Originally Posted by planecrashlaw
Staying downtown San Francisco. Need to do a fly in-fly out to LAX. Both airports are an option, with SFO giving an AA option and thus first class, seprate security and lounge access available.
OAK gives me WN, for 1/2 the price of AA, which makes sense, even though I lose all my perks. But WN dominated airports carry a high "Clampett" factor--long lines with inexperienced travelers, such as I have seen at MDW. I do not fly from MDW as a result.
Can someone give me an opinion on OAK? Assuming BART/cab travel times are equal, is it a decent airport? SFO does not bother me at all, but if OAK is considered a better airport overall it may sway my choices.
I don't agree about the "Clampett" factor being more OAK than SFO. In my experience it's more the time of travel. I've been in a sea of yokels at SFO lots of times when flying around weekends and major holidays. The WN weekeday a.m. flights, on the other hand, are all bidness. Everybody seems to know the drill and get through pretty quickly. The nasty thing at OAK is the 6:30 a.m. security line. For some reason it gets insane some days, snaking around baggage claim and out the terminal.
Overall I'm pretty much split between the two. For me it typically comes down to whether I'm flying long distance and whether I'm leaving from the office (SF) or home (Alameda, a stone's throw from OAK).
If you're going to spend any time there, the airside facilities at SFO are FAR better than OAK. Unless you like Round Table pizza for $10 a slice (or whatever it is), in which case you're all set at OAK.
One advantage at OAK is that if the SWA terminal is jammed you can get in through Terminal 1 and walk back around airside to T2. Sometimes WN even leaves from T2.