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San Jose Airport renovates, not a moment too soon
Having had the pleasure of flying through SJC a few times in the last several weeks, I can now officially name Mineta Airport as my official "Worst Airport in the United States". It takes a fair amount of effort to deserve this distinction from blogger Grant, as I try to be fairly forgiving of travel and airport related issues. But listen Mineta San Jose, for the airport of the great Silicon Valley, you've got some serious, serious problems.- There are no jet bridges! The last time two times I had to walk onto the tarmac to climb steps into my airplane were in Houghton, Michigan and Marrakech, Morocco. The former's population is 7010 (that's 0.7% of you) and the latter is a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY.
- You have no airline lounges in terminal C. Business and first class travelers are stuck milling around the rundown concourse trying to get mobile and wireless reception while families stream around and trip over laptop cords. Yes, I know it sounds elitist to say that, but airline lounges are a proven, profit making device for airlines and help keep everyone sane.
- No gas stations exist between the expressway and the rental car return. So if you want to avoid the egregious gas refill fees you have to exit the grounds and drive aimlessly around surrounding roads looking for a station.
- Connection to public transportation is weak. Sure the public 10 bus makes a free connection to the light rail and Caltrains, but it comes infrequently, is poorly labeled and is confusing to catch.
Luckily, San Jose recently got the message and is working furiously on the new additions; the first section should be complete some time this year. May the new facilities be ripe with bars, restaurants, lounges and jet bridges, may the wireless flow freely from the walls and may honor be restored to the great Valley of Silicon.
Filed under: Airports
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jfung79 Nov 28th 2009 8:53PM
Yeah, I love going down the steps to the tarmac at Terminal C. Presidents do it all the time -- good enough for them!! It'll be sad when that goes away.
Brooks Jan 9th 2008 1:53PM
While you're dead on about the lack of gas stations and public transit in general, it's important to note that your complaints about the terminal (no jet bridges, no lounges) only apply to terminal C, which was built in 1912 or something. It does suck. Termnial A is much better, and has both jet bridges and airline lounges. However, it is only for Southwest, American, and Hawaiian. So if you must fly into our out of SJC, try for one of those.
Carl Vincent Jan 9th 2008 4:14PM
Sounds like you had the Kona, HI experience right on the mainland in a well developed area. At Kona, the terminal is in the open air (the weather is no nice when it doesn't rain - OK, it doesn't rain very often...) but no jet bridges, no A/C anywhere yet plenty of tourist traffic. What gives?
George Jan 9th 2008 5:51PM
Personally I love San Jose. I travel about 1 week a month with SJC as my home airport. I understand the complaint about gas but it's never bothered me since I'm a local.
As for the lack of lounges, it's never bothered me since (up until they redid the security checkpoint) I could get in and out of Terminal C so quickly that I never had time to sit around. It's been my favorite airport because I've had to spend the least amount of time in it out of all the airports I've been to. F***ing DEN and their 2 hour security lines can't compare.
As you can tell, I don't like the changes they're making but I do understand that I've got it easy since I'm local.
David Jan 9th 2008 7:07PM
I also am a fan of SJC. If you have a destination in the South Bay, it's more convenient than SFO/OAK. When your plane lands, it's just a right turn and you're at the gate, compared to the endless taxiing at larger airports. Finally, the beautiful views of the Peninsula all the way up to San Francisco (at least on SJC-DFW flights) that you get on takeoff are awesome.
debbie Jan 9th 2008 7:54PM
There used to be no public restrooms beyond security at SJC. Couple that with the long security lines post 9/11 & you have a pretty unhappy situation.
That said, I like the convenience of SJC. I used to fly down from Seattle for the day for business a lot and I loved being able to walk off the plane and right onto the rental car lot.
These days we appreciate the playground (outside security) where we run the kids around and tire them out before getting on the flight home.
mariel Jan 10th 2008 11:39AM
Morocco is by no stretch of the imagination a "third world country."
Caz Jan 11th 2008 3:05AM
What's the big deal about jet bridges? I flew to Burbank a few years ago and they didn't have them. That's part of the charm of the original airport (when the population was a tenth of what it is now). And I'll agree with the others that you clearly didn't consider Terminal A during this rant. They have jet bridges, but that doesn't make it a better terminal.
I flew to Heathrow last month and the jetbridge got stuck...45 minutes later and they're wheeling out stairs. At Paris and Rome, I've been bussed to far-flung fields and forced to take stairs. They're not exactly third world airports (although I could be convinced otherwise when it comes to CDG!).
Another positive about SJC is that you're not as prone to flight delays as SFO -- between summertime fog and winter storms that slow down runway landings, it's not always the best option unless you're flying directly to Europe or Asia. I often do an open jaw, flying out of SFO and into SJC. That way, I can take CalTrain/BART more easily to SFO (because, yes, the #10 bus is pretty awful. They need to rework the system to have a direct bus to the train station. But then again, what do you want for free?)
Caz Jan 11th 2008 3:01AM
What's the big deal about jet bridges? I flew to Burbank a few years ago and they didn't have them. That's part of the charm of the original airport (when the population was a tenth of what it is now). And I'll agree with the others that you clearly didn't consider Terminal A during this rant. They have jet bridges, but that doesn't make it a better terminal.
I flew to Heathrow last month and the jetbridge got stuck...45 minutes later and they're wheeling out stairs. At Paris and Rome, I've been bussed to far-flung fields and forced to take stairs. They're not exactly third world airports (although I could be convinced otherwise when it comes to CDG!).
Another positive about SJC is that you're not as prone to flight delays as SFO -- between summertime fog and winter storms that slow down runway landings, it's not always the best option unless you're flying directly to Europe or Asia. I often do an open jaw, flying out of SFO and into SJC. That way, I can take CalTrain/BART more easily to SFO (because, yes, the #10 bus is pretty awful. They need to rework the system to have a direct bus to the train station. But then again, what do you want for free?)
joyceafrancis Jan 11th 2008 11:31AM
Every time I fly through Atlanta I have to go outside and up the stairs to the plane -- no one is saying anything about Atlanta!! San Jose was a better airport when it was a smaller airport.
Linnea Jan 16th 2008 12:41PM
As a former resident of San Jose, I have to wonder how many U.S. airports Grant Martin has flown out of. I suggest he visit Cleveland Hopkins, where he would be lucky to find a clean bathrooms with working faucets and paper towel dispensers at any time of day (at least in the women's restrooms.) And while there are 'jet-bridges' to every plane in this god-awful climate, there is the walk from the short-term parking structure to the terminal, which (unless one knows how to avoid it by taking an elevator up one floor, then another back down to the same level), takes one outside across two lanes of traffic between two large buildings which act as a wind tunnel, in weather nastier than this former Californian could have imagined. The last time I flew through San Jose, I was relieved to find it was not simply nostalgia or homesickness that made me believe that when I moved to north east Ohio from California, I was moving to another country (maybe another century).