Insider Travel Tips for Your Trip through SFO
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SFO Traveler’s Aid, Bob Hirsch: Welcome to the podcast from San Francisco International Airport.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: I’m your host Carolina Silver. Today we’re heading to SFO to catch a flight… and along the way we’ll share some tips and strategies to make your trip more efficient and more fun – plus a few off the wall airport activities you’ve probably never heard of.
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Narrator, Carolina Silver: Of course, your trip doesn’t start at the airport. For busy moms like Mya Kramer, it starts with planning ahead.
Frequent traveler, Mya Kramer 1: I've got a 12-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son…. the night before we travel she'll get on FlySFO.com, which is the airport website …They’re these interactive maps. So she’ll figure out what gate we’re flying out of and then she’ll figure out where she wants to eat before we go to the gate, where she wants to shop before we go to the gate, and how to get from that terminal to another terminal just to kill time.
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Narrator, Carolina Silver: And then, there’s getting to the airport. You have a lot of options:
taxi, shuttle, car – or public transportation…
BART passenger, Tom Gilhuley: My name is Tom Gilhuley and we’re here at the BART station
about to head out to the airport.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit – it runs trains from downtown San Francisco, and even from the East Bay, straight to the airport. Tom says it’s his secret to stress-free travel.
BART passenger, Tom Gilhuley: I definitely always take BART to get to the airport, frankly because I really hate driving and I hate sitting in traffic, and there’s a lot of it here in the Bay Area. So any time I can avoid traffic, save some money on parking and gas, I'm all for it.
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Narrator, Carolina Silver: The train lets you out at the international terminal, so you can walk to most flights. If you’re flying domestic, a free Air Train shuttle will take you where you need to go. But, as convenient as BART is, some travelers prefer to drive... like marketing consultant Neil Cohen.
Business Traveler, Neil Cohen: I travel a lot. I'm probably in and out of San Francisco Airport somewhere upwards between 15 to 20 times a year, maybe more.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: On one of those many trips, Neil discovered the best-kept secret in SFO parking. It happened when he made a wrong turn on his way to the long-term parking garage…
Business Traveler, Neil Cohen: I wasn’t paying attention. … I’m driving around and I saw these two garages and just figured out, okay, that’s pretty cool.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: He stumbled on garages, “A” and “G”, also known as the “international garages.”
Business Traveler, Neil Cohen: …but there’s nothing really international about them except they're close to the international terminal. Anybody can park there … But they’re awesome – the most awesome place to park.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: The garages cost about 20 dollars a night for indoor parking – and on top of that, you’re right next to the terminal.
Business Traveler, Neil Cohen: So that’s my big inside tip for people coming into the airport. Nobody knows about those garages.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: Okay. So what other nuggets of wisdom have you developed through your years of frequent traveling?
Business Traveler, Neil Cohen: …there’s a couple of great shoe-shine guys once you get through security. They’re awesome. They do a great job. It’s fairly inexpensive; you know, usually $5 to $7 bucks with a tip and you just can’t beat it… nothing makes you feel better or picks up your spirits like a shoe shine; it’s kind of funny. And so that’s always been part of my routine when I come to the airport.
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Narrator, Carolina Silver: So here we are at SFO, with two hours left until departure. Yep, I said two hours. Gone are the days when you can arrive an hour before a domestic flight and waltz right onto the plane.
SFO Traveler’s Aid, Linda Rhoades: We recommend for an international departure three hours; for a domestic departure, two hours.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: That’s Linda Rhoades, an airport customer service agent. She says the reason for the extra time is…
SFO Traveler’s Aid, Linda Rhoades: Most of the airlines have a baggage cutoff time and I think people are really not aware of it. For instance, for the domestic carriers, a lot of them, it’s 45 minutes. And if you get here an hour before your flight, that leaves you only 15 minutes to stand in line. And sometimes there can be as many as 100 people in line ahead of you.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: So people could save themselves a lot of stress if they could just give a little bit more time before coming to the airport.
Linda Rhoades: There’s a lot to do here at the airport, so, what we’d like to have you do is come early, check in. Then you’re out of the stress, you can go through security, then you can take the time to relax, have your cup of coffee, go to the shop, pick up a newspaper. We even have a spa here. We have a museum, a kids play area.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: The airport promotes San Francisco businesses and restaurants – in fact, eighty percent of the food and beverage options in the terminal are locally owned. That means good coffee, tasty burritos, and authentic Asian cuisine.
Frequent Traveler, Teresa Rodriguez-Williamson: And I think the thing that people have to understand is that no matter who you’re flying, destination of airport does make a difference.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: Teresa Rodriguez-Williamson is author of Fly Solo: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone; and founder of TangoDiva.com, a social network for women travelers.
Frequent Traveler, Teresa Rodriguez-Williamson: Planes are late. Weather happens. People are doing the best that they can … And being at SFO is great because, guess what? If I happen to miss a flight or my flight’s delayed, oh my gosh, I’ve got a great place that I can get a noodle bowl or a great coffee, a fabulous sandwich, and I’m not stuck in an airport where all I’ve got to eat is fattening food and take-out. ... So take that into consideration and know that SFO is not only a departure, it’s a destination.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: Besides eating, you can buy cosmetics, rent a DVD for your flight, or
see a cutting-edge art exhibit – all before going through security. And when it is time to head to
your gate, SFO makes it easy to get screened fast.
Narrator, Carolina Silver: Once you get through security, it’s time to board the plane and fly off to your next destination.
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Narrator, Carolina Silver: You can find more information at FlySFO.com. For tips on how to get through security faster, visit the Transportation Security Administration online at TSA.gov. Until next time – I’m Carolina Silver, for San Francisco International Airport.
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The End.