American removed St. Louis as a “focus city” in 2009 as part of a restructuring plan. My two trips through Lambert earlier this year had been on Continental, so I never saw Concourse C.
At that moment, I began to think just how bad St. Louis is for passengers.
Because I fly from St. Louis, I end up connecting at many different airports. On the list of airports I’ve been to, but have never been outside of are Dallas, Los Angeles, Denver, O’Hare, Midway, and Kansas City. I’m struggling to think of another airport I’ve been to that is as poorly laid out as Lambert.
Recently, a news article ranked St. Louis as the third-worst airport, and I understand why. Let’s take my recent flight as an example.
Cape Air flies into Concourse D, they’re the ONLY airline that does, the rest of the accessible part of Concourse D is deserted. There are no shops, there is no food, there are no bathrooms. I walk past 8 gates to reach the security checkpoint. I can skirt behind the TSA and enter Concourse C. This is the ONLY place I can go within the airport without going outside of the TSA’s secured area (more on this later). On my way to gate C10, I pass three restaurants and a newsstand. Now, you might be thinking, that’s not bad, a bit of a walk, but otherwise, no big deal; and I’d agree.
However, this is because I knew this coming into this flight. I booked American not because of schedule or price, but because it was the only airline I could get to without going back through security.
Had I booked Delta, United, Contiental, Southwest, AirTran, or any other carrier out of St. Louis, I would have had to go back through security; and had I booked Southwest, it would have involved a bus ride to the East Terminal. This is where the problem lies.
Southwest recently announced an expansion at St. Louis, which I think is great, but they remain in the East Terminal, isolated from the rest of the airport.
Take Denver, for example. Denver’s airport consists of three buildings connected via underground train. You can get from any gate to any gate without going through security and without going outside. Chicago’s Midway is the same way, a single security checkpoint. St. Louis has FOUR separate security checkpoints. Go through the wrong one and you’ll be taking your shoes off again. This isn’t due to construction. There is a hallway connecting Concourses B and C — it is closed off. Concourse D connects to Concourse E (albeit with a long walk) — it’s closed off.
St. Louis requires passengers to know, in advance, how to navigate the airport. I can think of no other airport that requires such skill for a domestic flight. I might expect this kind of inconvenience, were I connecting from Southwest in New York to British Airways — but to go from Delta to American in St. Louis? Come on.