Construction progress on Boarding Area E at United’s Terminal 3 at SFO as of March 14. (Photo: SFO)
Have you flown United Express out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) lately?
If so, you likely know that most (but not all) United Express flights now use Terminal 1 instead of United’s Terminal 3.
Passengers who don’t know– and enter the airport at United’s T3– must descend a metal stairway and into a small shuttle bus that moves through the bowels of the airport and then deposits them on the ramp by Terminal 1.
Since TravelSkills broke this news last June, United has been using Terminal 1 for its Express flights while it waits for reconstruction of Boarding Area E (the old American gates) to be completed, allowing it to consolidate its operations in Terminal 3.
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Originally, the reconstruction of Boarding Area E was to be complete in October 2013. This week SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told TravelSkills that completion of Boarding Area E has been pushed back “until late January 2014.”
Yakel explained that the delay is due to, “the addition of items in the project scope, including additional airline and concession space as well as expanded wayfinding. The biggest single item was the addition of another elevator, which required the creation of a new elevator shaft.”
Yakel also confirmed a rumor we reported last week that is only going to add more to the confusion: SFO has allocated Gate 47 in Terminal 1, Boarding Area C (the Delta terminal) to United starting July 1. But, he said, “It remains to be see how United ends up using it.”
So far, our requests to United for more information have not been answered.
Have you experienced United’s musical gates at SFO? Please leave a comment about your experience(s) below.
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I am glad to hear this. I went to SFO last summer to meet a passenger coming from the UK – went to Terminal 1, was told to go to Terminal 3, and the same thing happened: Neither one knew the right answer. It was only when the passenger had my name called over the intercom that I knew where she was waiting… A lot of rushing up & down, back and forth. Not good!
Hey John– you are not the only frequent flyer who is a little confused by all this, I assure you! — chris
After “E” is completed, is the next phase the major renovation of the “B” and “C” gates? I know that information is out there but I, for whatever reason, can’t find it.
Or when United uses the domestic terminal for Canada flights. I haven’t figured out the criteria for when they use the International Terminal or Terminal 3, but I’m 0 for 4 on getting the right terminal on my recent trips to Canada, and it has been split 50:50 between International and T3.
United will use gate 47 (at Delta’s pier) only on an absolute needed basis. United says it stretches their crews thin having to run between terminals as each have their own security check points and it becomes difficult to meet and work flights being spaced so far apart.
How many times have we sat on an arriving flight for a half hour before the gate agent came to move the jet bridge to the plane to let us off? Here’s why.
I don’t think Frontier will move to pier B as it is full to capacity. Security lines cannot handle additional stress there.
Delta has added additional flights for our summer schedule so we will have to tow off more over night planes to allow 47 to be free for United. But as I stated, United is planning to try hard not to use it but am sure they added flights for the summer as well.
It’s almost equally confusing when United uses gates in the international terminal for a domestic flight. The passageway from International G to Terminal 3 is easy to miss. I’ve had an ORD-SFO flight park at gate 92 then had to make a connection to a United Express flight at gate 36 (Terminal 1). I can’t imagine how confusing that must be for passengers unfamiliar with SFO.