I'll be the first to admit that I am not at all familiar with St. Louis. But I wasn't trying to insinuate anything. I was, however, trying to explore the comment about not feeling safe. I guess our friendly mod was not pleased with my provocative exploration.

Its been a little while since I have been through STL but I always laughed at the glass enclosed smoking lounges right in the middle of the terminal. Are those things still there? Why anyone would still smoke after seeing people in these things. It looked like mice in a bad lab experiment to test how quickly they would get cancer...

And PIT.

This thread is about confirmation, not exploration. And don't even think about provocative.

Those were closed about 18 months ago when the city went partially smoke-free.

Still working on the smoke-free thing, but hell, it's Missourah, so I'm happy to have anything.

Again, take this from someone who rides it on a daily basis through some not so nice areas - the Metrolink is for the most part, safe. There is at least one security guard on *every* platform, day and night, and there are regular patrols on the trains themselves. You can get mugged walking down the street here, citing a few newspaper articles about crime on ML doesn't prove much.

Let's put it like this, if my 120 lb, late 50 something mom has no problem riding it, neither should you.

Cleveland is a very apt comparison. You used to see big jets fly in and out of there all the time. Now it's RJ city.

Well last trip to STL my friend told me "take a taxi, it's faster and safe." When I go to ZRH, MUC, FRA, MXP, GVA, ORD, NRT, HKG the advice is always "take the train, it's faster and cheaper."

In terms of crime even if we want to use worst case areas we are talking about 1 in 1000 type odds. That said - the latter mentioned trains not only don't have consistent reports of criminal activity they "feel safer" at least to me.

That said, I do realize there is crime everywhere. My point to Blumie was it is out of line to ask people as he did if the reason they felt unsafe was "do the people look different than you." I really don't care what they look like - when there is a group/gang of five to 10 teenagers running through cars jumping up and down on the seats and slamming doors and making running up to people then to the next car I really don't like that environment - again no matter their skin color, hair style or number of piercings. One person said they felt unsafe - they are entitled to their opinion as are the hundreds of thousands of people who ride the STL MRT each year. No need to try and demean somebody else.

The Burger King there has been gone for several years.

Greg

If anyone has not been to Lambert in several years, you would think you are in a different airport today.

Here are some pictures from the renovations to Concourse C. Concourse A was renovated in a similar manner prior to the tornado. The baggage claim areas are just about done as well.

http://countondowntown.com/2012/04/l...ncourse-opens/

Greg

Not depressing, but amusing.

Until Concourse D was closed earlier this year (circa May 2012), all of the AA flights departed from there since the tornado. This is the (now-closed) concourse past the temporary Admirals Club, that stretches almost all the way to the Southwest terminal, one mile east from the main terminal.

For whatever reason, most of last winter, AA would board its STL-MIA flight from the very last gate in Concourse D, a 20 minute walk from the terminal. Fortunately, antique "speedramps" were somehow still operational along the terminal. The whole place was a time-warp to the early 1980s, from the color scheme to the bubble windows and even the signage. I enjoyed the time travel, although AA's relocated operations in the newly opened Concourse C are of course modern and convenient.

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Overly personalized exchanges have been deleted; let's keep it mutually respectful and on topic please.

JDiver, Senior Moderator

As a woman alone, I have no problem taking the light rail from downtown to the airport - there are almost always other people on the train and the conductors pass through to collect tickets. That said, I wouldn't think of walking alone on almost any St. Louis street at night including the street to the downtown train stop.

Although it is sad to see Lambert almost totally empty, fewer crowds = less hassle.

AMEN !^ (to both statements)

I can see how STL would be viewed as depressing, I thought as much when I travel there, but I very much enjoy the less other pax/hassle aspect!!