Mineta San Jose International Airport Archives

The sooner the better for summer travel planning

April 13, 2017

With more nonstops to more places than ever, San Jose’s striking Terminal B is the first step to a great summer vacation! (Photo: SJC)

Several factors are coming together in 2017 to make this one of the busiest summers ever for vacation travel: tough fare competition among airlines, low fuel prices, and an improving economy. But don’t make the mistake of waiting too long before you firm up your plans.

Airlines are adding more flights and destinations from the Bay Area’s airports – especially Mineta San Jose International (now the nation’s fastest growing airport)– giving travelers a better selection of non-stop vacation possibilities. (Check its rapidly expanding destination roster here)

But increased demand means those flights will fill up fast, and so will the most desirable hotel rooms and rental cars. So as soon as you’ve settled on a destination and approximate dates (flexibility in your days of travel can work to your advantage), get on your mobile phone or laptop and start investigating options for all the elements of your trip. A delay in planning and booking could mean settling for a connection instead of a non-stop flight, a room facing the parking lot instead of the ocean, and a rental car that’s bigger or smaller than you really need.

Keep in mind, too, that prices for the various elements of your vacation are likely to increase the longer you wait. Airfares, hotel rates and rental car prices are not fixed; they change every day based on fluctuations in supply and demand. So as more air seats, rooms and cars are booked up for the summer, the cost of the remaining ones tends to go up.

Air China now offers nonstops to Shanghai from San Jose International (Photo: SJC)

The peak time for summer vacations is July through mid-August, so you might save some money and find greater availability if you schedule your trip before or after those times – before June 15, say, or after August 15.

Got a big international trip in mind? There are several new non-stop destinations from Mineta San Jose in 2017. Last year, British Airways started flights from SJC to London, Lufthansa began flying to Frankfurt, and Air China added non-stop service to Shanghai. If you want to head south of the border, look for new Aeromexico daily flights to Guadalajara beginning July 1- the city’s high altitude makes for a cool summer destination. To the north, Air Canada’s service from SJC to one of Canada’s hottest destinations – Vancouver – will be increased with a third daily roundtrip starting May 2.

United and Alaska Airlines now offer nonstops between Silicon Valley and the Big Apple- check out Brooklyn while you are there! (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Closer to home, there are lots of new options. If the Big Apple is on your wish list, both United and Alaska Airlines started daily flights to Newark in March. United also added daily SJC-Chicago O’Hare service. If southern California’s your preference, JetBlue recently started four flights a day from SJC to Long Beach, and Alaska last month introduced three flights a day to Burbank (both of them nice alternatives to overcrowded and under construction LAX).

Southwest will add San Jose-Reno to its network on June 4, with one daily roundtrip. And American Airlines will kick off seasonal daily flights from SJC to its Charlotte hub on May 5.

So get off the fence, check your calendar, and nail down your summer vacation plans before it’s too late.

Have you flown in or out of San Jose lately? Why or why not? Are you more likely to give SJC a try now that it’s added this slew of new flights? Please leave your comments below.

This post is sponsored by Mineta San Jose International Airport

Disclosure: Thank you for reading TravelSkills! We will periodically create posts or send out messages like this one from commercial partners about topics relevant to frequent travel. Our sponsors’ support, and yours, help us keep TravelSkills a free publication.

Mineta San Jose Airport: New transcon routes and more

March 23, 2017

San Jose getting even more new nonstops to East Coast! (Photo: SJC)

Bay Area business travelers are seeing new flights at all three major airports in the region as passenger traffic keeps increasing, but one of them is adding new capacity at a faster rate than any airport in the country.

That airport is Mineta San Jose International (SJC), where total passenger traffic last year soared above the 10 million mark to 10.8 million, a gain of more than 10 percent over the previous year. For international passengers, the annual increase was more than 68 percent over 2015 as more carriers added transatlantic and transpacific service from SJC.

The number of airline seats flying in and out of SJC during March was up almost 20 percent over the same month a year ago. The average increase for U.S. airports was under 5 percent.

The capacity boom at Mineta San Jose is continuing this month with new transcontinental service – in fact, the same route — from two airlines. March 9 was the launch date for United’s new daily non-stops to its Newark Liberty hub, and three days later, Alaska Airlines inaugurated its own daily flights to EWR. United also started up twice-daily service to its big hub at Chicago O’Hare.

You can find more details about new San Jose routes here.

More planes, more flights, more passengers than ever at SJC (Photo: SJC)

With the tremendous growth in the nation’s technology sector, Mineta San Jose is positioning itself as the gateway airport for Silicon Valley business travelers, since the companies that collective name refers to are mostly just a few miles up the Highway 101 from SJC in towns like Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto. It’s closer not only in highway miles, but especially in drive time thanks to its distance from the congested San Francisco peninsula (and its crowded airport).

Those new transcons from United and Alaska are just a few of the new services coming to SJC in late winter and spring. In mid-March, Alaska added California Corridor service between Mineta San Jose and the Los Angeles area’s uncrowded Hollywood-Burbank Airport, with three daily roundtrips. And in May, SJC will welcome seasonal daily service from American Airlines to its Charlotte, N.C. hub, as well as a third daily roundtrip to Atlanta being added to Delta’s schedule. On June 4, Southwest is due to begin daily roundtrips from Mineta San Jose to Reno.

And later this year, Alaska Airlines will begin new daily E175 service from SJC to Austin and Tucson (both starting August 28), and four flights a day to Los Angeles International (beginning September 20).

On the hunt for colorful planes? Look no further than San Jose! (Photo: SJC)

More international flights are coming as well. Aeromexico is set to start flying once a day from SJC to its Guadalajara hub on July 1. And on May 2, Air Canada will add a third daily frequency to its SJC-Vancouver route. That’s all in addition to the big bump in international options for business travelers that came to SJC last year, including Air China’s non-stops to Shanghai, British Airways’ flights to London Heathrow, and Lufthansa’s to Frankfurt.

It’s easier than ever now for South Bay road warriors to get to Europe or Asia from SJC without a connection.

Have you flown in or out of San Jose lately? Why or why not? Are you more likely to give SJC a try now that it’s added this slew of new flights? Please leave your comments below.

This post is sponsored by Mineta San Jose International Airport

Mineta San Jose airport adding even more flights in 2017

January 17, 2017

United Airlines Boeing 737-800s will soon fly nonstop to New York and Chicago from San Jose (Image: Chad Slattery / United)

With major U.S. airlines adding more flights at Mineta San Jose International this winter and spring, and with international flight options taking off, the airport has been making substantial improvements to handle increased passenger traffic.

New domestic flights starting in the first half of the New Year include:

A new route for JetBlue between SJC and its Long Beach focus city, where it started operating four daily roundtrips during the first week of January.

A pair of new nonstops for United Airlines, both starting March 9. United will begin twice-daily flights to its big hub at Chicago O’Hare, and one daily roundtrip to its East Coast hub at Newark Liberty International. United will use 737-800s on both routes.

Staking a bigger claim in California, Alaska Airlines will inaugurate new transcontinental service on the SJC-Newark route on March 12, operating one daily roundtrip, followed by new intrastate service three times a day from San Jose to Hollywood-Burbank beginning March 16. These are the fourth and fifth new Alaska Airlines routes at SJC since late 2015, giving the carrier a total of 16 destinations.

On May 1, Air Canada is due to add a third daily frequency between San Jose-Vancouver.

American Airlines’ seasonal service between San Jose and Charlotte is set to resume May 5.

Delta will boost its presence at San Jose beginning May 25, when it expands its schedule to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson from two flights a day to three.

And Southwest will kick off daily San Jose-Reno service June 4.

You can find more details about new San Jose routes here.

First stop: SJC's new business class lounge

SJC’s popular business class lounge awarded “Priority Pass Lounge of the Year for North America.” (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Even without these new flights, SJC has been experiencing healthy growth in passenger numbers. Through the first 10 months of 2016, the domestic passenger count topped the 4 million mark, an increase of more than 7 percent year-over-year. And thanks to new flights across both the Atlantic and Pacific, international traffic at SJC jumped more than 68 percent during that period.

New and improved passenger amenities at Mineta San Jose make life easier for travelers. The three-year-old Club at SJC in Terminal A, a lounge open to all travelers on a paid basis and also a part of the Priority Pass network of airport lounges, was recently named the Priority Pass Airport Lounge of the Year for North America.

International travelers at SJC are finding their lives a little easier thanks to recent improvements that help them to speed through passenger processing. Many domestic travelers rely on TSA’s PreCheck program to move through security screening more quickly, but now some international travelers at San Jose can also take advantage of that benefit: Lufthansa – which began San Jose-Frankfurt flights last summer – recently became the first European airline to begin participation in PreCheck.

International travelers at SJC can now download Customs and Border Protection’s free Mobile Passport Control app on their phones or tablets and use it to submit their passport data and Customs declaration form to CBP. A coded electronic receipt shown to the CBP officer lets them move quickly through the arrivals process. And the airport also offers CBP’s Global Entry kiosks for international arrivals who belong to that trusted traveler program, allowing them to bypass lines. Also available at SJC are Automated Passport Control kiosks where arriving travelers can submit their entry information.

No need to fill out paper customs and immigration forms when you have the new Mobile Passport Control app

And more enhancements are on the way. This spring, the airport is expected to finish a renovation of its International Arrivals Building that will add 5,600 square feet along with a second baggage carousel and an enclosed waiting area.

A look at what the new International Arrivals lobby (Image: SJC)

A image of the future International Arrivals lobby (Image: SJC)

On a lighter note, Mineta San Jose has garnered attention and acclaim for its recent deployment of three interactive customer service robots – an appropriate innovation for an airport that serves as the gateway to Silicon Valley. Even more interactive robots – smaller ones – are featured in the airport’s new play area for children in Terminal B.

You can find more details about new San Jose routes here.

This post is sponsored by Mineta San Jose International Airport

Disclosure: Thank you for reading TravelSkills! We will periodically send out messages like this one from commercial partners about topics relevant to frequent travel. Our sponsors’ support, and yours, help us keep TravelSkills a free publication.

Roundup: San Jose’s flourishing flight options

December 14, 2016

British Airways added San Jose-London service last spring with a new 787-9. (Image: British Airways)

Mineta San Jose International Airport is entering a real boom period, with both domestic and international airlines adding new routes right and left. With a growing regional population and a perfect location as the gateway to one of the world’s biggest technology hubs, Mineta San Jose is well positioned for continued growth into the 21^st century.

That technology hub, of course, is Silicon Valley. Some of the world’s leading tech giants have offices no more than a dozen miles from SJC, including companies like Apple, Google, Symantec, Intel, Cisco, Adobe Systems, Netflix, SanDisk and many more. Not only is a trip to Mineta San Jose a fraction of the distance to San Francisco International Airport for these companies, but SJC’s smaller size makes the airport experience less hectic for passengers (through the first nine months of 2016, SJC boarded fewer than 4 million passengers, vs. almost 20 million at SFO).

With all those business travelers close by, and with its fast-growing, high-income population (San Jose is the 10^th largest city in the U.S., and its metropolitan area has a median household income of $100,385), it’s not surprising that airlines are eager to accommodate that market.

Lufthansa uses an A340-300 on its new San Jose-Frankfurt route. (Image: BriYYZ/Wikimedia Commons)

In recent months, Mineta San Jose has attracted new routes from several international airlines, among them:

Lufthansa this past summer began flying non-stop to Frankfurt five times a week, using a 298-passenger, three-class A340-300. Through its Frankfurt hub, the German carrier offers connections to 100 cities in Europe and beyond.

British Airways last spring kicked off the first non-stop service from SJC to London Heathrow, using a brand-new, 216-passenger, four-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. It’s BA’s fourth destination in California, along with Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.

In September, Air China launched a new transpacific route from SJC to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, making San Jose the airline’s 10^th North American gateway. The Chinese carrier uses a two-class, 237-seat Airbus A330-200 to fly the new route three days a week. SJC Aviation Director Kim Becker said the new route is expected to bring $65 million a year in economic investment to the San Jose area.

It’s not as far away, but another new international destination for SJC that started this year is Vancouver. Air Canada last spring kicked off twice-daily service between the two cities, using Bombardier CRJ-705s. Airport officials noted that Vancouver is sometimes called Silicon Valley North, since more than 200 Silicon Valley companies have offices there.

While the Lufthansa and British Airways flights represented SJC’s most recent transatlantic non-stops, it already offered transpacific service to Tokyo with All Nippon Airways (ANA) and to Beijing with Hainan Airlines.

Alaska, Southwest, United and JetBlue are all growing at SJC. (Image: Jim Glab)

New domestic routes are also proliferating. San Jose got another new transcontinental flight last month, when Southwest Airlines began a daily roundtrip to Baltimore/Washington International. At the same time, Southwest also started new twice-daily SJC-Salt Lake City service. And American Airlines this past summer added daily seasonal service between SJC and its Charlotte hub.

In March of next year, both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are set to begin new daily non-stops from SJC to Newark Liberty International, and United will start twice-daily flights from SJC to its big Chicago O’Hare hub as well. In mid-May, Delta will add a third daily SJC-Atlanta flight.

Intra-California traffic is also booming, attracting new service in the California corridor. Last summer, Alaska Airlines started flying three times a day from SJC to both San Diego and Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. And on January 4, JetBlue will kick off SJC-Long Beach service, offering four daily roundtrips, followed by three daily Alaska Airlines flights to Burbank beginning in mid-March.

You can find more details about new San Jose routes here.

This post is sponsored by Mineta San Jose International Airport