aCavalierInCoach

A random tidbid, but about the same time as the axe-ing of JFK p.s. flights I noticed united.com no longer shows a 'SF - All Bay Area Airports" options when you start to punch in SFO. With the continued diminution of service out of SJC, I wonder whether UA is on the cusp of giving up altogether?

For me, it seems like another self-fulfilling prophecy. They cut SJC service to the point where it's not a reasonable choice, even for the mid-Pen down crowd, but I'm not privy to their pre/post yield figures -- the upgrade lists always seemed long, at least . I think overall UA+CO service was a multiple of its present size, though. Also for what it's worth, in my limited interaction with the station manager down there, that guy was a standout in the system.

... still, seems like its days are numbered.

zitsky

When I lived closer to SJC I would still go to SFO instead. Bigger airport, better service.

mahasamatman

Start typing in SAN and it will show up.

That's been true for three or four years now.

aCavalierInCoach

I suppose, though when travel called for an LAX or IAH connection it was a pretty nice place to depart out of (very short security lines in the days before pre-check); harder now with no LAX options though the DEN volume has, I think, actually increased. Just mho.

3Cforme

One can imagine they don't want SFO flyers to do the 'all Bay Area airports' thing and see lower fares from SJC. That's part of protecting pricing against SFO originating travelers.

iflyuaaa

one of the reasons i left UA for AA was because of the reduction in SJC service. Nothing to LAX is definitely problematic. of course, i may be back at UA because most of my paid business class flights require a nonstop bay area to asia, so UA is the only option i don't mind connecting, but I can't even do SJC-IAH-PEK. have to do SJC-IAH/DEN-ORD-PEK which looks funny on an expense form.

UA1K_no_more

True, but "SF - All Bay Area Airports" gives an error message on the classic site ("Either the information you entered is not valid or the airport is not served by United or our partners. Please revise your entry."), and a different error message on the beta site ("We are unable to process your request. Please see the message below for details. We’re sorry, but united.com was unable to complete your request. Please try later or contact united.com Support in the U.S. and Canada at 1-888-491-6573; the U.K., phone 0800 028 5003; elsewhere use the local phone number.")
I can't think of very many examples where prices from SJC are lower than SFO. From what I've seen over the past 5 years of traveling, prices are usually at least $30 more expensive from SJC. For example, searching for the lowest possible fare for a week-long roundtrip to DEN in August results in $241 for travel from SFO, and $279 from SJC. In some other cases, prices from SJC and SFO are the same, but I have yet to see any significant pricing differences to SJC's advantage.
Prices from OAK, on the other hand, were often significantly lower than SFO.

Jet'Dillo

I honestly can't say I would miss this, esp. given that we're in the City and only 20 mins away from SFO. I think the last time we flew out of SJC was in 2011 and that was for a unicorn of a $600 fare difference between SFO->DTW and SJC-DTW. It takes that kind of a deal to make it worth it to haul on down there.

I have colleagues/co-workers who live & work in the South Bay and they fly out of SFO too. Most of them are 1K or UGS, have access to the "Select Corporate check-in" counters and have limo/bus access to the airport if they leave from campus.

What does SJC have ? A couple flights a day from ANA and (now) Hainan ?

Not gonna miss it.

channa

SJC-NRT-PEK?

I think UA even puts its code on the NH flight.

SJC-DL/AA-LAX-CA-PEK.

I think UA puts their code on the LAX-PEK as well.


SFO has been cheaper than OAK for the past several years.

WN has pricing power for the East Bay, and people will pay a premium not to cross the bridge and deal with getting to SFO.


I don't think DEN has increased.

LAX has actually increased in terms of frequency if you factor all the frequencies DL has. Basically all the pull outs or pull dows by UA from the Bay Area and SMF to LAX were replaced by DL.

While UA will hold onto SFO, it's mind-boggling to watch UA downsize some SFO-LAX to RJs, while DL is upgauging some SFO-LAX to manline. SJC-LAX and OAK-LAX are UA pullout markets and also have some mainline in the future schedule on DL.

altbg

Living south of San Jose, I wish UA still had a larger presence at SJC. I'd be more than happy to pay a bit more from SJC if that means less travel time (101 between SJ and SF can be a nightmare at the wrong time of the day) and cheaper parking/transportation.

adambadam

I really hope not, its a great options to have if I want to fly UA and an easy experience. I think there might be enough corporate dollars that UA wants to keep down in the Silicon Valley/SJ area and needs a few options, at least for getting down to LA. They really killed themselves though with taking out the ORD flight. Connections through IAH really makes no sense if you are going across the country to any northern state. DEN flights are also frequently full but again options for connection further northeast are limited so you are looking at sustaining it on a fair amount of O&D.

adambadam

Well SJC parking is ridiculous as far as I am concerned. Nearly as expensive as SFO. Plus no UberX isn't the most friendly policy.

The better weather, the quick access from curb to gate, those are things I can get behind.

endrond

As far as I'm concerned, SJC already has been chopped by UA. SJC's about 10 minutes closer than SFO for me, and several times a year I fly to DEN. But it's been a few years since I flew UA out of SJC.

UA1K_no_more

I was referring to UA pricing from OAK vs. SFO.
When UA flew from OAK, my trips to western U.S. were often a lot cheaper than flying from SFO. In some cases, the difference was close to $100 for a roundtrip. Sure, it required me to connect through DEN instead of non-stop, but OAK-DEN-YYY was usually a lot cheaper than SFO-DEN-YYY, and the one-a-day nonstop SFO-YYY would be even more expensive and often didn't fit my schedule.
Now that WN has expanded at OAK and the east bay pricing structure has changed, UA returning to OAK wouldn't bring back the low prices that I saw before UA left in 2012.

I pay ~$9 a day to park at the Doubletree. Very quick and easy.

I have had bad luck with SJC-DEN delays, and SFO-DEN offers more flights and better reliability.

mahasamatman

We lived in the East Bay and used to fly out of OAK, but once BART started going to SFO, we switched because it was so much more convenient. Now that there's an actual connector to OAK, it's better, but it came too late for us (it started operation a couple of months after we moved). And since the San Jose taxi mafia has blocked all attempts at getting BART to SJC, I believe that pretty much killed it as an option for anyone living north of the airport.