Have lived in both STL and now DEN (yah, need to update my user name), and have experienced two very different patterns. STL was frankly hellish; made you want to be that jerk trying to cram a bodybag into the overhead to avoid it. Regularly it took 30++ minutes to get bags, and never any baggage customer service when you needed them. Extreme times ran into 45 minutes, for no apparent reason.

Fast forward to Denver. Even with the much written about bag eating machinery (now gone of course), it regularly is waiting for me when I arrive in bag claim. If not it arrives shortly thereafter. Add to that the completely different aesthetics of Denver vs STL, and I don't mind checking bags.

So sorry no info on RDU, but hope this helps. Good luck w/ your article