SFO vs. OAK, which one?
 

Hello folks, I found this topic addressed two years ago, but wondered if the prevailing opinion has changed.

Looking to fly to San Francisco in November. Will arrive and stay in downtown SF for a few days and then head to Napa for a few day of wine induced memory loss.

All things being equal, including price, which airport is better suited for arrival/departure. My gut feeling so far is that if we are coming from Napa, OAK will be closer for leaving, but is access to the city better arriving into SFO. Is it worth splitting the ticket?(Arrive SFO, Depart OAK).

Also we will either be taking a cab into the city, but renting a car for the trip to Napa, so we’ll have to go back to whichever airport for the car rental. This would seem to favor OAK as well, but again, opinions are welcome. P.S., what’s a cab going to cost from OAK and SFO to go to downtown(around the Moscone Center)?

Thanks for the advice and help.

Before this year, OAK was the obvious choice. The airport was so much easier and the drive to the city faster. But lately the security lines at OAK are horrible, SFO has finished their huge construction projects and the train to the city goes right to the terminal. Taxis are VERY expensive and the train is cheap and easy.

The only major knock against SFO is the old runway configuration that causes significant delays when there are low clouds and fog, which happens quite often in that area. So if you absolutely have to be to a meeting in S.F. on-time, I would fly into OAK. But I might fly out of SFO since the lines are quicker and the train is easy. You can take public transportation to OAK, but it involves a bus transer.

Mid day flights are great out of OAK. It's the morning rush from hell to avoid.

Also avoid the afternoon rush hour period going to OAK on your departure. What a nightmare! I've been stuck on the interstate for hours trying to get through Berkeley, Emeryville & Oakland to OAK (coming from the Napa area).

Also look into renting a car in downtown SF and returning it to an airport. Might be comparable in price and save you a lengthy cab ride to SFO to pick up your rental car.

Late nights, especially on weekend nights, are miserable at OAK also, because of the red-eyes.

Just trying to get to the Hilton can sometimes be a nightmare, and that's maybe a mile before you get to the terminals.

Another alternative - SMF. Although you'd have to drive 90 miles into The City to begin your activities, the ability to avoid the congestion etc. after you wine country visit might well be worth it (better chances of avoiding fog disruptions in Novermber as well, IIRC)

Edited to add: Since you'd already have your car, you'd avoid that taxi fare to downtown SF.....

[This message has been edited by Non-NonRev (edited 10-09-2003).]

Used to be I too would have said OAK without a doubt. But our little gem of an airport is no longer a great place to fly in/out of. I don't know what airline you're flying, but there are some tricks for avoiding the security lines. Southwest seems to have it the worst, so many people go through the UA terminal and walk to the end to where you can cut over to the SW terminal, avoiding their crazy security lines.

As noted by others, there are many variables, making SFO best at times and OAK best at other times. When SFO is socked in with fog, flights can get in/out of OAK with no troubles. Also OAK is actually closer to downtown San Francisco than SFO is, but if there is an accident on the bridge, that's not much help, and at commute times you can hit some pretty horrendous traffic from SFO to downtown. If you have a good driver, he'll know how to avoid a lot of that though.

I probably only confused you more. In the end, you may just want to go with cost (and cost on rental cars if you're going that route) as it's pretty difficult to predict which one will be most convenient for you.

Edited to add: Don't go all the way back to SFO to rent a car. Driving in San Francisco can be difficult if you're not used to the hills and city traffic, but you could perhaps rent one real close to a freeway on ramp so you can avoid much city driving.

[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 10-09-2003).]

Actually I should try out a question myself to see if anyone has better advice. I have to be in San Jose tomorrow and the City Saturday night, then fly home Sunday. I have a free Southwest coupon so that's who I'm flying.

So I'm flying into SJC which is easy, then renting a car. Saturday morning I'm going to drop the car off at SFO, then take BART into the City. This will avoid another day of a car rental, plus the exhorbitant parking fees at the downtown hotel where I'm staying. Then Sunday, I'll either take a shuttle to OAK, or BART. How is BART to OAK these days?

Letiole, thanks for the security line tip for OAK. I'll probably use that since my flight is 6pm on Southwest.

There is a shuttle from the Airport station.

http://www.bart.gov/guide/airport/airport.asp

Sacramento has its own bad fog problems in the mornings and nights starting in November and lasting through about February or March. And it is quite aways from the bay area, especially driving in some bad fog.

Well the AirBart bus sucks when its busy. Also (this may have changed very recently) you have to buy your $2 ticket in advance for the bus - you can't just give the driver $2. And then you wander looking "where do I buy the $2 bus ticket?" Well, you just buy a BART ticket with a $2 value, collected on the bus. I missed a bus because of this. Allow 1/2 hour from station arrival to airport arrival, although it could be much quicker.

stimpy: Here's a link to a map of the terminals at OAK that shows where the walkway is that connects the two terminals in case you find yours jammed up at security.

http://www2.oaklandairport.com/image...rminal_map.gif

Some more info on:
http://www.flyertalk.com/airports/ft...ML/000166.html

I believe that BART now runs to SFO. Very convenient. I make thie OAK-SFO decision based on airline and price. If UA I always price both airports.

Scho

I arrived at SJC around noon today and the line just to get on the rental car bus was about 30 minutes! I was shocked since I thought everyone was leaving town on Friday.
Who the heck visits San Jose on a weekend?

The AirBart Bus sucks - it takes too long and the transfer is a pain in the .... Now that BART goes into SFO, I'm using it. So much better and convenient as I always stay downtown by the Montgomery St. station.

Now, if I am going to do the city then Napa, I will fly into OAK, deal with AirBart, go into the city, do my stuff, rent a car from Avis, drive to Napa, then return to the airport for no penalty.

Ditto that. Less than US$5 each way is a bargain to connect SFO to downtown.

Gerryallen, if I were coming from out of town, I'd use the downtown car rental spots instead of the airport. BART into town, go carless for a few days doing business, then rent a car for some out-of-the-city fun. You'll save with fewer rental days and fewer parking days.

fiat_owner

Thanks for the map Letiole, but I've been to OAK a hundred times in the past. I just rarely fly Southwest and haven't been to OAK but once since 9/11.

I just realized that I still have to go to the Southwest counter to check in and get a boarding pass. Or will they let me in the other security line with a email printout?

So I'd have to walk a mile or so to go through the other security line. I'm not sure it will be worth it. We'll see how the lines look.

Stimpy: You can print out a WN security document one day in advance of your flights that gets you through security if you don't have bags to check. Because WN uses gates in both terminals it's not a problem to use that at either terminal.

I printed out the map because a lot of longtime OAK fliers don't realize the connector is there. The walks's really not that long and you really shouldn't have to go between the two terminals twice ... and there is that chance your flight will go out of what I call the UA terminal anyway. Of course, it's one of those things you'll have to decide when you get there and see what the situation is.

Here's the security doc info:

http://www.iflyswa.com/travel_center/security_doc.html

As far as checking in, there are rapid check-in kiosks at both terminals so that should eliminate one trip between terminals. In Terminal 1, kiosks are by the information desk and by gate 10. In Terminal 2, Kiosks are across from the ticket counter, by baggage claim and by gate 24.




[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 10-12-2003).]

OAK is still better. I would skip the AirBart bus and take a short taki-ride to the BART station.

Let me add my voice to flying into SFO. If you are taking public transportation of any sort into SF you are better off arriving at SFO.

The change in bus and extra cost of taxis is not worth flying into OAK. It eats up most cost differences in airfare.

Stimpy:

From the SW/AA terminal, I've been giving serious consideration to walking to the car rental center even at good times. While things aren't set up efficiently for walking (like sidewalks and crossings), it probably is faster than the hike to the now distant shuttle bus location and the horrendous airport tour that follows once you get on the bus. Depends on how much baggage you've got, though.

Both SJC and OAK are now way more hassle than SFO -- and long term parking is actually cheaper at SFO than at either SJC or OAK!

Huh? I paid $7 for a day of off-airport parking at SJC yesterday. That would be a challenge to do anywhere around SFO.

I tend do avoid OAK now strictly for schedules...AA only flies to DFW from there now, so I'm flying more out of SJC and SFO depending on fare.

Well I did BART to OAK this afternoon and it was just fine. The AirBart bus was waiting when I got off the train and it was a short easy ride to the airport. I don't know what people were complaining about, but perhaps it's less fun during the week?

I was using a free coupon for Southwest so I had to check in with a human. The lines looked very long, but the whole process of getting a boarding pass and going through security at T2 was about 35-40 minutes.

Walking out of my room at the Parc 55 to my place in LA took 3.5 hours. Not too bad considering...

Sorry, I was comparing the official airport long term parking lot prices.

I've parked at one of the $7 (AAA rate) SJC places, the one that's part of the old FMC plant. Off site places with a coupon at SFO are admittedly a bit pricier than that, but not much more.

Depending on how long you want to park, and how much hassle you are willing to undertake in return for the joy of beating the system, there are some really cheap SJC options that involve Caltrain and/or the trolley.

I stopped parking there about a year back (Park, Shuttle and Fly), when I returned to find that several cars had been burglarized. There's just too many hidden spots there that must make it a car thieves paradise. I park at DeLaCruz in Santa Clara now ($7 with 3A card) where I feel a little safer. Haven't heard of any problems there and their shuttles run frequently. Last night at 11pm they were pulling up as I walked out to the pickup zone (JFK-SJC on AA). Seem to recall that Letiole recommended this place to me.

The last couple of times I parked off airport at SFO, I used ParkSFO and their free 2 day coupons. Each stay was exactly 2 days, so it ended up being free. Can't do much better than that. I did a 3 day stay for SEA-DO, and paid $15 total with the coupons. I have another one good until year end. I don't see how they can make a profit and keep sending these out.

I prefer SFO too these days.

OAK has become a zoo and really lacks the expediency that SFO offers.

My 5 cents worth. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

------------------
Patrick A. Inouye, LMT
volunteer trip reports moderator