Right here’s a fairly thrilling milestone for San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO), which ought to make some connections (and lounge hopping!) on the airport simpler.
SFO now has airside walkways between all terminals
SFO’s terminal group isn’t essentially intuitive:
- There’s Terminal 1, Terminal 2, and Terminal 3, and every of these terminals has particular person piers, with gates which have letters
- There’s additionally Worldwide Terminal A and Worldwide Terminal G, which don’t comply with the terminal numbering system
For context, under is a map of SFO, which provides you a common sense of the structure. As you may see, the airport has a form of round structure for the central space, after which gates are largely positioned in piers that stick out.
Through the years, we’ve seen big enhancements to SFO. As a part of this, we’ve seen elevated alternatives to make airside connections on the airport. This has been a gradual course of. With the opening of the ultimate part of Harvey Milk Terminal 1, all terminals and concourses on the airport at the moment are linked airside. That’s proper, you may stroll between all terminals on the airport with out leaving safety.
The power to get between terminals airside might be helpful when you have a connecting flight, should you’re seeking to go to a particular lounge or restaurant, or simply should you’re seeking to get as many steps in as attainable.
Funds plenty of time for getting between terminals
Whereas it’s nice to have the ability to stroll between terminals airside, don’t essentially count on that it is going to be fast. As you may see, SFO doesn’t have some central airside a part of the airport, the place you may then go straight to every terminal. As a substitute, you’ll in lots of instances need to stroll fairly a distance to get between some terminals, transiting a number of different concourses.
Now, for many connecting passengers, there’s not really a must journey that far. That’s as a result of there’s some logic to the terminal group for airways. For instance, United home flights depart from Terminal 3, whereas United and Star Alliance worldwide flights depart from Worldwide Terminal G, so that you simply need to undergo one connector.
Nonetheless, should you’re connecting on separate tickets or have an itinerary that features interline companions, it’s attainable it’s possible you’ll be arriving at and departing from reverse sides of the airport.
For instance, a number of weeks in the past I arrived on a United flight at Worldwide Terminal G, after which departed on a JetBlue flight from Terminal 1. I wished to make use of the United Polaris Lounge first, so I stayed in Worldwide Terminal G for so long as attainable. Then I needed to get to Terminal 1 for my JetBlue flight, and on the time, it wasn’t attainable to make that switch airside. Fortuitously that has now modified.
I think about shifting airside between terminals will likely be particularly priceless for these seeking to do some lounge hopping. Perhaps you need to use the Amex Centurion Lounge in Terminal 3 when touring out of Terminal 1, or possibly you need to use The Membership in Terminal 1 when touring out of Terminal 3.
Backside line
For the primary time ever, all terminals at SFO are linked airside, which is nice for passengers. A whole lot of work has occurred to get so far, however the latest factor that makes this attainable is the completion of Harvey Milk Terminal 1, which included the introduction of the final connector.
Whereas now you can journey airside between all terminals at SFO, that doesn’t essentially imply it’ll be a fast journey, so price range your time accordingly. California’s largest airports positive are making some good enhancements — simply final 12 months, all LAX terminals lastly grew to become linked airside.
What do you make of this replace to SFO connectivity?
