San Francisco Airport?
 

I am attending a meeting at the Moscone Center in September. I have never been to San Francisco. My friends debate flying to San Francisco International vs. Oakland. If I go to Oakland, I can probably get a ticket on an airline that still gives peanuts and does not charge for bags.

I have already spent too much money on my luggage since they added that fee!

six of one, half dozen of the other. How do you plan to get from the airport to downtown? Where is your hotel?

Doesn't really matter SFO or OAK, whichever suits your wallet, or schedule.

If BART runs to your hotel, take BART (maybe not from OAK at night). If not, a shuttle. But here is the difference: from SFO it would be ~$15 first person, from OAK maybe $35.

If you'll be staying in Moscone area hotel, the BART station will probably be Montgomery.

AAHHHHHHHHHH. you need new friends. to even suggest Oakland....SFO is one of the best airports in the country; and you can get to your hotel safely on BART; or if you take a taxi/shuttle at least you are on the right side of the bridge. $400 round trip to SFO or a free ticket to Oakland- now that's a problem: I don't know which I'd pick. San Francisco is one of the best cities in the world, I hope you get some time to enjoy it . (Oakland does get one (1) point (on a scale of 0-100) however: it is close to San Francisco). just my not so humble opinion. (actually Oakland is a nice place to live, just not a place to visit).

Actually, my brother lives a few miles away from SFO and all of us prefer to fly into Oakland. The airport is much more compact and you can fly JetBlue or Southwest Airlines.

We take the shuttle bus from Oakland airport to the BART station, hook up to BART, and get off at the Millbrae station. It's easier to catch a taxi at Millbrae than to deal with the shuttles and taxis at SFO.

Whatever problems tampatramp has with Oakland, they do not apply to flying into Oakland airport. It's a small airport which is very easy to navigate. JetBlue does fly there. (Southwest now flies to SFO, so that's no longer a reason to go to Oakland). I live very close to SFO, but would have no problem going to Oakland if that were a much better flight/price (and used to do it all the time when Southwest didn't fly to SFO). As Faina said, you can take BART from either airport, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it at night from Oakland either if you don't know what you're doing (you have to take a shuttle to the BART station - it's not a station right at the airport like it is at SFO).

Now, I don't understand why mlgb would elect fly to Oakland on purpose if his brother lives in Millbrae, but that's his/her choice obviously :)

Depends on how many bags of free peanuts and whether there's a free drink that comes with the peanuts.

I'd suggest SFO too. It's much easier to navigate.

Besides, SFO has been voted the best airport in the US (Hong Kong Airport came out tops worldwide).

Reason #1 Jet Blue flies from Oakland. We'd rather fly Jet Blue than almost anything else. Also, they fly into LGB but SWA does not, so I then have to deal with LAX.

Reason #2 more delays out of SFO, more likely to have fog delays.

Reason #3 Taxi and shuttle problems at SFO.

If I can get a ride to SFO, sometimes I'll leave and fly SFO to LAX (Southwest doesn't fly into LGB). But then I'm having to hassle with LAX.

And to be precise about taxi and shuttle problems...they don't want to pick you up at SFO if you're just going a few miles down the road. In fact if I have to fly into SFO I'll take the BART to Millbrae just so I don't have to deal with the aggravating taxi drivers.

My guess is tampatramp has never actually flown into OAK.

I'd just go w/ which ever one gets you the best schedule/fare.

It is VERY easy getting from either airport into downtown SF. OAK is much less crowded/congested.

And to take BART is so much easier from OAK!

<i>Reason #3 Taxi and shuttle problems at SFO.</i>

I live in Burlingame. I travel a fair amount. This is not a real problem. You get in the taxi line, you get in the cab and tell him where you're going. They can't make you get out! Also if it's a less than 30-minute round trip (called a &quot;short trip&quot;) they get to go back to the front of the line. They may not like it, but tough...