Carfield

I am so happy to see the connector between International Terminal A and the rest of the airport is going to open on June 11.
I can now go to Alaska AIrlines lounge when flying BA, and even can walk all the way to AMEX Centurion lounge, if time permits.

Carfield

vanillabean

Not A and B vs the rest?

So odd by the way that I never see the term concourse used with SFO.

char777

A-B is already open, as is C-D-E-F-G. The missing link that's opening on June 11 is B-C.

SFO has pretty much always called them "Boarding Areas" rather than concourses. I'm not sure why, but there was probably a reason for it long ago. I'm honestly not sure how much the average traveler who wasn't parking at the airport ever paid attention to the boarding area letters until when all the gates were renumbered a few years ago.

Kacee

It's a mix of nomenclature; you have the two international "terminals" A and G, then terminal 1, 2, and 3, with 5 distinct "boarding areas" (B-F) split among them. The domestic "boarding area" nomenclature has become more prevalent in recent years, with the significant expansion of E and B.

econ

Even "boarding areas" seems less used, at least on the signage. I recall once airside (and possibly even some landside), the signage more typically refers to the A,B,...,G "Gates", with the letter in a square symbol.

Kacee

Yeah there's not much consistency. Fortunately the actual layout is pretty logical once you get the hang of it.

Eastbay1K

Still easier than North, Central and South Terminals! At least now, the gates generally don't need an A, B, etc. after the number (because each pier was limited to 10 purely numerical number gates).

olouie

Looks like CSR is losing PP restaurant access (https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/co...t=share_button) which sucks, but makes the move a little bit less painful.

dliesse

Actually "piers" back in the 60s and 70s (B through G, with part of F being called FF because of the Y shape and the need for two decades of gate numbers). I think they dropped the terminology, at least at the UA/AA end, when they introduced the frontal gates in the then-new terminal.

Eastbay1K

Are you sure there was a G pier before the new int'l terminal? And were not the destroyed gates (IIRC where US used until the end) A? You may be sure and correct as I never entered SFO until the 80s.

lolstebbo

Yes.

Eastbay1K

Wow. Had no idea that the letter sequencing once went the other direction. On the other hand, I'm not quite yet on Social Security!

dliesse

Positive. Piers B and C, gates 10-18** and 20-28 respectively, were UA. Pier D, gates 30-39, was AW/RW, PS, DL (later moved to Pier FF), NW, and NA. Pier E, gates 40-49, was WC/RW, AA, OH*, and OC (might have been more at the highest numbers that I'm forgetting). Pier F, which include the left arm and both sides of the stem of the Y, gates 50-59, was TW, OH*, and WA while Pier FF, the right arm of the Y, gates in the 60s, was WA (and DL after they moved). Pier G, gates 70-79, was the international concourse. I flew exclusively UA (my dad worked for them) so not positive all the gate numbers went as high as x9; it's also possible the right-hand side of the stem of the Y actually had gate numbers in the 60s, although it was still considered Pier F.

The various commuter airlines were all over the place at different times.

*OH = San Francisco Helicopter Airline, in the way-before-Comair days. And yes, "Airline" was singular.

**If I remember correctly, and I may not in this case, gates 4 and 5 were also used. They were ground level gate areas for the 747s, with escalators to the upper level for boarding. There just wasn't enough seating up there for 300+ passengers going to Hawaii!