So I flew to Denver from St. Louis and back last week, and I have to say Lambert International Airport in St. Louis is very nice.
I know local officials are always pushing Quincy Regional Airport hard, and I’d like to see a small regional facility do well. Perhaps our airport is more designed for the business traveler and not the vacation guy.
But why should I fly out of Quincy?
Some say it’s cheaper. For me, on this particular trip, it was not. I paid $25 in gas, and I paid $48 in parking. That’s $73. Flying out of Quincy would have cost me up to $150 more.
I have flown out of Quincy before, and it always seems weather is an issue, or the planes are breaking down. One night I remember waiting in Chicago forever before we finally got going back to Quincy. (Walk or ride your bike
before you experience Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.)
Quincy airport proponents say time saved is a big reason to fly from here. However, the St. Louis airport is convenient and only two hours away if you hit traffic right, and I’ve never had a problem on I-70. The parking near the airport is good, the shuttle picks you up right away, and the terminals are easy to navigate. It took me 10 minutes to get through security in the St. Louis airport on a busy Sunday night.
An extra couple of hours is worth saving $150.
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3 comments:
The shuttles are now up to $115, so it all depends on how much you value your time for the drive back & forth. I haven't tried the new Quincy-STL flights so can't comment on their reliability or service
I always check what the going rate is to fly out of Quincy when I travel. (this is becoming much less frequent due to the young one) Whenever I check it always appears to be about the same price as if I went on down to STL for the night before on the park and fly deal. Plus, you get a night in STL and little earlier start on your vacation.
;)
It's not really good for business travel either with the lack of codeshare and the lack of reliability.
One Quincy company used to fly five employees a week at least forty weeks a year. They quit that practice two years ago and they've been flying direct out of St. Louis or Chicago. The employees say it is much easier.
Quincy should seriously consider making the airport completely private. The city is wasting millions of dollars for a handful of passengers.
With the state of the airline industry, this is not completely the city's fault. But they didn't help themselves by sticking a crony in as airport manager when they had multiple qualified candidates.
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