- State-of-the-art bag sorting, automated security lanes,
and something I rarely experience at an airport,
it's really quiet.
SFO just won WSJ's Best airport of 2022
and I'm here to see why.
So I toured the airport's newest space,
the $2.5 billion Harvey Milk Terminal One
to test out the amenities and go and check out the logistics
that helped SFO beat its closest competition,
Minneapolis and Atlanta.
We'll start behind the scenes.
- Let's do it.
- [Adam] This is Ivar Satero, he's the airport director here
and my tour guide for the day.
- Okay, come on through.
- Thank you.
So we are in the bag system
underneath at Harvey Milk Terminal one.
- This is the zone between
when you drop your bag off at check in
and when your bag gets on whatever plane
you're taking out of SFO.
- Exactly.
- This tote-based baggage system is the first
of its kind in the US, and SFO says it's helping
to smooth the airport's operations.
Basically, every bag is paired
with one of these white bins or totes.
Each with our own unique identifying number,
which allows the bag and the tote
to be more easily tracked along its journey.
- Here we have the totes coming out
and the bags are dropping into the totes.
- [Adam] This system can move up to 450 bags per minute.
That's more than twice that
of a traditional conveyor system.
And SFO says it gets backed up less often
than other baggage systems too
- For travelers I mean, it just, you know,
increases the chances that your bag
is going to get to and from the plane as you hope.
- [Adam] I sat down with my colleague,
WSJ columnist Dawn Gilbertson,
who spends a lot of time
thinking about the traveler experience
- After the nightmare summer
a lot of travelers had with lost luggage, it's a bonus.
- But equally as important as how an airport routes bags
is how it moves people.
Terminal one's layout helps with that.
Just look at its eight automated security lanes.
They are both wider and longer than others in the airport.
- And you can see there's this island here
and so you can really just take your tray
and move over to the island,
and give someone else an opportunity to see their bag.
- [Adam] But if that's not enough space to tie your shoes,
SFO has this 11,000 square foot space
it calls the recompose area.
That's just a fancy way of saying post-security.
SFO sees this space as a place where travelers can reset,
dare I say relax, before venturing to their gates.
And soon any traveler could enter through terminal one
because SFO is working to connect
all terminals post-security
- We're excited about finishing the last phase
of Harvey Milk Terminal One, which well then complete
the horseshoe of our terminal complex.
- That means travelers connecting here
won't have to exit and go back through another checkpoint
just to make their next flight.
Right now though, terminal one is only connected
to part of the international terminal.
Those logistical upgrades are aimed at making travel easier.
But to score high in our rankings,
SFO also had to provide the amenities travelers want.
Sure, there's free wifi and local restaurants
which you can find in any airport,
but there's something else.
One amenity just about everybody can enjoy.
Just listen.
SFO has what it calls the Quiet Airport Initiative.
The airport urges travelers to use headphones,
and it strictly limits the number of overhead announcements
broadcast to the entire terminal.
Something we noticed while we were there.
- [PA Announcer] Zoe Moss, courtesy telephone please.
- That's only the second announcement I've heard
the entire time I've been here.
- And one of the most popular amenities at SFO
is its water refill stations.
Travelers go through 32,500 gallons
of water here each month.
They can fill up with hot, cold, or room temperature water.
What's next?
Are you gonna start putting some soda machines
or anything else in here?
- More people now want Perrier or their seltzer water.
- Sparkling water, yeah.
That can be next. - So sparking water
is something we're thinking about, so yes.
- Wow.
Okay, well, sparkling water coming to SFO soon maybe.
All of these amenities have helped the airport
receive high marks in customer satisfaction.
It placed second in a J.D. Power survey
which weighs heavily in the WSJ rankings.
- J.D. Power looks at six different factors,
and it's everything from check-in, you know,
through security, through shopping and dining
and baggage claim.
- We're talking about the things
that travelers really interact with
once they get to the air.
- Exactly, yes.
I mean, what a lot of us remember about an airport
besides whether our flight was on-time or not.
- That's right, because those amenities
are only really enjoyable to travelers
who aren't angry about delayed travel.
But at SFO, delays aren't common.
It's among the airports with the highest
on-time arrival and departures rate.
- Their on-time arrivals and departures were both above 80%,
and it wasn't that long ago.
In fact, it was 2019 in our last survey where it was 72%.
That's, you know, that's a big improvement for people.
- [Adam] Still, those numbers don't tell the whole story.
At SFO, travel has yet to return
to what it was before the pandemic.
Both passenger and flight volumes
are still down more than 25%
according to airport statistics.
- The two big international markets out of San Francisco
pre pandemic were London and Hong Kong,
and Hong Kong only just reopened recently,
you know, to people without a quarantine.
So, you know, that means less congestion here.
It helps the on-time performance for sure.
- Is there any reason to believe
that once those numbers boost back up to a hundred percent
that SFO might have trouble keeping their high ranks
in on-time arrivals and departures?
- Yeah, that's the million dollar question
- [Adam] But Satero says he isn't worried.
- We have a very busy bank in the morning.
Actually our morning bank is busier than it was pre COVID.
And so I think really the factors
are around larger aircraft and higher load factors
is really what's helping us,
and I think that's sustainable.
- [Adam] San Francisco's top ranking could be confusing
for those just looking at price, however.
- Obviously, what travelers really care the most about
are ticket prices and San Francisco didn't fare so well
in the value category.
- [Adam] Compared to nearby San Jose and Oakland,
SFO's average ticket prices are higher.
27% more than San Jose and 39% more than Oakland.
SFO says this is due in part to lack of competition
for travel to some destinations.
- There's just markets that are captured markets
that there isn't...
The competition in that airfares will be higher
- [Adam] Still, the combination of more reliable flights
and top-notch amenities helped SFO
overcome its high prices to give it WSJ's top spot.
And the airport isn't done upgrading.
- We've been opening in phases over the last couple years
as we've completed sections of the terminal.
We've brought them online and now we're about 75% complete.
- [Adam] Of course, SFO isn't the only airport
updating its space.
- Everybody's always trying to up their game
'cause there's so much competition
especially in this region.
- So what's it gonna take for San Francisco
to be top of the list again next year?
- They've just gotta keep the momentum going
and make sure the process is seamless,
and hopefully the congestion stays in check.
(soft bright music)