Oakland International Airport by S Glavan

17 July 2008   Customer Rating : n/a

I recently moved to the Bay Area from the Pacific Northwest, and was accustomed to Portland's ultra- efficient, ultra-clean moderate sized airport. So imagine my chagrin when I first tried to utilize Oakland's terminals. I understand that the airport is in the process of remodeling and restructuring, but there seems to be little regard for the traveler in this process. Curbside drop off and pick up are disorganized and confusing. The people charged with directing traffic appear unable to bring any order. Long term parking is also confusing, and shuttles are inconsistent. Using public transit as an alternative is a poor option. Unlike San Francisco airport’s direct BART access the nearest BART stop is several miles away from Oakland’s airport, and passengers have to transfer to a shuttle bus that charges an additional fare to get from the BART station to the airport, often stuffing passengers to the limits of standing room only. One can only assume that this is done in order to maximize the fares for each trip. Once at the airport, ticket check-in and TSA lines are often overwhelming, and leave passengers feeling like cattle in a pen. Lines often stretch out the doors onto the sidewalks, leaving passengers little time to reach their gates once they have navigated this maze. Restaurants and shopping options are limited and crowded. Arriving passengers must deal with a baggage claim system which includes electronic signs at the carousels that often do not reflect accurate flight information, and waits of a half hour or more for luggage to arrive on the carousels is not unusual. San Francisco offers far better amenities and services for the traveler, but can be difficult to reach for those who live in the east bay. Fares to and from Oakland tend to be lower than those to and from San Francisco, but almost identical to San Jose, if one is willing to drive a little further south to avoid all of the hassles. All in all, with the choice of three major airports serving the Bay Area, there seems to be little attraction for choosing Oakland’s facility.

Oakland International Airport by Leslie Garlinghouse

5 October 2006   Customer Rating : n/a

All in all, I prefer this airport to SFO as it is easier and quicker to fly in and out of. But there are two areas desperately needing improvement. With this, in my opinion, OAK would be ideal. First, baggage claim. OAK has the slowest baggage claim I've seen. Without fail, I am waiting for no less than half an hour after getting to baggage claim and it's been much longer at times. I can only speculate as to the reason whether it is the baggage transfer staffing or the facility design, but it is always the most frustrating task at the end of a long trip. Second is the drop-off/pick-up area. It was ideal with there was a small parking lot for those waiting to pick up passengers. It hugely reduced the traffic congestion and otherwise was such a relief to those who had to go around and around and around while waiting for their passengers (who were probably waiting 45 minutes for baggage). The baggage claim is definitely the higher priority of these two.

Oakland International Airport by Brian Locicero

15 February 2005

Not as good as SFO in terms of facilities, but usually a quicker, easier and more practical option as the fares are somewhat lower and the check in time considerably shorter. Now if it only had a direct BART connection instead of the rip-off shuttle bus that costs 2 bucks for 2 miles and always gets stuck in traffic.

Oakland International Airport by M Gibson

14 December 2004

I have used Oakland Airport four times in the last 12 months. Yes, the airport is small, crowded, noisy, old and unimpressive looking. But I had no problems or delays with my flights. Checking in was OK. But the baggage claim area is simply too small considering the size of the airport. On Friday evenings, the car traffic into and out of the airport overwhelms the few narrow lanes available. As a domestic airport it is OK. As an international airport, Oakland leaves much to be desired.

Oakland International Airport by M Moore

28 November 2004

I spent four years in Oakland before moving out of California recently and did most of my domestic travel out of OAK. Oakland offers several advantages over SFO. Its East Bay location makes it easy to get into San Francisco, assuming traffic on the Bay Bridge isn't at a standstill. There are fewer fog-related delays and cancellations at OAK than SFO. Airfares tend to be a bit lower at OAK, as well. In terms of size, the Oakland Airport is manageable and reasonably convenient; you can be off the plane and out the front door in a matter of minutes. If you time your arrival and departure well, it's a snap to get in and out. The biggest problem is that the other seven or eight million people in the Bay Area have also figured these things out. Fly at a peak time and the traffic jams on the access road can be daunting. Ditto the queues at the security checkpoints. There is ostensibly a BART station, but the shuttle bus gets stuck in the same traffic jams, which sort of defeats the purpose of using mass transit. (The new direct rail shuttle over to the main BART line will remedy this situation when it's built.) And the facilities themselves are on the tattered side. Renovation is underway, but I'd like to see a better range of dining options and cleaner restrooms. Decent carpet and more electrical outlets for laptops and cell phone recharging would be great, too. Overall I enjoy the experience of being in SFO more, now that I don't live in the region -- vastly better food, plus the convenience of the Airtrain and the on-site BART station, the cleanliness, and more comfortable facilities give it an edge over Oakland. I'm willing to risk weather-related delays and longer security lines for these amenities. Most of the time, anyway.

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