Need advice from transportation experts

[newcomer52]

I am looking at booking my December trip (12th - 20th). I am concerned about traveling through Minneapolis, Detroit, or Chicago that time of year because of weather. Going through St Louis will be about $75 more and through DFW or Houston about $200 more. Is it likely that St. Louis will be better to travel though then or should I spent the extra $200 to be on the safe side? Thanks for any opinions/experience you can share.

Jeralyn

 

[Jestocost]

St. Louis is generally a much better bet than Chicago, Minneapolis or Detroit, but is by no means immune to Winter weather problems. I for one would avoid those three airports for Winter travel whenever possible. We flew back from St. Croix, USVI on New Years Eve a few years ago, for example, and chose to do a layover at Orlando vs. Chicago. That proved to be an excellent choice, as we saw Chicago-bound passengers stranded in both San Juan and Orlando, while we had no delays going through Orlando into St. Louis.

DFW can have problems unrelated to weather, however, so it's not necessarily going to be free from delays even on a sunny day.

I'd go with St. Louis or Dallas, if it were me.

 

[taitai]

I would absolutely go through Minneapolis. It takes a blizzard to close MSP. It is very, very skilled at handling weather. I have flown in and out of the airport numerous times in snow storms with no problems or delays at all. They have a barracks/dorm type of set up on site at the airport and at the first sign of weather, all snowplow drivers, deicers, etc. are grounded at the airport and they sleep there and work 12 on 12 off until the storm is over. It rarely closes down.

I would actually think St.Louis is less skilled at weather and probably gets more ice than the other airports.

Winter flying really ins't that bad. Snow is not that big of a deal unless it is a blizzard and those are so rare. The real weather problem with travel is summer thunder/lightening storms. I can not tell you how many times I have been stranded at DFW due to a summer storm that just closed the place down.

Good luck.

 

[JB2K]

St. Louis is becoming easier to connect through, given that American Airlines has drastically reduced their flight operations at the STL hub.

Also, if you are using Southwest Airlines, the East Terminal is SWA's home at STL -- super easy connections!