fumje

For any who didn't get the reference (e.g., me):
https://twitter.com/karlthefog

MostlyUA

In defense of SFO, it's a lot better than EWR, JFK, ORD, IAD, DFW in summer and winter months.

emcampbe

cant speak from expereience for all of these, but IME, NYC-area airports, particularly LGA/EWR can be absolutely awful. Get one puff of wind in the area of EWR and there�s a 2 hour ground hold.

DELee

And why the fog in San Francisco is called "Karl": https://goo.gl/5SeQA7

David

Hipplewm

The past few months have seen the cancellation of HKG-SIN and the addition of LAX-SIN, both are horrible changes IMO

I write this from SIN right now, after taking BR from ORD-TPE-SIN to get here and coming home on CA (Lord help me, but I gotta try it once) SIN-PEK-EWR because I refuse to travel thru TBIT/LAX or SFO to get to Asia on UA.

CA or BR, I can go from ORD or IAH

goodeats21

I looked at United going CVG->SFO->TPAC, but BR has me spoiled now...

Good luck on CA. LOL

Polytonic

1) Weather (fog or even just general turbulence makes for bumpy morning landings)
2) Food is meh unless you're flying out of T2. I'm not a huge fan of the food court options, and it's expensive. Klein's Deli is okay I suppose.
3) I'm not sure what lounge dragons you speak of. I don't have status, but every time I peek inside, the UCs are packed to the gills.
4) Less related given you seem to be connecting rather than staying in SF, but worth bringing up: ground transport sucks. Either you pay through the roof for Uber, or you spend an hour navigating a subway system that smells like a sewer, covers a narrow slice of the city (or you're taking Caltrain south and have to figure out how to go from Caltrain station to where you're actually going).

Whoa, I've flown this route 8x (ish?) in the past three months and have yet to run into an oversell situation. Which flights are you taking? I will say though, I find it incredibly amusing when over half the plane boards in Group 1, at least for UA209/809 anyway.

I flew HKG-SFO this morning. There were a surprisingly large number of UA ground staff (8+) at the gate and they processed everyone fairly quickly given the new "enhanced security measures" (or maybe just with typical Hong Kong efficiency). Considering the ORD/EWR flights depart/arrive just a few hours earlier, I'm guessing UA maintains a fairly large ground staff.

SFOrunner

I've had 25 arrivals and 24 departures at SFO this year. I've had one delay during an arrival, where visibility was low and eventually we had to land at SJC. TSA PreCheck lines are rarely more than 7-9 minutes long and there are decent lounge and food options. My only gripe about SFO is the automobile traffic in the departures area (which happens to be where I catch my Ubers.)

SFO is a pleasant airport, and the fact that you only have to clear security once to transfer between domestic and international terminals is quite nice too.

seat38a

Wasn't connecting. SFO was my destination. When I arrived, I took BART to Embarcadero and on my way back I took Uber. Was fine with the price. BART had noise issue but that was about it. Smelled better than LA Metro Redline.

Hipplewm

I was "Directed" by my wife to find a BR flight to get us home instead of CA (which she knows I have never tried and to expect a .... show)
The ONLY BR flight we could find (We are on business saver awards) was SIN-TPE (11hr layover) and TPE-JFK (12hr layover and swap to EWR) then fly home - so we passed
I am still trying because the BR flight over was very very nice

jsloan

If you're seriously going to fly CA and transit PEK just to avoid SFO and LAX... I don't know what to tell you. Sounds like cutting off your nose to spite your face to me.

From SIN on an award, though, I'd be looking for SIN-FRA-XXX in LH F, especially if you're eventually headed to the east coast.

Hipplewm

It was billed as an adventure
GOT IT at T-minus 26 hours BR opened up space SIN-TPE-JFK

You only have half the story...
This is a vacation trip with the wife, we are on Business SAVER fares (NO DAMN WAY United will open saver fares on SIN-LAX/SFO) So I had to take what I could get at the time which was BR to SIN and OZ back. OZ flight changed so it no longer worked, so got pushed into CA (Which, again i didn't mind as this was a fun trip no business) and I could "Learn" That being said LX did open to come back thru ZRH. Which was novel in that my wife could say she circumnavigated the globe. Based on our experience last week, I would take BR over LX.

NOW, when I have to book business, I can EASILY book BR from ORD and IAH plus JFK in a pinch instead of UA thru SFO/LAX. This is hardly cutting off anything - it is 100% avoiding LAX and SFO and I don't think I have giving up a single thing other than ...... seats on a 789 for much better seats, much better routing and much better service (granted, only flown BR once, but holy ...., it trumped even my best UA flight. Also there is no chance of 8 wide business in ...... seats etc.

entropy

I got screwed out of a great overnight in lie flat J on AC because UA's PDX-SFO was delayed 2+ hours due to ceilings. They've got big weather "iffyness" and a club crowding issue, otherwise I think its pleasant enough.

Two Bee

We are discussing SFO and primarily weather delays, I think? I have had about 12 to 15 itineraries booked from LAS to mid-west and east coast cities that had schedule changes thru SFO in the past 8 months. On every one of them I called res and without a blink of an eye they changed them to connections via ORD-DEN-IAH_EWR or IAD when I objected to transferring through this airport. I mentioned a chance of fog or rain was my major concern, and they ALL agreed, with only one or two agents needing to get supers approval. Miss the last flight of the evening thru SFO and you're screwed. I actually asked an agent at the U/C in SFO what was the determining factor for them to hold a flight for a runner, and his answer was 8 or more and we hold it, less than that, it goes on time. I've been around long enough to know that some answers are made up, but this guy seemed sincere. Also, to answer your question, I don 't know which airline staff me us as we exited the aircraft, and I don't really care, but they were great. Could have been Abba Zabba Airline people, as far as I know. Btw, if it's a need to get assistance for a late arrival it's straight to the U/C while I am on the horn with the 1K desk, not slowing at the podium with the other hoards of panicked pax's. Some on here seem to have a strong attachment to SFO, and that's wonderful, but for me, I've been burned too many times going thru there to have to nearly puke running from one gate to the farthest gate, knowing that if I ain't on board at the cut off I'm waving goodbye to the captain.
In reference to whether the comparison of domestic vs international had any bearing on my delayed flights last week --- my LAS to SFO had nearly a 3 hour ground stop due to rain in SFO. We actually made it after an hour and a half wait and then a taxi to the runway, and had to return to the gate to deplane. The SFO-HKG flight was delayed because an Air Canada plane was at our departure gate and couldn't push back for some reason. Two hours later, our plane came from a hangar. The reason listed for being delayed - "WEATHER"!

Some people are luckier than others and just cruise thru every airport with minimum connection times, and some times I luck out also, but I am getting too old to chance it at SFO, buying a ticket several months in advance, and one or two days before departure I see rain, low clouds, and/or fog in the forecast. They shut down one of the two runways and increase separation, and my odds are only good if I am on the very first flight to arrive that day, otherwise it's usually curtains.

Nope! I don't need to go thru there ever again, and I won't. I spoke with a few captains last week and they ALL agreed that SFO has more chances for mis-connects that the other airports in the system, particularly when experiencing inclement weather. The airport itself is great, in my book, and I have no dislikes about it.

This topic seems to be quite emotional for some, and I have managed to avoid any and all drama for my future flying days by never getting on a plane to SFO ever again, except this weekend when I must return from Asia on a pre-purchased ticket.

itsMoe

That, and the Amex lounge gets extremely crowded during rush hours. But it's a nice airport, clean, modern and not too confusing. My main beef with it is the lack of airside transfer to non-*A airlines, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of many other UA hubs.