IceTrojan

On my weekly trips into SFO and out of the last 7-8 trips, I've been delayed all but one of those times due to WX.... AA, UA, ex-LAX, ex-SNA, you name it

Micromegas

Keep in mind that SFO is very close to South San Francisco (5-10 min). Getting to South City from OAK could be nearly an hour in traffic or on BART.

nako

DBL06 was an AA promo that gave double miles for tickets during much of 2006, so long as they were booked during a certain period in May of 2006. (Needless to say, the promo is long expired.)

BE is short for BusinessExtrAA, an AA program that rewards businesses for buying AA tickets by giving them free tickets and other products. The website for that program is www.businessextraa.com.

Mike

auh2o

I did the LAX-SFO commute for almost 2 years (Monday AM - Thursday night). I still go up every couple of weeks (thankfully not for the whole week any longer).

Pick a good hotel and negotiate directly with the GM. You will be very, very surprised at what you can get.

number_6

Lots of people love WN; I fly it infrequently, and they have screwed up on over 50% of my flights on WN (>2 hour delay, worst case 8 hour delay, with zero compensation, continual "flight leaves in 30 minutes" which becomes a rather brazen lie after a few hours, etc.). WN owns some routes, but it doesn't have the kind of reliability that I have found with AA, etc. WN is pretty astute at what airports it serves -- refuses to fly into SFO, for example, due to the problems that SFO has. However OAK is a lot less convenient for South SF commute (adds about an hour to the ground time).

One thing you quickly learn with a weekly LAX-SFO commute is that for half the year it has chronic delays. I did this for several years and wound up having to book the first flight of the day (6 am) as the only one which was reliable.

IceTrojan

Psst....

Rejuvenated

Operation conditions and cost have brought them back.

Palal

If I had a choice between an hour delay and an hour reading on BART, I think you can guess what I'd choose.

rjque

The OP's options from SFO will be:

- United (SFO-LAX, SNA or ONT). United has the best frequency and coach product for elites to LAX. SFO-SNA is very expensive and occasionally a regional jet. I'm not sure what UA offers on SFO-ONT. UA also has a fantastic frequent flyer program, particularly if you are interested in earning international premium cabin awards on non-US airlines (such as Singapore or Lufthansa). The big downsides to UA are very bad customer service (expect no more than a middle finger if something goes wrong - even if it's United's fault) and higher costs in terms of $100 change fees and higher fares.

- American (SFO-LAX or SNA). You're presumably familiar with the pros and cons of American so I won't rewrite them here. Just know that SFO-LAX has OK frequency and SFO-SNA is somewhat infrequent (and involves a regional jet). Like United American is expensive for last minute purchases/changes and charges a $100 change fee.

- Frontier (SFO-LAX). Many people like Frontier's in flight product and the prices seem to be lower, at least for last-minute travel. One big downside is a frequent flyer program with few international partners.

- Alaska (SFO-LAX). Alaska is a fantastic airline customer service wise, and you'll likely spend most of your time in free upgrades to first class if you fly SFO-LAX every week. Alaska's change fee is $50 and that is waived for people who fly more than 50 segments a year (or 50,000 miles). Alaska also has a fantastic frequent flyer program. The big downside is limited flights (only one in the morning and one in the evening).

- Delta (SFO-LAX). Delta just entered this market and I'm not sure what the frequency will be. I know little about Delta's FF program, but I'm sure you can get lots of information over at the Delta forum.

- Southwest (starting service in the fall of this year). Southwest just announced a return to SFO, and it will likely fly SFO-LAX as well as SFO-SNA. Many business travelers in the Bay Area love this airline for trips to SoCal and Vegas simply because it has incredible frequency and complete flexibility on relatively inexpensive full-fare tickets. The frequent flyer program only allows for domestic awards, however, and it still remains to be seen if Southwest will be able to provide the level of service at SFO that it does at OAK and SJC.

IceTrojan

Of course, since AS codeshares with AA, you forgot to mention all those "AS" flights during the rest of the day.

Seriously, do you even make that commute, or did you just want to give a basic summary of facts?

duplojohn

I the reccomend ONT - OAK. I did this for ten years, it's decidely painless.
1) Parking at ONT is cheap and easy.
2) Southwest has competitive fares if you buy in advance.
3) After XX number of RT's on Southwest your wife can come along for free.

But most of all, They are ON TIME!

rjque

Wow - I was just trying to help answer the OP's "noob" question. No need to get snippy.

No, I don't make that commute but I do find myself flying to SoCal on a semi-regular basis and I thought that the OP could use some basic info on his options from SFO. As for your comment regarding the AA flights, yes, AS puts its code on the AA flights. However, IME, that is of little use for most AS MP members because (1) It is very difficult and expensive to switch to an AA flight if you are booked on an AS flight (AS metal tickets are cheaper, often have AS metal only restrictions, and fly from different secured areas at both LAX and SFO); (2) you get few elite benefits (such as upgrades and elite seating) when flying AA as an AS elite so you might as well just stick with AA's program.

nickvora

No advince on the commute - but in my opinion DBL06 is/was a promo code that allowed you to get double miles for specific routes etc. BE (mind you this is without context but...) might be BusinessExtrAA - AA's program for small businesses (wink, wink) that gets the "biz" extra miles for every ticket booked using the BE number. basically the posts are all about mileage maximization!!!