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Post by hoosierman on Dec 10, 2008 1:44:32 GMT -5
Hey everybody, I was wondering if you all could help me out.
I'm going to a conference in Menlo Park in February, and I'm not sure the most convenient airport to use coming from LA. Would it be best to use SFO? Or Oakland? I can't really tell from maps.
Thanks for any advice you all might have.
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Post by Wolfgang on Dec 10, 2008 12:56:42 GMT -5
Depends on where your hotel is. If you take SFO (San Francisco), you can actually take BART and then CalTrain to get to downtown Menlo Park. It'll take a bit longer but it'll save you cabfare.
You can also take San Jose International, but SFO is closer. I never take Oakland Airport.
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Post by hoosierman on Dec 10, 2008 17:12:09 GMT -5
Thanks, in advance, and after advance, Wolfgang.
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Post by BearClause on Dec 10, 2008 17:36:32 GMT -5
San Francisco International Airport is less than 10 miles from Menlo Park. San Jose Airport is a bit closer than Oakland via ground transportation, and there wouldn't be any good options for public transportation. From Oakland, you'd either have to take a taxi or airport shuttle unless you want to use a combination of the airport bus ($) to BART, (long) BART ride to the Millbrae BART/Caltrain station, and then Caltrain the Menlo Park.
San Francisco Airport is great if you want to take BART. The station is right at the north end of international terminal; that's a short walk from the domestic terminal.
I take it you're probably renting a car. If that's the case, SFO all the way unless you can find a better airfare or preferred carrier serving San Jose or Oakland.
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Post by cruncher on Dec 10, 2008 17:48:19 GMT -5
From recent experience, it is a pretty smooth trip from Oakland airport to Menlo Park if you rent a car. I like flying to Oakland because it's usually cheaper and doesn't get fogged in nearly as often as SFO. SFO is definitely closer and has better public transit options.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2008 17:56:39 GMT -5
As someone who lived in Menlo Park (a creek separates it from Stanford owned land and the campus) for many years, I can say that most people I know much prefer flying to San Jose airport (assuming they are staying in Menlo Park or Palo Alto, and not in SF). No one would fly to Oakland, if they had a choice (much farther, with horrid traffic considerations). San Jose (SJC) is preferable to San Francisco (SFO) for a number of reasons: (1) distance-wise, SJC is a bit closer, 18 miles, instead of 25 miles; (2) SJC is more compact and getting from the airplane to the outside transportation is quicker, especially if someone was going to pick you up; (3) shuttles and car rentals are more easily accessed from SJC; (4) there are far fewer delays at SJC, especially when fog is a factor, which it frequently is at SFO. The main reason to fly into SFO would be the greater choice in the number of flights from LAX, if that is where you are flying from. Flying Southwest from Orange County (John Wayne) to SJC to me is always the fastest way.
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Post by Wolfgang on Dec 10, 2008 18:00:09 GMT -5
You know, all these years, I've never been to the Orange County airport (John Wayne).
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Post by BearClause on Dec 10, 2008 18:01:17 GMT -5
From recent experience, it is a pretty smooth trip from Oakland airport to Menlo Park if you rent a car. I like flying to Oakland because it's usually cheaper and doesn't get fogged in nearly as often as SFO. SFO is definitely closer and has better public transit options. Just a few more things to consider. SFO is busier and subject to more delays when there's fog. They always run dual-parallel runways, but they're spaced really close to each other and they tend to slow down landings in bad weather. The FAA requires greater distance between parallel runways for simultaneous bad weather landings. Oakland is less busy, but they do have Southwest. |
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Post by mikegarrison on Dec 10, 2008 18:52:22 GMT -5
You know, all these years, I've never been to the Orange County airport (John Wayne). Neither have I, even though it's (in)famous for its noise restrictions, and I've been involved in airplane design decisions that were based around operations out of that airport. |
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Post by BearClause on Dec 10, 2008 20:19:50 GMT -5
You know, all these years, I've never been to the Orange County airport (John Wayne). Neither have I, even though it's (in)famous for its noise restrictions, and I've been involved in airplane design decisions that were based around operations out of that airport. I flew in there Labor Day weekend 2003 to see Cal play in UCI's tournament. It was only $52 round trip on Alaska Airlines from Oakland, but I had to book a couple of weeks in advance and start with the 6:50 AM flight on Saturday. The terminal is really small compared to any other US airport I've been to with regular jumbo jet passenger service. They did have easy access to the rental car area. Bigger airports require shuttles or people movers. |
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Post by FUBAR on Dec 11, 2008 18:39:11 GMT -5
The terminal is really small compared to any other US airport I've been to with regular jumbo jet passenger service. They did have easy access to the rental car area. Bigger airports require shuttles or people movers. LOL! You really should get out more! ;D SNA is small relative to the traffic it serves, but lots of the airports I visit on commercial flights are half the size of SNA's terminal. |
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Post by BearClause on Dec 11, 2008 19:01:27 GMT -5
The terminal is really small compared to any other US airport I've been to with regular jumbo jet passenger service. They did have easy access to the rental car area. Bigger airports require shuttles or people movers. LOL! You really should get out more! ;D SNA is small relative to the traffic it serves, but lots of the airports I visit on commercial flights are half the size of SNA's terminal. They've got 14 gates. Each of Oakland Airport's terminals is way bigger. |
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Post by FUBAR on Dec 11, 2008 19:22:30 GMT -5
They've got 14 gates. Each of Oakland Airport's terminals is way bigger. Yeah, I'm frequenting OAK lately  I've also been through Eugene, Fresno, Jackson, Odessa-Midland, Amarillo, Monroe, Sioux Falls fairly recently - most of these only have 4-6 gates. Monroe doesn't have any jet bridges! I like the smaller airports better - they are usually closer to town, easier to get rental cars, security lines are shorter, I can arrive at the airport later... Unfortunately home is a SNA sized airport (though with less passenger traffic).  |
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Post by IdahoBoy on Dec 11, 2008 21:11:34 GMT -5
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