Why SFO's $2.5 Billion Logistics and Amenities Upgrade Made It WSJ's Best Airport of 2022 | WSJ

[@jckbquck]

I'm in the architectural / engineering space. I've done a number of projects for SFO. To me, the difference comes from the top. When we work for SFO, their instruction to their consultant is always, "Bring your 'A' game!" The management there genuinely cares about building and maintaining an airport that can best serve the passengers. Even though they are government employees, they have none of the typical DMV vibe.

[@___beyondhorizon4664]

The 2 airports on top of my list are Dubai and the new Istanbul airport, so much spaces. The Dubai airport has comfy long lounge chairs for long layover, there's even a sleeping section with deem lights. Even Paris CDG offered a long layover section with lots of comfy sofa with charging station, a paid shower service at the airport hotel. They finally had English speaking volunteers to guide visitors while I stopover for 10 hours in June 2019.

[@gandolfthewhite]

@@___beyondhorizon4664 of course, Dubai doesn't have to worry about lack of oil and natural gas for jet fuel and generating electricity.

[@kediloaf]

This is an awesome insight. Thanks for sharing!

[@jckbquck]

@@___beyondhorizon4664 thanks for sharing about the airports in Dubai and Istanbul! I have not been to either. Of course, they are oranges compared to SFO's apple; i.e. it's difficult to compare American public facilities (and public works projects that build these public facilities) to those in countries like Dubai and Turkey (and Communist China, for example). In those places, the government can nearly do whatever they want with no political obstacles.

[@RaymondHng]

Specifically they are San Francisco civil service employees. My ex worked in Noise Abatement at SFO and I worked at Port of SF. These are two of the three City departments that generate a profit for the City and County of San Francisco.

[@drmode]

Limiting announcements and providing plenty of seating with chargers is what every airport needs.

[@battlefield3112011]

Well, that is what LAX needed. Constant announcement everywhere for everything.

[@portcybertryx222]

@@battlefield3112011yeah I think they are changing that with the LAX remodel

[@edwink1467]

Went there two months ago. It was indeed surprisingly nice for a US airport! The bathroom was very clean, modern, and enormous. No gap between stalls, too! Finally we have 21st century public bathroom in the US lol

[@icald]

I ❤ SFO. It’s so quiet and they have nice vendors. Also, you can connect between terminals without going thru security

[@ImekaSF]

So happy my home airport is getting recognition - it’s well deserved. I rarely have issues there.

[@xinyan3641]

Me too!

[@fergman300]

Flying out of SFO during the pandemic was wild...It was so quiet and empty like walking in an art gallery or museum.

[@gandolfthewhite]

Or a morgue.

[@aribloch]

The avg ticket prices are higher because there are way more long distance flights from SFO than Oakland/San Jose. Southwest operates about 70% of OAK, and they are majority nonstop /shorter flights

[@hiiipowerbootylicker7790]

I'm sure they controlled for length of flights when comparing prices between the airports.

[@FiveMissiles]

@@hiiipowerbootylicker7790but you also have to consider that many non budget airlines fly out of sfo. southwest flying at oak basically makes the mean way lower regardless of distance

[@JordanCrawfordSF]

GO SFO!!! It's so easy to get in and out and it's very clean, quiet, and the food is awesome! We love SFO!!

[@samueladler8233]

Quiet airport really caught me off guard once as they didn't announce boarding. But I love the idea it becoming normalized.

[@zukacs]

I missed my flight in istambul because i didnt know they dont announce flights :D

[@Themiddleman416]

@@zukacs that's rough

[@flugoaway3398]

@@zukacs don’t you already have the boarding time printed on your pass? And on top of that there are screens displaying boarding times for all flights literally everywhere you eyes can see

[@zukacs]

@@flugoaway3398 i was not even 18 and it was the old ata turk airport not the new one)) i knew my time but was waiting for announcment while reading a book

[@gameloser123]

So much beautiful art throughout Terminal 1 as well. Also being connected to BART directly is a top feature for the airport

[@KhalilDaTerra]

I travel through alot of airports… and so far SFO has been (and especially is now) my favorite airport by far

[@SniPYo]

SFO is the best airport in the US. It’s quiet, you have enough comfortable space/table in the terminal, plus their WiFi is fast

[@rodrigovilla8675]

I just wanna say, I just been in this airport last december and the experience were amazing, so clean, big, comfy , quiet and in order a beautiful airport

[@gettyyoung46]

SFO is ideal size for me. Big enough to attract major airlines to generate competitive fare (at least for international flights). But not too big like ATL and ORD, too busy like JFK and NEW, too spread out like DAL, too cramped like CLT, or too worn out like DTW (don't know if it got renovated but I remember buckets around the waiting area to catch rainwater). That said, when I go overseas, I avoid connecting within the US. It is not a pleasant experience to fly within the US or be sitting in a US airport.

[@TeaCupLady]

Which year when you experienced DTW?

[@mikerodgers7535]

DTW is pretty nice now.

[@kenny0626]

Quiet airport is such a brilliant feature. Feels like fewer and fewer people rely on announcements to get to where they should be going anyway nowadays.

[@isaacng123456789]

90% of the time I couldn't even understand what the announcement is saying. Not to mention most people have earphone/headphone all all the time nowadays.

[@truly747]

SFO food is elite - best variety I've seen, and also way more vegetarian/vegan options than any other airport.

[@danielgardner8013]

Was just in SFO the other week, looked great! Not that it affects me regularly but having the terminals connected will be a huge plus. Impressive baggage and security systems, hope this comes to EWR soon.

[@chuckefunn8624]

I think one thing that is truly unique about the airport that I love is the art exhibit and the museum

[@heyitsnasira]

Funny, I fly out of SFO, particularly Terminal 1, during and after remodeling. I always loved it but now I really am thankful my home airport is my favorite and the smoothest

[@cxsey8587]

If only US train infrastructure had this much investment and innovation

[@maplenerd22]

Never going to happen. U.S cities are built around highways. There are no cities other than New York where there is a train station within the city. In Europe, the cities were built around train tracks. Every major city have a train station near by. They're not going to pour money into trains when the stations are just as far away as airports.

[@cxsey8587]

@@maplenerd22 I’m plenty aware, hence the “if only”

[@sportsMike87]

Clean bathrooms are something I look for.

[@Magnetorheological]

Best thing about SFO is that there's an In-n-Out right across the street :P

[@ScottysAir]

We haven’t visit SFO for over two decades now. Last time we flew to SFO in summer 2002. I remember that day. That was so long time ago.

[@Gojoe107]

So happy to see this! I think that they clearly hired the same people from Heathrow and hong Kong and asked how they can do that... But better 🙂

[@djdsf]

I'll definitely fly through SFO more if they offer sparkling water.

[@krissp8712]

Really? You'd just go there for something you could pick up in a bottle? Surely the taxi to SFO makes up for what you save on water xD

[@glennreed9764]

Hope the Quiet Airport movement catches-on.

[@zzzzzzzzzzz6]

It is genuinely great.

[@Nicky-WorldCitizen]

When I came back from Asia in September 2022, unfortunately I still had to exit the international terminal to go though security again for my domestic connection. I will really look forward to the day when that won’t be necessary.

[@charlesm.1638]

I went through terminal 1 when it was still under construction. I was on my way to Boston for my grandmother's funeral in early 2021.

[@MyEthan1998]

She just dropped her stuff and walked away 💀 2:12

[@gumerzambrano]

I'm flying into SFO from LAX tomorrow morning!

[@quietturtle8211]

Good restaurants and 24/7 service. People with late night flights also gets hungry.

[@jackgorman6464]

Shout out to Hensel Phelps and the construction trades that make all this possible!

[@Kevindevin7]

I love SFO!!!

[@DosAussieThai]

At Bangkok airport, to fly to many destinations, the crews will make passengers pour away any water they have before entering the gate lounge, including water bought after the security (which is very stupid.) Therefore, the airport has to provides water fountains/refillers at every gate.

[@farhanabdulhamid4214]

Wow Tnx bro good

[@ditto_koffing]

1:09 the guy in the green hat is a top 10 guilty gear strive player

[@bitcoinheist7831]

WSJ went to check why they gave SFO the best airport title?

[@cuongtruong6043]

Airports are only starting to implement the idea of planning foot traffic to reduce congestion. The reduced noise and encouragement to use earphones is a great idea. I wished that when it came to boarding, that airlines board in a more orderly fashion and have passenger sat in sections prior to boarding so there isn't a mad rush and eliminates the delay on the airplane when putting luggage in the overhead compartments.

[@toddhayes3506]

Great Job Travel SFO

[@Fonua510]

Worked on ramp in that terminal, and the bag belt was the WORST! We always wondered why it cost so much money, but it was the slowest and jammed up every time. 😬

[@LunaVioletta7]

It is the worst now, or it was before remodeling?

[@nezb01]

Best airport in the United States. Not even close in the world.

[@Student0Toucher]

Depends what you think defines best..Also doesn’t really matter though most U.S airports get the job done quite well and many are being upgraded….Remember we built our nice airports way back before those poor nations finally got money and coped by building fancy advanced beautiful airports.

[@amineantion]

Well that's because our airports are for getting people from point A to point B. There's no good reason and it's a waste of money to spend like Singapore or Dubai. Those cities are more focused on gaining international relevance by building super extravagant projects

[@bluegas]

If you have travelled beyond USA, or regularly within USA and Europe, you’ll see how miserable US airports are. SFO is the only USA airport that felt I was in Europe or anywhere else in the the developed world.

[@C.C-os1cz]

Traveling with a kid as a single military parent is hard. I try to make notes on which airport facility is better. I prefer SFO, just because it’s easy to navigate around, it’s innovative, it’s clean and it is quiet.

[@johnpatrick1588]

The US is horrible for connecting international flights. Fly from country "A" to USA to get a connecting flight to country "B" means having to collect checked luggage, go through customs and immigration then go to the counter to recheck bags and go through security again then to the gate. Most countries allow going from one plane to the other without the hassle and wasting tons of time in lines.

[@squigglyteeth]

Interesting that they didn't mention that SFO is the only major airport that uses private security instead of TSA. How about that.

[@brianac8764]

I’m just waiting for them to upgrade their bigger terminals

[@maribethcondrillon1079]

wow amazing 🤩

[@clifftanch]

You’re giving a skewed view of SFO. It’s helpful Terminal 1 has been upgraded, but when I recently flew out of the Delta Terminal the infrastructure (power plugs, USB charge ports) looked like they haven’t been upgraded in at least 15 years. Quite surprised SFO was able to capture #1 in your rankings.

[@r3nw]

2:23 insane way to tie up shoe

[@djcb4190]

Good for you

[@Student0Toucher]

I live so close to SFO like 10 minutes but always fly out of SJC or OAK because they are cheaper

[@jerrychin6299]

hello pablo

[@williamcheek7206]

It seems like the price comparison is not a fair comparison. I would want to see the equivalent route from the competing airports to a destination compared to SFO. otherwise comparing regional flights to international flights provides no relevant information.

[@worldcitizeng6507]

New New Istanbul airport build in 2029 is very impressive. It's huge!

[@gettyyoung46]

I thought IST already got a new airport.

[@worldcitizeng6507]

@@gettyyoung46 I mean Istanbul new airport was completed and in operation since April 2019. I was there in June 2019

[@tunaalkan5407]

Can the SFO management please take over Toronto YYZ

[@YoshiRodriguez]

Sfo Is the best !

[@danielmatthews5656]

New system....wow....my luggage was in SFO for over three weeks.....at least it was delivered to me....

[@supertrain55]

As a visually impaired person, I have to say that “quiet airports” are really tough. Especially because the font on gate/boarding displays is often quite small. I’m sure some announcements are unnecessary but at least one or two boarding calls would be much appreciated

[@kediloaf]

This is a great insight. Thanks for sharing!

[@toddhayes3506]

Professional Class Travel Invest

[@goofytuna6077]

Could use some of these changes at IAH

[@triduytran]

I love most everything about the new Terminal 1, except for the automatic x-ray machines. These automatic x-ray machines operate way too slowly and completely slow down the line.

[@lavalampluva55401]

SFO and MSP are my favorite airports. I like SEA but it always seems like it's under construction. I avoid ATL as much as possible. lol

[@mikemiller659]

abc has always been a fav

[@tuyenhoang5546]

What SFO needs is more officers at immigration line. Doesn’t matter how fast your luggages get out if you stuck in line for hours.

[@RaymondHng]

That's not the "immigration line". It's Border Control. Look into getting Global Entry to go through Border Control quicker.

[@PurpleDrazi]

So, when will I be able to walk between terminals one and two post-security?

[@hillbomb808]

jfk needs to take notes

[@PaulHo]

Great airport, great host. Limit families to their own corrals though.

[@BayAreaTraveler]

The on-time arrival stats for SFO is very misleading. Of course it is on-time, you don't have nearly as many flights as before the pandemic.

[@강태민-h6o]

it's gotta be no.1 airport in the states cuz the asian ones like incheon, Singapore, and ones in china and japan are way more like incomparably better

[@jaemyungkim5226]

That airport is huge.. and i hates it during the transfer

[@hernandezxavier21]

What about MCO Orlando’s new terminal C ?

[@tiltheendoftim3]

Ok but what about the mess in terminal 2 and 3!? For the first time, I got lost in an airport-not #1 in my opinion

[@cityofabscissae]

It's "Minneapolis-Saint Paul," not "Minneapolis."

[@MortonElizabeth-r4h]

Marvin Crossing

[@MicrobialLuke]

Its takes fewer syllables to say Wall Street Journal than "W. S. J." lol

[@wingmantx]

Good, but we also want better ATC for safety

[@lutomson3496]

Put in an airtag

[@JonLemons1]

As an employee The bag system is the worse Just ask the passengers. It’s takes the passengers an hour and 15 mins to get their bag once the plane is parked. The baggage system is always jammed. The baggage system is the worse at Harvey terminal This video or the directors are a lie LoL

[@TheArtificiallyIntelligent]

But how many Tortas Frontera locations do they have? Can't really be #1 vs O'Hare without that.

[@808guac4]

Lol it's like 25% more expensive to fly into sfo instead of Oakland. That's issue number one

[@DemPilafian]

*SFO sign:* Speakers OFF, Earbuds ON. Your music, Your video, Your phone calls are for *YOUR* ears only! To all coffee shop owners: *Please check out this sign.* 👆

[@IAMSUHAIRUI]

nice but 2.5 billion???

[@danl.2626]

I certainly enjoy sfo much more than lax

[@kens962]

00:12 WSJ must have not been to SFO during heavy traffic. The roadway is built like a horseshoe (one way in one way out) where everyone has to drive by each terminal before exiting (unlike LAX). I have to say Harvey Milk terminal is nice, it could use more restaurants, it is nice though, but can’t match Changi Airport in Singapore.

[@CHMichael]

4:00 carbonizing water is not expensive .

[@cptalpdeniz]

To be honest if you are going to make a list of Best Airports of 2022 but only include US, then name the list Best US Airports of 2022. World is not just USA.

[@gettyyoung46]

It's an American thing. Consider the title bestow on the team winning final of of the sport season.

[@Dreamingmerc]

Ask why a lot of the food and service vendors are considering going in strike ...

[@kayposia4997]

0.56

[@alimfuzzy]

Nice but it's still nothing compared to Changi airport.

[@Surtistuff]

Why do you keep saying “W-S-J”’s rating instead of “our rating”

[@bobthemagicmoose]

I don't know, I felt like Oakland was way more reliable and a quicker experience altogether. Ghetto for sure, but when you want the airport to be a minimal part of your travels, I always picked OAK.

[@ToothlesstheNightFury510]

a lot of my friends fly Oakland and they say it’s better than San Jose and sfo for no delay times

[@gettyyoung46]

One big advantage OAK has over SFO is the weather. Fog is a major contributor to delay at SFO. That said, OAK is likely stain by the troublesome city. Otherwise, it's quite a convenient airport to travel through.

[@sallu94]

$8 for renting a bag trolley is pure robbery

[@nsng1298]

I have been to 57 countries and I believe the U.S. is the only country where you have to pay to use a trolley.

[@tripham2850]

We should contract FedEx or UPS to ship traveler luggage for safety and profitable on efficiency for all alliance companies

[@oldtwinsna8347]

So I'm supposed to live with having my luggage arrive from across the coast in 7 days? No thanks.

[@Kuma40]

Average ticket prices are higher...... whatever. I only go to Japan, so no need of San Jose or Oakland. LAX is cheaper in that sense, but I dislike LAX for so many crazy travelers and lack of decent restaurants.

[@thetrends5670]

Is this Airport in GTA SA?

[@Kaijuus]

If ALT is now 3, then your survey is already garbage.

[@eugeniorenaldo]

The young journalist is just as sooooo patronizing as all young journalists are.

[@chuckefunn8624]

The airport needs another runway and city it self needs to clean up because tourism and conventions will skip San Francisco all together

[@brodobroggins]

Isn’t $2.5B without adding any extra runways extremely expensive for an amenities and logistics upgrade? For reference the Golden Gate Bridge took $530M in 2020 dollars to build. The cost of this upgrade could have funded 4-5x Golden Gate Bridges. How did they fund this upgrade?

[@auro1986]

why? to get award from wsj and because wsj transits here most of the time

[@thunderdemonlover]

May I add Another 2 Billion like Qatar 🇶🇦 Airport if we don’t get prize i want to 60% same 😅😅😅 Qatar Airport 🎉

[@Jdigger4130]

2.5 billion huh... so faucets and bag system is very cool but sure seems like its a lot of money to me. I will say I sure prefer Oak and SJO to do the flying I do.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

Times have changed. Just renovating a home kitchen can cost 30k.