I'm looking for a cheap flight to San Francisco later this year and wonder if there is an alternate choice of airports that might be cheaper.
When we flew to Miami last year, the flights to Fort Lauderdale were so much cheaper, it was worth our while to fly into there.

Is there a similar situation near San Francisco? We won't have a car, and will be staying in the downtown area.

We are flying out of Buffalo.

Oakland is probably the closest and you might get a better price (but not definitely). Sacramento is about 1-1/2 to 2 hours away but most likely isn't cheaper.

Like toedtoes say, OAK and SMF. But check San Jose (SJC).

Without a car, OAK is the closest and most convenient alternative, as it's just a few stops on the BART. No trains from SMF, and it's a long train ride from SJC.

Thanks very much. I will check out OAK.
I'm assuming that the BART is a light rail. SO that would be good.
I don't want to land too far away just to save a few bucks, but OAK just might do the trick.

kodi - also remember that SWA begins flying into SFO again in Aug, so that may be well affect prices by then.

Virgin America will start service from JFK to SFO sometime this summer, and everyone expects their fares to be extremely aggressive, in order to grab market share from United. I'd definitely watch their website - http://www.virginamerica.com/ - for news on service rollout. There's no question that SFO will be a big bargain destination later this year with Virgin America and Southwest both entering the market.

Great news!!! Thanks so much. I'll hold off til later in the summer and watch their websites.

Fodorites are great!! Where would I be without them?

Yup. UAL committed a huge strategical mistake of not more rigorously protecting its turf.