San Diego airport (Long Beach, Oakland, London: rental car, renting, home)

[loves2read]

flew in today and was less than impressed

poor signage to luggage/rental cars

long way to walk to luggage/rental cars if your gate is at the end of terminal

old and not updated --
this is a big airport isn't it?
why hasn't it been updated

[TristramShandy]

It's not big. Not a lot of stop overs when you are nestled into a corner of the country - - you typically start or stop in San Diego, not move through it. As such, you're not spending 5 hours on a layover in San Diego. You get here two hours before your plane leaves or you land and you get out of the airport as quickly as possible. It's not the type of airport that needs to have a mall in it.

You may have also noticed that there isn't a lot of available land surrounding the airport. It was built at a time when the city had much less population and we've kind of outgrown it. But if you're going to keep the airport there, you're either knocking down buildings or building out into the water.

[jksouthbay88]

I like our Airport.But way too small.

[MAK802]

Big? It's one of the smallest airports I frequent which is awesome considering taxing takes 5 minutes vs. 20 at most of the major ones. Really, if you get lost at this airport it's your own fault..it's kind of impossible to do given the small size.

[loves2read]

all airports require adequate, useful signage--
this airport does not have good signage
it is dated--that had nothing to do with its size or whether or not it gets pass-through vs start/stop flyers

the shuttle buses really slow down after 8 pm--for people who come in on later flights that is not cool

DFW has decent signage and if you are not making a connection it is easy to get to your gate and to get luggage and leave--
SAN is too lackadaisical about the fact that it is not that "big"

[The Button]

I love my airport, small and easy.

You learn to appreciate the airport when you visit other airports.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by loves2read

all airports require adequate, useful signage--
this airport does not have good signage
it is dated--that had nothing to do with its size or whether or not it gets pass-through vs start/stop flyers

the shuttle buses really slow down after 8 pm--for people who come in on later flights that is not cool

DFW has decent signage and if you are not making a connection it is easy to get to your gate and to get luggage and leave--
SAN is too lackadaisical about the fact that it is not that "big"

For a city it's size, SAN doesn't quite fit anymore. However, signage is adequate as finding the luggage area shouldn't be that hard in such a small airport anyway. Whenever I fly between Oakland and San Diego, I like how quickly I can get out of SAN, 4 minutes as opposed to OAK's 10. Like another poster mentioned, expanding it would require major upheavals in the downtown and SD bay areas. There has been talk of moving it but the choices were either unappealing (such as sharing it with Tijuana at Brown Field) or not realistic (such as sharing MCAS with the military). We'll have Lindberg for a bit longer.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by loves2read

flew in today and was less than impressed

poor signage to luggage/rental cars

long way to walk to luggage/rental cars if your gate is at the end of terminal

old and not updated --
this is a big airport isn't it?
why hasn't it been updated

Nope, Lindbergh is a matchbox, one strip airport. Not sure about the signage though as I never really minded to look as a first time flier, but I will take everyones word for it.

As a frequent flier, when I come home (despite the construction at Terminal 2), I am in an out of this airport within 15 mins of getting off the plane. I cant say that for many other airports I have EVER been to.
DFW takes approx 30 mins to travel from one end to the other BY CAR and the the ridiculous toll or whatever that payment system to just go through the airport? Ridiculous. Then if you are renting a car, its wayyyy out of the way from where you need to be. Houston is just as bad but when you are actually inside the terminal trying to move around.
EWR and ORD are about as efficient as I have been to in the 48 contiguous recently. Hands down.

Large metro airports require you plan at least 2 hours of your day just for getting to the airport to account for traffic or any other mishaps. I dont need to do this for SAN which is a blessing.

I will take Lindbergh ANY DAY.

[oddstray]

Which terminal did you fly into? Terminal 1 (and maybe the commuter terminal) is older. Terminal 2 is currently being updated, but mostly on the outside. Terminal 2 itself isn't very old.

I've never had any problems with signage.

If you want silly long walks from gate to luggage pick-up, try London Heathrow. And that's their newest terminal!

[PollyGlott]

Not sure what the OP was expecting! I would say a majority of folks who use Lindbergh are happy with it. Its size is usually seen as an asset, and its location "downtown" is definitely a plus (not for the pilots who fly into it, but that's another story). As for "signage", I don't know, I'ver never heard of problems there. Now, many years ago, people complained about the road signs coming into the airport, but that issue was fixed. For those (not the OP!) who like "small", try the Long Beach airport - a "trip back to the 1950s", really fun, really easy, really cute (it's a JetBlue hub).