ST. LOUIS – Sunday will go down as one of the busiest—if not the busiest—travel days of 2023, with thousands of people flying in and out of St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Airports across the country saw record crowds as people scurried back from their Thanksgiving destinations. Lambert Airport officials predicted Sunday would be the busiest day of the Thanksgiving holiday travel period, with 23,000 passengers departing that day alone.
Despite the influx of travelers, airport officials said things went relatively smoothly on Sunday. At last check, despite hundreds of flights departing and arriving in St. Louis, there were no reported cancellations. It was a good introduction to Lambert for Alexander Fulbright, who traveled to St. Louis for his bachelor party on Sunday.
“I really like it. This was my first time here; it was really easy to get through,” Fulbright said.
Fulbright’s Air Force comrades met him in St. Louis all the way from Germany for the celebration. Caitlin O’Donnell was one of them.
“I made all of my connections on time, so they did a good job pushing everyone through,” O’Donnell said.
St. Louis native Alphonso Brown is headed back to Las Vegas after flying in the middle of the Thanksgiving rush last week. He was relieved to see a much calmer airport Sunday night.
It’s a good thing, because when I came, it wasn’t slow at all. It was lots of people,” Brown said.
Sunday wasn’t smooth for everyone, though. Bad weather in Chicago meant Jerri Michael was stuck waiting at baggage claim in St. Louis for one of her relatives to arrive home.
“They came out of O’Hare, so I only guessed the worst,” Michael said. “I can’t imagine being there on a holiday.”
Alison Desloge and her daughter, Finnley, battled traffic in Washington D.C. on their way back from a Thanksgiving weekend field hockey tournament there. Their dedication paid off with an otherwise smooth flight back home to St. Louis.
“Once we got to the airport, it was really smooth sailing,” Desloge said.
Lambert officials expect Monday to be another busy day as people continue to travel home from their Thanksgiving destinations. But after that, they predict two relatively slow weeks before travel picks right back up ahead of the Christmas holiday.
