Why do you still use sfo or oak airports? (San Diego: stats, metro)

[Chimérique]

Sacramento International Airport (SMF) had:

13,172,840 passengers in 2019 (pre-pandemic)

dropped to

5,583,052 passengers in 2020, pandemic year, that was a 57.5% drop

but steadily and dramatically increased to

9,702,030 passenger in 2021, 73.8% increase

as of the end of October 2022, SMF has rebounded back over 10 million to

10,250,096 passengers, but still has 2 more months to go for 2022 for an

estimated 12,750,000 passengers for 2022

[Chimérique]

Some of the new improvements to SMF will include:

1. A New Garage, it will sit where the Terminal B Hourly LOT sits now, and will connect via the existing SkyBridge to the west of the Central Terminal B Building. The current Garage always fills-up fast as do the various lots especially during Holiday travel.

2. Terminal A - Airside/Post-Security, both legs of that concourse will increase allowing for 3-6 more gates, and more concessions space.

3. Terminal A - Landside/Pre-Security Building will increase in square footage on both sides, allowing for more pre-security concession space, ticketing counter space, baggage carousel space, over-all more room as that space was designed in the late 90's before the new security protocols were implemented.

4. Terminal B - Airside/Post-Security, both ends (east and west) will increase allowing for 4-6 more gates, and more concessions space.

5. Central Terminal B Building - Landside/Pre-Security and Airside/Post-Security. A new multi-level enclosed walkway structure that will connect Central Terminal B with the Concourse B gates building. It will be next to the AirTram. This enclosed walkway is needed to accommodate increased passengers and relieve the burden on the AirTram. It's a long walk so elder folks and the disabled will still opt for the AirTram. Because of the long distance to Terminal B Security; it will have moving side walks and it will be multi-level with escalators/elevators.

6. A new Ground Transportation Center enclosed area for App-Based (Uber, Lyft) ground transportation. I am not sure exactly where this will be located....somewhere between Terminal A and Central Terminal B.

[censusdata]

What is the average cost difference vs SF area airports currently? We're planning out a possible CA trip this coming spring and was thinking of using Sacramento airport as it's more centrally located and away from traffic to hit Yosemite, Lassen / Shasta, and SF city.

[Chimérique]

Essentially, zero difference, in some cases I've seen flights cheaper to Sacramento International-SMF, versus SFO.

Regarding parking at the airport, Sacramento-SMF is cheaper than SFO and the other Bay Area airports.

You mention Lassen and Shasta, in that case, SMF over SFO for sure. Yosemite is about equal difference between SMF and SFO.

If you have no reason to be in the San Francisco Bay Area then don't fly there to get to other parts of NorCal, fly to Sacramento-SMF for Lassen, Shasta, Tahoe, Yosemite, and Napa Valley. And if your travel involves parts of the Sacramento Area proper then for sure fly to SMF.

By the way, the main airport in Sacramento is SMF, not SAC.

SAC is the other, original airport for smaller private-corporate travel, etc. known as Sacramento Executive.

[Chimérique]

Another Big Win for SMF

Air Canada will be adding Non-stop direct service to Toronto, Canada from Sacramento.

This is huge because not only does it a add a very large international city to our list of non-stop destinations; it give us more and easier options to reach Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, specifically international capitals like London, Frankfurt, Delhi, and São Paulo.


This is good for all types international business as it's always a positive when the local airport has non-stops to the largest international world cities. Toronto is a global hub. It's the "New York City" of Canada.

This also opens up Canada's eastern Provinces to Sacramentans like no other american airline can as Toronto has flights to every where within Canada including those hard to reach smaller Canadian cities.

Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, making it a “must-visit” for all sorts of travelers, whether their interests lie in food, culture, sports or the great outdoors. From the St. Lawrence Market to the Royal Ontario Museum to the Hockey Hall of Fame and distinct vibrant neighborhoods, The 6ix is a popular destination for leisure and business travelers alike.

Flights will take place on Air Canadas new Airbus A220-300 aircraft offering business and economy class service.

Passengers traveling from Canada to Sacramento will pre-clear US customs prior to boarding in Toronto. Canada is the only foreign country that the US is authorized to have US customs on foreign soil.

[sacreole]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Another Big Win for SMF

Air Canada will be adding Non-stop direct service to Toronto, Canada from Sacramento.

This is huge because not only does it a add a very large international city to our list of non-stop destinations; it give us more and easier options to reach Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, specifically international capitals like London, Frankfurt, Delhi, and São Paulo.


This is good for all types international business as it's always a positive when the local airport has non-stops to the largest international world cities. Toronto is a global hub. It's the "New York City" of Canada.

This also opens up Canada's eastern Provinces to Sacramentans like no other American airline can as Toronto has flights to every where within Canada including those hard to reach smaller Canadian cities.

Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, making it a “must-visit” for all sorts of travelers, whether their interests lie in food, culture, sports or the great outdoors. From the St. Lawrence Market to the Royal Ontario Museum to the Hockey Hall of Fame and distinct vibrant neighborhoods, The 6ix is a popular destination for leisure and business travelers alike.

Flights will take place on the Air Canadas new Airbus A220-300 aircraft offering business and economy class service.

Passengers traveling from Canada to Sacramento will pre-clear US customs prior to boarding in Toronto. Canada is the only foreign country that the US is authorized to have US customs on foreign soil.

This is a very encouraging development; although I hear that Toronto's Pearson International Airport can be bear to transit through. Air Canada already flies between Sacramento and Vancouver. I can't wait for SMF to see direct transatlantic and transpacific flights in the future.

[sacreole]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Canada is the only foreign country that the US is authorized to have US customs on foreign soil.

Actually, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has similar pre-clearance arrangements in other foreign countries such as Ireland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Aruba, and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...r_preclearance

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by sacreole

Actually, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has similar pre-clearance arrangements in other foreign countries such as Ireland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Aruba, and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...r_preclearance

Thanks for that piece of pre-clearance info......I wondered if it was more than just Canada.

November numbers are out..... a little over 1.3 million passengers.

So, Total for SMF, Jan-Nov 2022 (not including Dec) is 11,352,393 passengers!

Hopefully, the Southwest fiasco will not affect the Dec numbers too much.

As of tomorrow, Southwest is supposed to be back to normal operations.

On Southwest alone, there are 143 flights to Southern Cal and Vegas from SMF tomorrow.

Of those, 59 are Non-Stop flights to Southern California and Vegas from SMF tomorrow. (I'm counting only Southwest, not the other airlines).

[Chimérique]

Did anyone have trouble with Southwest over holidays, and did you get compensation, refund, voucher, etc. for your cancelled or delayed flight?

[mixxalot]

I’m waiting for direct flights from SMF to Florida. Had a nightmare dealing with connecting flights out of SMF to Ft. Lauderdale recently.