We’ve had several very helpful topics this summer about airport nightmares that have really helped people plan their airport departure and arrival times better. We heeded some of the advice on our recent trips and witnessed some nightmares (the baggage area at LHR T2 strewn with unclaimed luggage making it hard for people to walk through the area). We just flew in to SFO yesterday and must have hit the magical hour. We also flew back to SFO in May to the international terminal so I know it can vary. But yesterday from the time we stepped off the jetway into the terminal, through immigration (we have Global Entry and were the only flight in the hall at that time), to baggage claim (we checked our luggage!), to the BART public transportation platform, 25 minutes elapsed. We couldn’t believe how smoothly everything worked. We even noticed that there wasn’t one piece of unclaimed luggage sitting around at baggage claim. We were in a hurry and walking fast as we had an Amtrak commuter train to catch from the east bay but we have never gotten through an airport so quickly. BTW we made our connection to Amtrak as it was pulling into the station. Whew! Up early this AM with jet lag and still thinking about the dash we made home yesterday with the help of a nicely functioning airport.
Posted by
Maryland
112 posts
Always good to hear the good news! Glad all went well.
Posted by
Land of La
9221 posts
Welcome Home.
Posted by
Last Frontier aka Alaska 🏔️
3561 posts
When we boarded our plane for Tanzania at Schiphol, with carry on luggage in July, it took us 3 hours. Yes, the airport was a mess. When we arrived at the Anchorage airport on August 4th, with global entry, 10 minutes to get through!!!!
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14725 posts
Mona! Glad you had a good experience!
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10599 posts
Welcome home! I hope your luck at arrival at SFO carries over to us at the end of October. Our flight arrives at 5:05, and I think yours was a little earlier? We then catch a flight to SMF and because of a change our layover isn’t overly long. I’ll see you soon to relieve you of a few extra £s you gained on your trip. ;-)
Posted by
OP
California USA
4100 posts
Andrea if only I could give you lbs instead of £s…. I too hope you have a good experience in October. Our flight landed at 3:20pm yesterday. In May everything took longer and we really had to sprint to the gate for our flight SFO to Sacramento.
Posted by
la la land...
1004 posts
It seems like the number of news reports of airport delays and baggage disruptions have dropped recently, so maybe conditions are improving?
Posted by
ME
55 posts
When I returned from a Vienna to Newark flight on 7/24, I only had a carry-on and am enrolled in Global Entry, so I sailed through everything. It was quite delightful!
Posted by
Berkeley CA
1321 posts
Mona, that's great news!
Welcome home!
(I've never gotten Global Entry but I've never had to wait too long at SFO -- it's generally pretty efficient for me, and I'm not running to catch a connecting flight, just a BART ride home.)
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10599 posts
We had to sprint to make our SFO-SMF connection in May as well, but our flight from Amsterdam had been delayed. We fly home from LHR this time.