Review of Air Canada Express flight from St Louis to Toronto in Business

Quick disclaimer: The airplane is a Bombardier CRJ900, but I can't find that option on flight-review. I can only find Mitsubishi CRJ900, or Bombardiers in other configurations.

Hey everyone, welcome back to another flight review. Today we’re doing something quite different, a unique trek from Lambert Airport in St. Louis MO over to Toronto Pearson. St. Louis is a place I honestly never really heard of until 2023, but routine trips to the city means I always need to take a short flight like this one to transfer to larger NA hubs. A slight change of pace with this review as I’ve developed quite a relationship with the city, and hope you guys might enjoy some of my thoughts and perspectives. Lambert features two terminals, Terminal 1 hubs both major and budget US airlines along with Air Canada. Terminal 2 is completely Southwest with one major exception being their one and only long-haul operation, Frankfurt aboard Lufthansa (for some reason).

 Digging a bit into the history, St. Louis used to operate lots of international destinations back in the day, but the city has not been able to meet such demands anymore. Notoriously listed as one of America’s most dangerous cities, there is such a rich history about the city that is not really reflected by its modern state. Having once hosted the Olympic games, much of the city remains abandoned with large areas of once bustling communities and buildings left rotting and taken over by dangerous crowds. There are areas such as Clayton and University City (WashU) that could find its place among any major US city, but much of St. Louis remains neglected and incomparable to its glory days.

But we’re here today to check out this short flight, let’s get to it! We arrive at Terminal 1 departures which is up on the second floor of the terminal. Check-in is usually quite empty which vastly contrasts with Southwest at Terminal 2. There was a viral video recently of Southwest lines going out the terminal and onto the highways. Other than Frankfurt, Toronto is the only international destination offered at Lambert. 

After a quick check in, we’re off to TSA. For any travellers out from Terminal 1, keep in mind that there are two TSAs which go to two different ends of the Terminal. The A gates, where I’m heading today, feature Delta, United, Alaskan, Air Canada. C gates, crucially, is where American flies from (along with some other low-cost carriers). I’ve made the same mistake twice of going through the wrong gates, no big deal you just need to exit and head through the opposite TSA. Interestingly, the TSA clear line is always, and I mean always, longer than the regular queue. 

After TSA, you have a few restaurants, a Starbucks, and some souvenir stores. I believe there is no lounge offered at A concourse, but American has their lounge at the C gates and quite a large one too considering the small airport (perks of having that side all to themselves).
 
We are heading out of gate A17 today, beyond all the Delta and United gates. Usually, I fly out of STL either to Boston or Chicago with AA or UA respectively, but after this AC flight I expect it as my go-to in the future. 

Upon boarding, I’m directed to my seat on the right in 1A. The F cabin is configured in a 1-2 configuration. The seat was comfortable, and points added for no seat neighbors. Ample overhead bin space for my backpack.

Since the flight is only around an hour, I was expecting nothing more than a drink and snack service like on my US carrier First Class short haul experiences. 

To my delight (and copious amounts of shock), the flight attendant took my meal order?? What, there’s a meal on this short flight? US carriers are you seeing this!! Due to STL’s small size, we were quick to taxi and blast out towards Toronto at 15:43, 7 minutes ahead of schedule.

 After takeoff, the crew came by to take my drink order and I went with a diet coke. They also provided some almonds and trail mix. Remember, this would be all on a US domestic carrier, even on flights up to 3 hours. I believe only flights longer than that provides a full meal, at least that’s been my experience with Delta since this was all I got on a 2 hour and 30 minute domestic flight.

Then came the meal. It was a teriyaki chicken rice with a side salad, a piece of cheesecake, and a warm bread roll. This meal was incredibly wholesome for an hour and thirty-minute flight. The meal tasted fine, nothing special with the flavor, but there being a hot meal was more than special. For reference, a similar quality meal was served on United between Chicago and Vancouver in Domestic First, a journey of around four hours.

Following the meal, I ordered a whisky and coke and took some time watching the sun set outside my window. Beautiful.

 Very soon, we began our descent into Toronto, and this short but extremely sweet journey was coming to an end. 

We were parked at one of those remote-ish gates and taken off with a small landing bridge. This came with a short gush of cold Toronto autumn air but what could beat this shot of our bird from the ground.