San Francisco Airport

✅ Verified Review | This has got to be the worst transfer experience I’ve ever had. I only had a 1hr 45min layover. Make sure you have 2.5 hrs or more. The customs alone took about 45 min. I still had to claim my baggage, recheck them and go through security. I mentioned to security that I was late for my next flight and I was transferring. The guy said they don't expedite passengers (and yet many of the good reviews for their airport says they do?) so that’s a complete lie. He nicely suggested I could ask others if I could cut. Here, sadly, it’s common for people to be asking others to cut at security because they are late for their flights. To be fair, so far no staff were rude, just indifferent. But one young guy near the right side security conveyer belts (right before the scanning machine), when I asked him what should I do, grinned and rudely said "it’s not my problem". I didn’t have time to get his name. I had only 5 minutes to get to gate 90 (yep, the one at the very end) and had to run with all I had. Once I got to my flight 1 min past the boarding time officially ending, the crew was nice enough to still let me on. Seeing me panting, red-faced and sweating, one guy nodded at me and said “you had to run too?”

✅ Verified Review | The most horrible security lines I have experienced since directly after 911. One security lane was open for hundreds of travelers. People missed flights because the TSA personnel would not allow them to go through the TSA precheck line. I will never fly out of SFO again. Would rather fly out of OAK!

❎ Unverified | We arrived from Toronto at Terminal G and needed to find the departure gate of our connecting flight to Sydney. In Terminal G there were no signs showing departure gates of flights leaving at other terminals. After asking cleaners and security guards we were told we would have to leave the secure area and re-enter in the other terminal. indications to find Terminal A were hard to find and we were advised to use the train. There is a blue and a red line; the red line was not operating and it was a 20 min ride from Terminal G to Terminal A, then we had to go through security which offered no help for connecting passengers, the plane was fully boarded when we arrived at the gate. We ran around 90 min and swore we will avoid SFO at all costs in the future

✅ Verified Review | Horrible planning at this airport. Over the past 10 days I've landed at this airport twice at around 1.00 am and were informed that our gate was occupied, having to wait about 20 min to be given another gate. People at SFO, please do better planning, you should not keep people waiting on the planes constantly due to your poor planning.

✅ Verified Review | Arrived into T1 and needed to transfer to international. There are no signs. Our flight had been delayed so we had very little time to get from T1 to international. It was terrible. Huge security queues. No one to ask for help. Walking down endless long corridors between terminals with no signs not knowing if we were right or wrong. No way of jumping the security queue even though we would have missed our flight had we not skipped the 300+ people in security queue.

✅ Verified Review | Arrival in international was horrendous. Herded through long lines and a feeling of chaos. I'm a citizen and have never waited so long for a stamp in any of the dozens of countries I've travelled - except now my own thanks to San Francisco. It was an hour in line, with equally exhausted and upset people. I looked over and saw the visitor line was 4x longer, meaning they stood for 2 or more hours for a stamp. Welcome to America? Not cool! After finally getting stamped, I was at baggage claim for an hour and a half. Some people 2 hours to get their bags, again, first time ever for me. 2.5 with no water or toilet as a single traveler you don't want to leave baggage area thinking your bag is coming out - but 1.5 hours later it finally does. I felt so embarrassed that this chaos is the very first impress for visitors and I missed 2 airport busses myself. I have no idea what inefficiency is going on at international arrivals but it's really, really bad.

✅ Verified Review | We flew from Terminal 3, the base for United's domestic operations. Things have improved markedly at San Francisco over the past couple of years. Terminal 3 has been thoroughly modernized and has many state-of-the-art features. United's clubs, at gate 69 and in the satellite concourse, are both among their better clubs. Check-in is well-spaced and efficient. Security, long a problem for Terminal 3, seems to have been configured to move quickly. We were flying at midday and experienced no wait at TSA Pre-check. As an aside, I'm also familiar with SFO's international concourses. They are among the best in the US, with lots of facilities and efficient boarding areas.

Customs and immigration with a returning ESTA was reasonably quick using the newish kiosks. All the officials were pleasant which has not always been the case previously. Bags were quickly available and their onward checking efficient. Security check into T3 was also quick and painless. Plenty of places to eat and drink before heading for gate lounge. Lots of seating, easy to read departure boards, clean rest rooms and well organised boarding procedure. No complaints at all.

After reading all these negative reviews I was positively surprised by San Francisco Airport. Arrived on an international flight on Friday evening with United. No wait at immigration at all! Officer was very friendly, baggage delivery was quick and I was out approx 20 mins after leaving the aircraft. Next morning cdeparted on a domestic flight. Security was fast (wait time hardly 3 mins - ok, admittedly I could take the first class line, but the normal one was also very short) so I had plenty of time for coffee. Directions in the terminal were clearly marked and I found it easy to navigate.

Customs is terrible, it has been for the past three years, long lines to get first to the computer that takes your picture and passport information and then through to the agent. Hundreds of people waiting and only three agents to serve you. Makes you wonder where your tax dollars go.