Americans don’t know geography, and can’t find Oakland on a map. So the airport may be renamed San Francisco. And the idea is to… reduce confusion? I suspect it may be the opposite: confuse people into booking travel to Oakland instead of San Francisco.
That’s right. Oakland airport has proposed renaming itself “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.”
Planners said the move will help increase awareness among travelers from outside the area that Oakland is a proper gateway to the entire Bay Area — San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma counties, the East Bay and beyond. They hope to encourage more business at the airport, which is currently called the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, after years of struggling to grow.
According to airport leadership, “People East of the Mississippi don’t understand where Oakland sits.”
Focus group research commissioned by the Port showed that 51% of international travelers didn’t know that Oakland Airport is in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some 30% of domestic travelers did not know the airport’s proximity to most of the Bay Area’s population and employers.
Oakland may suffer problems of poor public schools nationwide, but that doesn’t seem like the primary constraint on its growth. Indeed, I’m not sure that these days promoting a connection to San Francisco is a positive thing – still, that city has nowhere to go but up! The airport commission will vote on the name change April 11th.
Passengers are going to book travel to San Francisco Bay airport and be surprised when they land not in San Francisco?
Baltimore’s BWI airport makes clear that it is part of the Washington, DC region – Baltimore Washington International. It used to be BAL for Baltimore and the story of how they changed involves geopolitical intrigue since BWI belonged to Papua New Guinea.
Fresno Yosemite Airport markets itself as a gateway to Yosemite National Park, so that visitors consider it rather than San Francisco or San Jose (which are more likely for many to have non-stop flights). They were unable to get their airport code changed, however. It’s still FAT (‘Fresno Air Terminal’), one of the world’s worst airport codes alongside Sioux City, Iowa; Fukuoka, Japan; Kochi, India; and Pensacola, Florida.
Oakland’s airport had been considering a renaming to “East Bay Oakland International Airport” which clearly wouldn’t have reduced confusion or helped geographically-challenged passengers. Putting San Francisco in the name might help with marketing, but also seems likely to promote confusion.
Then again, European low cost carriers have long promoted Bratislava as Vienna even though it’s literally in another country!
Everyone in the Bay Area knows where Oakland is. The airport is not convenient for many people, so they avoid it.
So my transfer from Oakland to SfO will be paid by who. This is like doing a transfer between Heathrow and lutton or gatwick .
What’s next change SJC to the South San Francisco Bay Airport!
Good idea . Newark ought to be renamed New York . Honolulu ought to be renamed Anchorage . North Korea ought to be renamed South Korea . Harvard ought to be renamed Plagiarism .
Back in December I flew from Busan to Fukuoka.
I have to admit the airport codes gave me a chuckle and shared it with a few equally immature friends.
Too bad there’s no direct flights from Fresno to Fukuoka. That would be worth the miles. And Fukuoka is pretty amazing, which would balance having to spend time in Fresno.
Welcome to London
London Luton LTN
London Heathrow LHR
London Gatwick LGW
London Stansted STN
London Southend SEN (42 miles away)
London City LCY
I’m sure San Francisco can handle Oakland bay bridge international as well
People will fly in and rent but will fail to note that they are across the bay. They will turn up at San Francisco International Airport trying to turn in their rental cars when they should be going to the Oakland airport. Then when they finally get to the right airport, maybe they will encounter the locals while filling the tank.
If they were to rename themselves as San Francisco Eastern Airport or — to really play with SFO — as San Francisco Oriental International Airport, they could up the the confusion ratio among airport users.
They had to switch because college basketball fans now associate Oakland with Michigan.
Oakland is a 3rd world toilet. It should be avoided.
Alan, San Francisco is in a race to catch up with Oakland as a 3rd world toilet.
Things in Oakland are getting very bad. The In and Out near the airport will close due to crime. Several other near by fast food restaurants are closing the lobby; drive thru only for safety reasons. OAK rental car agencies are advising clients not to top off the tank at nearby gas stations due to crime and theft. Top off the tank several miles away before returning the vehicle for safety.
If you want to make a difference, call it Obama Oakland International.
Several central Florida airports tack Orlando in their name as well.
It is as much about latching onto the best known city in a region.
And Continental referred to its EWR hub as in NY for years.
Most Americans are ignorant. They lack basis of history and geography. Some think their city is the center of the world. As for Oakland, that is a cesspool.
Like DFW Airport, a name such as The Oakland San Fran airport would do the trick. Of course, most visitors will like find that one visit is more than enough.
One can be well versed in geography and still have no idea where Oakland is and have no desire to attain such knowledge. The city is not important enough to be considered canonical.
So THIS must be the reason that people aren’t going to Oakland.
It’s 2 days early for April 1st!
OAK is not so far from SF. Even SFO is not in SF. However, SF doesn’t have to be in Oakland’s name. For example, people don’t need to have USA in the name to know that JFK is in the Unites States (John F. Kennedy New York USA International Airport). Heathrow does not have London in its name.
How about Samuel Merritt Airport then raise landing fees but offer an equivalent discount if airlines list it as San Francisco in their online booking or San Francisco/Oakland or Oakland/San Francisco.
Merritt was a physician, founding regent of the University of California, donated land around Lake Merritt in Oakland, and former Oakland mayor. He wasn’t a career politician
I’ve walked through some really seedy places in U.S. cities, including in Oakland at night, and noticed no one really bothers you as long as you’re minding your own business and not eyeballing anyone. I’ve only experienced “crime” in Rome -had my wallet stolen by a deft pickpocket lol.
Sounds good, most airports aren’t named after the suburb they’re in, they’re named after the main city.
Everyone loves to pick on Fresno and its FAT airport name! Fresno is the 5th largest city in CA and the 34th largest in the US. There is no larger city airport in the US where you can walk up to the TSA PreCheck line only 15 minutes before your AA Group 1 boarding time and easily make it to the gate in time to board with Group 1. And there is reasonable off airport parking only a 5 minute walk from the TSA checkpoint. The 33 larger cities cannot beat these nice air travel perks!
How about California Crime Capital Airport?
@Gary–It may seem strange but not necessarily unfair. Used to live in the San Francisco bay area. Just checked on Google maps. Fisherman’s Wharf is currently a 35 minute drive to OAK and a 39 minute drive to SFO.
@Tim Dunn–true, but it is fair to say EWR is absolutely in the metro NYC area. Before I retired, I used to have business dinners in downtown NYC. EWR was definitely easier than LGA or JFK to catch a plane back to DFW.
PNS is bad, but not CLT? I did get a chuckle flying that route (PNS-CLT).
Even though SFO and OAK are equidistant from many SF locations (for example, downtown SF) I always tell people to fly into SFO.
Oakland is reminiscent of Mad Max movies in many ways. The 880 freeway can be daunting, the possibility of getting robbed or your car broken into as you refill the tank before returning it to the rental center is a likely possibility, and the drive across the Bay Bridge is almost never fun.
Better to avoid OAK. I understand Southwest has a lot of flights into OAK but I never fly these cheaper airlines simply because of the low class people one encounters and the barbarian first come first serve seating.
Yes, Oakland is not in San Francisco, but the San Francisco Airport is not in San Francisco, either.
If the airfare out of (or into) Oakland is lower, choose Oakland. Both airports have transportation; at Oakland, the BART-connector gets you to BART and that gets you to San Francisco. In that regard, SFO is slightly easier since BART leaves from the airport.
If US people are as ignorant of geography as is suggested here, re-naming OAK will be an expensive exercise in futility. I’m skeptical that ignorance can be that pervasive, given the ubiquity of map apps. Does anyone actually fill their rental’s tank anymore? It’s much easier to skip that chore and pay the extra for the convenience.
Oakland should be the first word in the name. Starting with San Francisco is needlessly confusing for people who don’t know the US well. Some people don’t want to end up in Oakland even temporarily
Americans don’t know geography? What a laugh!
Here the subject of Geography was considered the least challenging subject in the curriculum, and therefore a favorite elective of the dummies, er, I mean lowest stream students.
I’d think San Francisco would *LOVE* to have some toilets, it would keep people from crapping on the sidewalks.
Didn’t Melbourne, Florida try this too? like Melbourne-Orlando Intl Airport or something?
And Gary – I’ve got an even worse city code for you.
Dickinson, ND.
and one time at Great Lakes in the late 90s or early 2000s, we had a plane fly from O’Hare to Sioux City to Dickinson, and seeing those codes on our flow sheets got a *lot* of laughs.
If you don’t know where Oakland is, you have no business flying to the Bay Area.
The name should be the original: Oakland Metropolitan Airport.
SFO isn’t in San Francisco (although it’s owned by the city) – it’s in unincorporated San Mateo County.
Ah, political correctness. Oakland Airport wants to change its name because the locals won’t fly out of Oakland if they have to park a vehicle there. Oakland has a problem with crime. Oakland has always had a problem with crime. But God forbid anyone tells the truth, obfuscation is always more appropriate for the situation. OAK is more convenient for me than SFO, but I’d never leave my truck in the parking lot. Not sure if I’d stay in a hotel the night before for an early flight either. “The American Public” can easily see where OAK is, the issue is safety. If the issue was geographic ignorance, they’d change the name to Oakland SF Bay Area Airport.
If Oakland and the airport is so very awful, then they should rename Oakland Airport for T-rump. T-rump trash-talks America so much and does his hitherto incompetent best to try to make America a banana republic, thus his name should be associated only with the awful places that occupy his damaged mind.
They’d be better off getting themselves a new mayor first. The reason it’s failing is because it’s a hell hole.
They should name the airport after some of the notable features of the area, like car jacking, gun violence, poverty and rent control. Good luck Alameda County – you’re a huge dump.
one one hand i do support this because people will realize its basically the same as SF. On the other hand i did make the mistake of flying to London Heathrow and having a connection at London Stansted and panicing before buying a very expensive cab to drive me an hour. So it can really be confusing.
I hope they’re not doing this because they think San Francisco sounds more attractive.
What’s the big deal? Ontario (ONT) is the Ontario-LA airport to help idiot Americans understand it’s not in Canada.
What a genuinely WTF story… Some “people east of the Mississippi” don’t know where Santa Rosa is either, but having flown into all three airports, I can tell you it makes a difference where you land once you get there.
Are we really getting “:stupider”? I didn’t think so, but now I’m not so certain.
While SFO is part of San Francisco, it isn’t in San Francisco either, it is in San Mateo County and about 3 cities south of SF. While not as easy as catching BART from SFO, OAK is closer to downtown SF than SFO.
And Gary? While everyone here has the right to express their opinion and level criticisms, you might want to draw the line at douche bags like “Paper Boarding Pass.” He’s just a racist dick, and one who, I notice, doesn’t have the guts to use his given name. So he’s a coward as well.
People who live in the Bay Area AVOID Oakland… Like a previous commenter said, the issue is safety. An In-N-Out Burger located near the airport closed due to the high crime in the area… A Denny’s in the area is also closing. They are targeting rentals cars, travelers who are stopping for a quick bite to eat on their way to and from the airport. If OAK wants more business, they need to make the area safe!!! Oakland needs to stop ignoring the issue why no one wants to go there… it’s because they don’t feel safe. Also, SJC and SFO are far easier to get in and out of..
Solve this problem by renaming the city of Oakland. Or just remove Oakland and make it The City With No Name. Also provide a new IATA code. NNC.
They may not know geography but they know crime and a cesspool when they see it.
Oakland Airport is also confused with Auckland International Airport.
Oakland should honor someone name and asign it to the Oakland Airport. CM