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SFO or OAK?
My husband & I are going to Sonoma, CA in June. Which airport would you fly into, San Fransisco or Oakland? We flew into SFO 2 years ago and it was a nightmare to get a rental car so I'm wondering if Oakland would be easier. Any opinions?
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I'm a big fan of oakland. Its much smaller, less chance of fog delays and pretty close to napa and sonoma.
Bad side- no real coffee in the airport, but good burittos http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. |
OAK!!!!!
MUCH easier to deal with, and no stupid shuttle busses to the rental cars. Just walk right out and there they are. Also the traffic in and around OAK is much easier to deal with than driving through SF to go north. [This message has been edited by Kitty Hawk (edited 01-10-2001).] |
OAK is by far the better choice. Small and easy to get to rental cars. Less chance of delays. Less congestion. You can avoid all the traffic of SFO getting to the lovely vineyards of Sonoma and Napa. My personal preference and favorite winery is in Alexander Valley, though. (Ferrari Carano) Check them out if you have a chance. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
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Ditto. If you're flying in with a major airline and airfare is your primary concern, however, SFO might be your best choice, since it has more wide-bodied jets, more frequencies and usually have lower fares.
But otherwise, I would vote for OAK, hands down. Yeah so it doesn't have all the nice amenities like SFO has, but if you want a simple airport to land into and take off from, and all you do is walk straight to the gate, OAK is very efficient. At least you don't have to go very far for rental cars either. Hope this helps! Jamester |
One more vote for OAK.
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Thanks for the replies so far. I knew I'd find some help on this board.
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Another vote for OAK http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
But...if you would like to avoid the bay area airports completely, consider flying in to Sacramento (SMF). It's approximately 70 miles to Sonoma from here (vs. 50 or so from Oakland) by the most direct route. Even with the extra mileage you might save driving time because traffic in the bay area can get ugly. |
I wasn't going to post another "I'm for OAK" (even though I am) but the idea of flying into SMF is a good one. I'd at least check into it . . . http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
-levi aka eastwest |
One more suggestion (although it requires changing planes at SFO) is to see if you can fly to STS for just about the same price as SFO/OAK - however you may not want to fly on United Express and the connection and delay times - you could probably just fly into OAK and drive faster (and wave to me as you pass me by on the freeway).
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Watch your travel dates and times if you fly into Sacramento. It can be one big parking lot driving towards Sacramento on Friday afternoons (or even just evening commute Mon-Fri, where it comes to a crawl at the 680/80 split in Cordelia). Just something to keep in mind.
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dlflyer,
I just noticed, from your name, that you must be an avid DL frequent flyer; in which DFW-OAK is one of the only existing route DL has left from OAK. And just happens that this weekend, DFW-OAK rt with DL is only about $118. There's another reason to land in OAK. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Jamester |
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[This message has been edited by jeffreyt (edited 01-10-2001).] |
OAK by a landslide.
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I have flown into Oakland on AA and SFO on AA and Oakland was much easier, and less painful. Suggest you try Oakland, and be amazed at the wonder of an on time flight (I havent had one since March)
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OK, I think dlflyer already got the hint, but... case in point on how the three San Francisco Bay Area airports are coping with the ugly rainy windy weather today:
Wednesday January 10 09:02 PM EST Weather Causes Delays at Bay Area Airports By KPIX - BCN A winter storm bringing rain, wind and fog to the region delayed flights at Bay area airports today. The San Jose International Airport reported hour-long delays for flights going to Los Angeles. A spokesman for the airport said two commercial planes were diverted into San Jose from the San Francisco International Airport earlier today. Forty flight cancellations were reported at the San Francisco airport. Most of the cancellations were shuttle HA! flights, a spokesman said. Delays reached an hour-and-a-half in San Francisco. But the spokesman said all international flights were on time as of 5:30 p.m., although most domestic flights were still experiencing a 30-minute delay. No delays were reported at the Oakland International Airport. From: news.yahoo.com |
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I'd have to agree with the crowd on this one. Same number of flights on DL DFW-SFO as DFW-OAK. Rental car situation is still a mess at SFO (and probably will be until the end of the year). June is the height of fog season at SFO with lots of delays. Sonoma is closer to OAK than SFO, too. Flying in to SFO then driving to Sonoma means a trip over the Bay Bridge, never much fun.
One caveat: try not to fly in at rush hour as you will get caught in the huge mess known as the Nimitz Freeway. |
OAK!!!!
SFO's delays can be infuriating... my last experience with SFO in May was a nightmare. I don't know what I was thinking, but I sure liked being stuck on the ground at SLC for SEVEN HOURS because DL wouldn't/couldn't fly into SJC or OAK. Santa Rosa is another good option... you can fly U Express from LAX to the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa and have a nice quick, pretty drive to Slonoma... just don't run over the chickens in the town square in Sonoma... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif |
If I fly into OAK and don't want a rental car, what kind of options do I have to get to and from downtown SF? I'd fly into Oakland, get to the city for a few days, back to the airport for a rental car and then drive to Sonoma.
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I'm getting ready to do similar. Try this link... http://www.flyoakland.com/groundtr.html
The Bayporter Shuttle is $23 one way for one person; $10 for a second. You can rent a car in OAK and drop in SF for less... that was my choice. Considering the hassels in SFO, and that shuttles run $16 to the city from there, I'll pay a few extra $$ and fly into OAK. ------------------ Bob There's no place like home... there's no place like home... there's no place like home. www.wmonline.com www.sunriseair.net |
Originally posted by hans: If I fly into OAK and don't want a rental car, what kind of options do I have to get to and from downtown SF? I'd fly into Oakland, get to the city for a few days, back to the airport for a rental car and then drive to Sonoma. [This message has been edited by toadman (edited 01-11-2001).] |
And here's the website:
http://www.bart.org/ |
I have done both OAK and SFO in the last year. OAK is nice, but you if you check bags on AA, then head to SFO. The ground crew for AA at OAK were contract-employees who may fall short of passenger's desires.
SFO's rental car situation is pretty lame. Unless you like riding on busses, I would hit OAK. |
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