NoLaGent

"San Francisco International Airport will close its busiest runway section for 20 days starting Sept. 7 for construction, reducing the number of flights by 13%. Delays of 30 to 45 minutes on average are expected for all flights after 9 a.m., with some flights delayed up to two hours. The 28L runway serves 68% of flights and must be repaired at a cost of $17.2 million, the airport said."

United=change fee/fare difference waiver has been issued.
American=change fee/full refund waiver has been issued.

Alaska Airlines, the second-largest SFO operator, didn’t respond to requests for comment. In an advisory on its website, the airline recommended signing up for flight notifications and checking flight status before leaving for the airport.
<slow clap for AS>

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business...f-14379076.php

sltlyamusd

This past weekend, I purchased an SFO round-trip smack in the middle of the runway closure dates. Of course, I didn't realize this runway closure was happening until I read the newspaper article Tuesday morning. So, it's now past the 24-hour cancellation window. From the article, it doesn't sound like AS is offering any change fee waivers, unlike AA or UA. If I had known about the closure before booking, I would have picked flights to SJC, as it is roughly equidistant to where I'm going. At no point in the booking process was I notified of this closure.

RetiredSFOATC

This was on the AS "Travel Alert" page (it's just a snip, so the links aren't live, but you can see the full page here:https://www.alaskaair.com/content/ad...-advisories/):


It will probably be ugly anytime after mid-morning, especially when they are working on the portion that intersects Runways 01/19 (which is most of the project) - and this says that many carriers, including AS, will reduce their schedules accordingly. Still, with two runways shut down simultaneously, it will have pretty big ramifications. Personally, I'm avoiding going in or through there....

sltlyamusd

Legend717

I love how that blurb says that you'll need to take the AirTrain between terminals if you're changing terminals...
...Yet conveniently they haven't mentioned that the AIRTRAIN IS GETTING SHUT DOWN, TOO!
Only during certain hours, though, so hey, NBD.

RetiredSFOATC

Yes, it seems that the portion of 28L to be worked on is right at the intersection of the 01s. So while I expect it won't be both 1s closed at the same time, it will still be a pretty big impact. Long-haul aircraft in particular which would usually use 1R (if they can) would use one of the 28s as a second choice, but with 28R used for stacked-up arrivals, those long-haul departures will likely be sitting for a while before getting their turn at 28R.

Here is a pic of the project scope from the SFO webpage on the subject:

RetiredSFOATC

One of my most frustrating recent experiences arriving at SFO: Late arrival due to weather/flow, getting relegated to the remote parking area because the T2 gates were full and bussing to the terminal (blech), and THEN finding out that the AirTrain was shut down and we had to take ANOTHER, much worse, much more crowded bus to the rental car facility (double-BLECH). I was more than a little cranky.

ucdtim17

My only scheduled flight is an AF departure on a 772. I see that in recent days they have sent at least one 77W off one of the 1's so presumably they'll be able to do that as well with a 772 is there's a big backup on 28R. Hoping at least.

Kacee

Where was it going? EWR or crossing an ocean?

Based on published numbers, 1R (which is 1000 feet longer than 1L) is too short for a a fully loaded 77W or 772.

ucdtim17

AF only goes one place from SFO - CDG. Looks like last night the 77W went off 1R as well https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...335Z/KSFO/LFPG

RetiredSFOATC

There was a time when any transoceanic flight (including those to Hawaii) departed off the 28s rather than the 1s. Now, with advanced engine/power performance technology, it's more frequent to see those big aircraft depart 01R. But more than anything it will come down to "the numbers" which are determined by factors such as wind direction and velocity, load, temperature and field elevation (not so much a factor at SFO), etc. Throw into the mix that 1) it's a shorter taxi for AF from their gate to 01R, and 2) it's usually a much shorter time to get established on their flight route after takeoff if they depart 01R, most of them would rather get airborne more quickly and choose 01R, if their numbers allow for it. Oh, and then there is noise abatement. The people who live west of the airport tend to be more sensitive to the noise produced by 28 departures than the seagulls in the bay off of the 01s. (There's also an argument for avoiding the 01s for noise reasons, but I will leave that for another time...)

chipmaster

Funny how we take travel for granted and of course grumble when weather ( snow, thunderstorm etc. ) cause hours to a few day delays, but it astounds me that when a major transport hub plans an upgrade that takes huge capacity off line the planning response is to go to "delays" versus plan a year ahead of time and force adjust deperatures/arrivals to be consistent with the capacity.

ucdtim17

This'll be a real problem in the not-that-uncommon situation where NW winds are strong enough to direct all traffic to the 28's. There's going to be a line 20 deep for departure on 28R as they await breaks in arrivals and 4-5 hour delays will result.

beckoa

Well, AS always has SJC/OAK for diversions I guess

I'm sure there will be some busy bus drivers soon...

Hopefully this goes smoothly; have some SFO connections in October.

DrAlex

Here's hoping there aren't any early Pacific storms this year...