Mineta International?

Question

Would you rather fly out of San Jose instead of San Francisco Airport, if the airfare was the same?

What do you think about the under-utilization of SJC by most airlines except Southwest?

Answer 1

Well, the competition is tough. SJC is another peninsular airport that's alongside 101. It can't cut into the OAK market because it's so far away from the East Bay suburbs. And while SJC doesn't have as many delays as SFO, it's pretty much inferior in every other way.

SFO functions surprisingly well for an airport of that size. It's the second largest airport on the West Coast. Yet, it rarely feels very crowded because of the open spaces.

Passanger Traffic

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1. LAX (61 million)
2. SFO (35 million)
3. SEA-TAC (29 million)
4. YVR [Vancouver] (17 million)
5. SAN [San Diego] (17 million)

The variety of restaurants and shops are superior to any other airport in California (including the much maligned LAX and its love for Starbucks / Burger King). There's dim sum, microbreweries, and sushi bars at SFO.

Then there's the public transportation factor. SFO is the only airport west of the Mississippi River to have a subway station. Once upon a time, you had to go all the way to Chicago to see anything like that.

There are ways to improve SJC though.

- Get rid of the chain coffee shops and invite famous South Bay restaurants to open branches in the terminals.

- Stop using the L.A. style shuttle buses and build a direct rail link to the airport.

- Don't compete for overseas flights. You can't beat SFO and you'll end up wasting lots of money on empty flights.

- Most of SJC's potential traffic is domestic. It should do what OAK does...localize. Aggressively corner the South Bay domestics and accept that "international" means Canada and Mexico.

Answer 2

I live closer to SJC, but fly out of either airport, depending on the airfare & the travel times. Both have their advantages & disadvantages, as several people have listed below. If fares are equalm and the distance from your home is also about equal, I'd select the airport that has the most convenient flight times.

Answer 3

SFO is much closer to where I live so unless the fair was substantially cheaper out of SJC it wouldn't make up the cab fair. While I have not flown out of SJC, I have both dropped off and picked up people. That airport is laid out weird. I understand that SouthWest Airlines will be offering flights out of SFO soon too. I think the under-utilization factor is due to lack of International flights out of SJC.

Answer 4

I personally prefer SJC, although there are fewer flights out of the airport. All other things being equal (air fare, flight times, etc.), I find San Jose much easier to get in and out of, easier to drop off or pick up passengers, and much easier (and cheaper) to park. There is some construction, but I've never encountered traffic delays because of it. And, being a small airport, the distances between the parking lot or garage and the terminals is short. And the gates and terminals are close together, so there's very little walking.

Answer 5

I would go out of my way to avoid SJC, there's a lot of construction going on, the roads are a mess and it's a lousy airport anyhow. SFO on the other hand, has turned into a very good airport, and recently named the best airport in America.

Answer 6

SJC is completely inconvient unless you live in the south bay. The fare would have to be at least $300 less than SFO or OAK before I'd even think about flying out of it.

Answer 7

sfo definetly.every time i have traveled i have gone to sfo airport i ts way better than .sjc