Iām surprised Chicago only has twoā¦ Iād expect more for such a massive city
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I agree with everything youāve mentioned @BigBert10. Plus, itās always cool to see flights landing while going down 880.
BUTā¦BUTā¦
I still would choose SFO. Hereās my reasons why:
- Takeoff and Landing at SFO in night or day is amazing to see because you get to see San Mateo bridge plus when taking off, they usually give you a tour of SF city.
- The available routes and airlines at SFO is much more bigger than SJC. Thereās almost every major airline having a flight to SF.
- Access to pretty much the whole Bay Area is available through BART. I believe theres a Bart station nearby SJC as well but SFO has BART inside the airport.
- Planespotting is very easy and you have 4-5 spots where you can watch heavies and all the planes land or take off.
- Thereās a lot of amenities at SFO as well. A lot of good restaurants, before the security thereās a little artifact section where you can read history or do whatever youād like. And thereās a good range of shops inside the security as well plus you can get a good view of OPS from the gate.
TL:DR
SJC is a great airport no doubt with itās easy accessibility to Silicon Valley and faster security and great interior with lots of tech options. But SFO is better with routes, available airlines, and great landing views and take off views.
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Technically thereās also Chicago Rockfordā¦
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SJC has city lights which are way better than a bridge XD
This I do agree on but SJC is getting more and more routes each year.
I heard that there are talks within BART to expand to SJC in the near future.
I agree. Planespotting at SJC is not as easy as it was before (because of the new gates) but you can get a good view of airplanes through the Terminal A parking
SJC has a lot of these as well. A lot of art can be found and a lot of techy items after you pass security.
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Does SJC do departures to the north? If they did Iām pretty sure youād be able to see the bridge. Btw I love all the bay airports equally because they are all amazing
If the 30 runways are used, SJC departures to the north would be to turn south first and then turn back north when the plane is high enough
(TECKY THREE departure) (right loop)
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Honestly, I love both the airport :P but this is what I like about either of those airport.
SJC is easier travel by because of less passenger traffic compared to SFO, plus most of the flights are domestic which tend to be low cost, giving you a fast check-in, boarding and takeoff.
SFO in other hand, is the big boy for all these airports. The airport has 4 runways, 100ās of flight options, plus easier access to San Francisco (tourist destination) and wider access to Greater Bay Area.
If someone from New York asked @BigBert10 and I, I will definitely choose SFO, SJC, or OAK as my favorite airports since itās all part of Bay Area but if people from Bay ask me the question, SFO beats all of it lol
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Not flying SkyTeam as of nowā¦ and definitely not Air France or KLM anytime soon, personal preference reasons, nothing wrong with the airlines.
I know that you want more people to look SJCās way and less at the popular, market dominating SFO, but one thing is true, SJC is growing and SFO will be for now and for long time running the major gateway to the Bay Area. And more International flights to SJC would not prompt me to fly to San Jose, it also comes down to certain routes I can interlink while flying from EUR to USA, i.e via Asia.
So in that sense, Iāll stick to planning a future flight to SFO and SJC. And additionally the location of SFO and the parallel runways, looks in my opinion a bit more appetizing for the eyes š
As for SJCā¦ hmmm, I do like major International terminals, so if SJC grows, which they will do by the time I ever visit the US, then thatās a viable option š¤
Iām sorry. I donāt understand this statement XD
This is especially good if you are flying in for business reasons since you wonāt get delayed (if you do complain to the airline, not the airport)
This means you can expect to get to your desired destination on time
Of course @BigBert10 I donāt mean to offend you or bring you down. This is just a friendly topic and I do agree on all of your points about SJC. My dad is a frequent traveler at SJC meanwhile Iām a frequent traveler at SFO.
Who cares which airport they take as long as they reach their destination xD
Iām just sad that people prefer SFO over SJC but the only thing I can do is present facts on how SJC is better but itās up to my fellow IFC members to decide whether they will change their minds or not.
Iām not the type of person that would say āSJC is better and you better vote for it or you are not a good personā or something like that XD
I love conversations like these because it gives me and others a chance to express our views and back them up
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I meant in the way that if someone from New York asked us the question and we were right next to each other, I would pick any of the Bay Area airports. But if we were to have a friendly talk, like weāre doing right now, Iāll be here all day long trying to prove SFO is better and you vice versa with SJC lol
Of course if I fly to Europe or any other continent other than North America, my first thought would be SFO because that is pretty much the only reason I can see that it is more convenient than SJC
But as SJC grows, I hope that more long hauls are added. And I do hope to see you flying to SJC sometime in the future. And I completely understand if it would be inconvenient for you to do so (unless you are flying BA from LHR XD)
Ok, that makes much better sense XD
SJC offers flights to 4 international countries as of right now (Volaris - Mexico, ANA - Tokyo, British - EGLL/LHR, Hainan Airlines - Beijing). Pretty sure itās going to be more of those since business travelers are more profitable for airlines than economy. Plus since SJC is the closest city to all the giant tech companies, I wouldnāt be surprised if Singapore opened a new route from Changi.
BAWā¦ havenāt flown with them since 2005ā¦ Im still afraid of their lavatoryā¦ donāt quote me on that š, it is the flushing, sounds like the whole world is getting sucked into a black hole from outer spaceā¦ yeah I can see myself flying on their 787-9ā¦ just not using the rest room for what 9+ hrs, eh it works, Iāll pay SJC visit someday, if I do plan on visiting the Bay Area
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Narita, right? Yeah, Iām better of with flying to or via Hanedaā¦ maybe now that Delta moved operations to HND that may be my interlink connection to USA, if Iām willing to pay extra to fly via Asia that isā¦
Well, if you ever fly on BA again to the Bay Area, fly from LHR-SJC on their B789! :D
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I donāt see any other better route or reason to fly BAW as of now, so why not ;)
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Honestly, it makes no sense to send a flight over to airports literally 30 miles away unless they been seeing them $$$$$ā¦