Oakland Airport’s Shell Scare: Is This America’s Most Hazardous Gas Station? [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • If you rent a car at Oakland airport, just refill the gas tank empty and pay the charges. Don’t stop at the Shell gas station there – the most dangerous gas station in America? (HT: @crucker) Definitely not worth the Loyalty Points.

  • Last year Hilton announced a new brand and it was so rushed they didn’t have a name for it yet. It was simply dubbed “Project H3.” (Here’s details from the original word salad). They’ve now given a name to their lower-midscale apartment-style extended-stay offering: LivSmart Studios by Hilton. At least that’s better than Marriott actually calling theirs “mid.”

  • The Chicago Tribune editorial board realizes that United considering moving its headquarters signals that the city has a problem.

  • Moving from one row of stretch seats to another on Frontier gets passengers kicked off of the aircraft, because apparently the flight attendants wanted the bulkhead for themselves?

  • If you’re going to go back to the same place, over and over, and deal with the same people over and over, then there’s a potential benefit to tipping.

  • Air India is working on a revamp but they have a long way to go. It’s gonna be a long slog.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  2. Over the years I have had many friends who were native to Chicago. For a long time, all of them loved it. I knew no one who lived in Chicago who didn’t love Chicago. Now it’s the opposite. Most have left — by choice — and I can’t think of one of them still living there (due to family or work) who is happy with the city. Sad….

  3. Thank you Gary for giving us the archived (non-paywall) link.

    And Editorial gave a few shout outs. Cool

  4. In general I consider anything Oakland to be unsafe so the robberies at the gas station are almost what I would expect. Hopefully the word gets out but the location and not knowing of the station’s reputation brings in customers and that causes more problems. Maybe someone can spray paint “you will be robbed” on the front of the pumps to give others a heads up.

  5. I rented from National at OAK (arrived about 10pm) around 3 weeks ago. There was a sign of some sort at the exit booth saying not to use Shell. The exit agent said “don’t use any of the gas stations near here to refill”, and make sure not to leave any items whatsoever visible in the car. I was driving to Santa Rosa so the guy said no worries. That stretch from the airport to 880 gets worse and worse. I used to stay at the Hilton there… not so sure I would anymore.

  6. If you are willing to pay people an egregious amoun just to feel like they are happy to see you, and then post about it online about how great a person you are, then you’re probably a terrible, shallow, narcissistic and empty person.

  7. Yeah, I remember staying in a hotel near OAK on the night before an early flight. Needed a few things so I hit up the nearby Walmart. It was summer, around 8 pm, so starting to get dark. This was freakin’ scary. I’ve spent time in many of the world’s most dangerous cities, but what I saw over there may have been worse. The folks hanging out there were clearly looking to rob someone or anyone. That walk to/from the parking lot was chilling. Mind you, I’m based not far from Chicago – and have been all over that city – just to add perspective.

  8. Thanks as well for the link, Gary ! Couldn’t help but notice that the Oakland Airport story and the Denver HQ story are linked: Both are a reminder of the urban decay in cities of a particular color hue. At least the Chicago Trib in their editorial admitted as much: “This is one of the most egregious blind spots of our openly anti-capitalist administration…” Here’s hoping that the cities of that particular color hue all come to grips with this next November !

  9. Oakland gas station: wonder why this hasn’t happened close to other CA airports, like LAX? Chances are nearly every person robbed there was a visitor in a hurry, and a visitor with enough money to rent a car. Visitors aren’t going to file police reports, which are worthless in much of urban California anyways. The comments on Google indicate the gas station tolerates the thieves, so they have a safe haven. So far no one has been killed, but that can’t be far off.

  11. I stopped using that Shell station over a decade ago when it was besieged by panhandlers at all hours of the day. I don’t see how they can still be in business.

    These days, even the resident criminals are doing their “shopping” outside Oakland.

  12. Gas station by the airport–tourists filling up their cars before leaving–tourists tend to have money and valuables. Being an identifiable tourist always makes you a robbery target.

  13. I just personally checked the Google reviews of the gas station, no kidding.

    Lol @ the latest one though: “Fantastic Station. Competitive gas prices. Very close to airport. Also they have a Bitcoin ATM where I bring all my cash and buy Bitcoin at a great exchange rate. Also 2 for $3 Gatorade. Only 4 stars because lots of broken glass by pumps, weird…”

    Thanks for sharing — now have to remember to check all gas stations/charging stations before stopping at one…

  15. @sammons, your understanding of Los Angeles and LAX is fundamentally wrong. There may be other neighborhoods in Los Angeles this could happen in but not the one surrounding LAX. LAX is completely in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles, a neighborhood with a median household income of $145,000 (from niche). I doubt the people there would tolerate the criminal activity that Oakland does.

  16. Another problem by the Oakland Airport is that people in fast-food drive thru lines get robbed at gunpoint while trapped between other cars waiting in line.

  17. No exaggeration: I was almost car jacked at that gas station. If I hadn’t locked my door and floored it out of there I would have been a crime victim. Alameda county as a whole is a huge dump. Refilling gas is never worth it.

  19. @Gary, on AI interiors, you need to start seeing past the immediate reviews of all their older widebody interiors. Literally all the original AI 77Ls, 77Ws and 788s still have the same decrepit state handed down from Modi government ownership and have been in that state since 2017-18 i.e. from much before Covid. Broken IFE, broken handrests, tray tables falling apart, chipping and duct tapes on the seats fittings, broken window dimmers. Any news or content from Insta influencers is merely to grab eyeballs, clicks and Ad revenues at this point. That said, the older aircraft are lined up for refurbish shortly, in Summer 2024. B777s by HAECO, and B787s by Boeing. Meanwhile, leased capacity 77Ws from EY and SQ with decent interiors continue to trickle in about an airplane every 2 months. So, lets given them some time amidst all the supply chain debacles which are starting to sort out, but not as quickly in aviation.

  20. United would do well to leave Chicago quickly. They’d be following a growing list of companies exiting (Boeing, Citadel, Tyson Foods, Caterpillar). That doesn’t include McDonald’s who is also actively talking about it. It isn’t safe for employees anymore. Additionally, the city has botched the terminal 2 planning and United and American and both balking at the ridiculous cost estimates. I don’t blame them for getting everything they can from Denver and Colorado.

  21. @ Texas — Racist much? Maybe turn off FoxNews and FoxNews.com and read something different. The prior administration was the most “anti-capitalist” one ever. Handing out trillions of dollars to the wealthy, disgused as PPP loans, is communism for rich people.

  22. @jns: but LAX is an easy commute from Inglewood, just across the 405? Westchester has held on admirably, but would LAPD be able to back them up? My point is CA’s weakness in enforcing theft laws means these stories will become more likely and not simply be confined to OAK.

  23. @sammons, maybe in the future but not at this time. If you look at a crimemapping map of the area, Inglewood has a lot more crime but the extra crime doesn’t extend into Westchester hardly at all. Los Angeles makes a lot of money off of LAX and they seem to want to keep it making money. While gangs have been robbing retail locations, I have not heard of any robberies in the Los Angeles area similar to the gas station ones near Oakland Airport. Since I fly in and out of LAX as my home airport, I keep up on what is going on there.

  26. I generally have sympathy for the Oakland police. They are overwhelmed. Justice system puts most of the folks they arrest back on the street within hours. Why should they risk injury getting involved in any crime where no lives are threatened?

    That being the case, someone in the decision making hierarchy must be benefiting from the crimes at this gas station. Or perhaps have made a deal with local gangs to give them free access to this location in exchange for staying away from somewhere else?

    I am one of the many who have been robbed there. The police have done nothing. For years. Most of the victims are not local as the thieves seem to target cars with rental car logos. Voters are rarely effected.

  27. @Tim Winstead – Boeing was always a carpetbagger that was in it for the cash. Their next victim happens to be Northern VA. My belief is that they will return to the roots in Seattle as they should.

    We were thrilled to see the back of Ken Griffin – one of the most damaging individuals to ever reside in our fair state. Since he owns Citadel, they went too.

    Tyson consolidated their multiple corporate offices to Arkansas. Nearly 100% of Chicago-based employees elected not to move.

    Caterpillar’s move was regrettable, a long time Illinois resident. But they moved from Deerfield and not Chicago.

    The right-wing narrative that blue cities are decaying doesn’t really match the reality of more and more wealth accumulating in large blue cities. Newsflash: big cities have crime. Chicago, however, ranks below places like Memphis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Nashville when it comes to violent crime. Yet you don’t hear that narrative on Fox.

    In general, across the US, crime rates are far lower than they were during the 1990s. That is also true in Chicago.

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