My original review is now old enough to vote, so OAK deserves an update…read more
I'll start with the bad.
Why, OAK, why? Yes, many people, especially people from Michigan, might not realize that Oakland is a city across the Bay from San Francisco and is actually closer in proximity to San Francisco than SFO is. But Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport? Really, that's the name you went with after the City and County of San Francisco threatened to sue the pants off of you for trying to rename OAK San Francisco Oakland Airport?
What does the bay have to do with the airport? Yes, I realize that the runways are on the bay, but so are SFO's--in fact, I believe the entirety of SFO's runways are constructed on fill, so they were originally the bay itself. Have some pride! Stop trying to be The City and be what you are, The Town.
OK. That's enough.
But wait, there's more. They've also since gotten rid of the generic restaurant that once overlooked the baggage claim/security area. It was replaced by multiple (bad) restaurants, which I believe have since been replaced by a single bar. (Good, I guess?) Also, when I returned here last week, it took a full thirty minutes for bags from our flight to hit the baggage carousel, even though it was 11 p.m. My flight landed just before before 11, but I didn't get home by BART and bus until 1:05 a.m. Why, OAK, why?
Here comes the good. AirBART was replaced by the BART Airport Connector, the Gray Line, or whatever they're calling it this quarter. (Seriously, if you're going to spend millions of dollars on a project, pick and stick with a single name.) That's much better in many ways than the old bus system, but the OAK BART station is still pretty far away from Terminal 2, which I use exactly 100 percent of the time. It's also not right next to Terminal 1. All of this is normally fine, but it's bad when it rains.
I've definitely had weather delays here in the past eighteen years, but SFO has had many many many more, so I can't blame OAK for that. In terms of its runways, it has location location location. In terms of its Oakland neighborhood, it's shady as all get-out. I'm generally the person who poo-poos other people's criticisms of supposedly bad (usually just poor and/or run-down and/or non-White) neighborhoods, but the neighborhood along Hegenberger Road from the freeway to OAK is really bad and dangerous, and it has gotten worse. Many businesses have shuttered because of the parking-lot crime, which is daily car break-ins but also includes carjackings, muggings, and stabbings. Black Bear Diner closed. In-N-Out might have closed as well. So don't stay in a hotel, get gas, or go through a drive-thru near OAK. I'm serious.
Despite all this, I still consider OAK my home airport. It's small and generally pretty efficient. The security lines can take forever, but if you're willing to walk in the terminals, you can actually do security in either terminal and then go to the other. Terminal 2 is usually busier, so doing security at Terminal 1 can save time.
The food has gotten worse and more expensive, but it also changes a lot, and there have been places here I have really liked. My most recent experience notwithstanding, it's normally pretty fast getting from your plane to baggage claim to BART. If you do check bags, be aware that 90 percent of the time, they use a different luggage carousel than they say they will. The good news is there are only three in Terminal 2, so it's easy enough to go from one to another.
Oh, and the long-term parking is fairly cheap, and it's a very short shuttle ride from the lot (with covered but shelters for the stops) to the terminals.
Southwest is now a pretty horrible airline, but if you're going to fly it, it has many more domestic destinations from OAK than it does from SFO. When I'm flight to SoCal, LAX is my only real option from SFO. From OAK, I can fly to LAX, Burbank, Orange County, Long Beach, and Ontario. The flight to and from LAX are also generally a bit cheaper than their SFO counterparts, although this can and often does change seasonally.
