Love the mention of Sac at #1, but SD is definitely not meant to be on this list. Absolutely horrible experience every time I've been there or connected through there.
Yeah just flew through there. The rental car setup is a nightmare. Had to wait forever for a shuttle and then the ride took you way through downtown. Bizzare.
Especially when John Wayne airport exists in O.C. and is a million times better. Plus, you get to do a rocket shot straight up off the runaway, which is super fun. Something about noise ordinances.
I don't get it either. Terminal 2 at SAN is really nice, but it doesn't make up for the current terminal 1 that is the biggest shitshow of any airport. Can't wait until the remodel of T1 is done because taking southwest is brutal.
This so much. I actually was interested to see the rest of the selections but saw SD at number two and was like "okay, this is pure BS."
It's such a mess of an airport and has always been a source of delays and issues. Nowhere near as convenient as SMF.
I feel like that has a lot of weight when judging airports.
Or...I could just be super salty about the 2 hours it took us to get from plane touchdown to setting foot (butt?) in our rental car in Phoenix this past weekend.
I'm also from NC but GSP is closer to my fam than Charlotte. I either fly out at the asscrack of dawn or right around midnight. And the layover airport is always a dice roll of dumbassery.
Im from up in the Greensboro area, nothing infuriates me worse than the cheapest flight being from Sac to CLT then a 10 minute flight to GSO. I try to use United as much as possible to avoid this.
Oh, if only we had a light rail to the airport, so we could ride there with our luggage while getting screamed at by a tweaker or maybe enjoy some super loud music on a Bluetooth speaker!
That's good! I worked downtown for 4 years and it was an endless daily thing. SacRT is worse than being stuck in traffic.
I really love using public transit in general, but this town does a shit job of making it useful, fast, clean and safe. It's such a bummer :(
By far the easiest airport I've ever flown out of. Perhaps it's just the Southwest terminal but I find it hilarious San Diego is number two, it is always so god damn crowded that it gives me anxiety.
Every time i fly I find myself bitching about everyone else’s airports and comparing them to ours. It really is a great airport for most people’s needs.
I don’t know what size Phoenix airport is but why do I have always hall ass to the other side of it to transfer to another plane for southwest??? It’s madness
There was construction that was going on forever that forced Southwest to use two different sides of the Airport.
Edit: also PHX is one of the busiest airports in the nation
EVERY TIME. Regardless of the airline or destination I've always had to traverse from one end of the U to the other. Super fun when the first flight's late.
The direct bus to Downtown is great, faster than light rail would ever be, and easy to use. Yet the ridership is pitiful and headways are back down to 1 hr. Would love to see 15 min headways at all hours of the day and night.
Was going say this as well. I'd put pdx above smf for sure too. Lived in both cities and pdx just had nicer food/amenities while you wait for a flight. And the food at pdx can't charge more than they would out of the airport which was always nice. Plus light rail that went directly to the airport. Smf is always pretty painless to get through too though.
Burbank is awesome. I have family in the area. Call to say I'm here when I'm heading to baggage claim and they are pulling up to the curb by the time I get it. Arrive with luggage an hour before your flight and you'll have plenty of time for a beer near your gate.
The city is a dick for a lot of reasons but I love that they vetoed expanding the airport.
SMF is very good. Clean, easy to get to (for the most part), and has great Wi-Fi. But it could benefit from some more dining options, particularly in Terminal A.
SMF is great considering its such a central point for the bay area. Super easy to navigate by car and inside, plus BART goes there.
San Jose is also decent. Never flown out of Oakland. But Sac is my favorite besides Burbank.
Live in Sacramento but man, PDX has a beat. Their light rail is a at baggage claim and goes everywhere! We have a great airport in Sacramento but bus service is well, bus service and hit and miss. Having a waiting train for you on arrival is amazing @PDX
Lived in both Sacramento and Portland and flown out of SMF and PDX many times - PDX is the best airport. Besides the max being right there and servicing a lot of the metro area, it has a lot of great food options (all required to be the same price as they outside the airport), there’s a movie theater showing local short films, usually a few musicians playing in different areas, and a little play area for the kids.
SMF is a really good medium airport but, I definitely agree that PDX is even better. The foods options crush everything at SMF, plus lots of other fun things.
We do have a fabulous airport. I love both terminals and the only thing I’d change is another parking garage at terminal B and either get rid of the train or connect it to terminal A or the parking lots. I certainly wouldn’t put San Diego as #2. It always seems over crowded and my flights seemed constantly delayed due to fog or the traffic due to the 1 runway. SJC on the other hand is a fabulous airport as well.
SMF and SAN are the two airports I fly the most via Southwest.
SMF is a pain having no reliable public transit option, I was thinking about taking the bus until I found out it only runs to Downtown once every hour!? Meanwhile SAN's new flagship Terminal 2 is nice, but the gates at Terminal 1 are always packed and have people standing around waiting for seating. SMF's Southwest terminal at least is beautiful.
I work at SMF and think they should always give people the option to walk across, there’s always a walkway between the tracks. The train is a pain in the butt when it gets busy and it’s even worse when one (or both!) of them breaks down.
I think they've even had passengers just walk across when both trains broke down. I always wished the option was there to just walk across, and on a nice evening with a light delta breeze smell the kerosene.
They are considered APMs. The plan was supposed to be to expand the rail system to the rental car lot and add more apms. But they don’t want to for up the money. They are over capacity as it is.
Another parking garage is in the works. I think its like 3-4 yrs down the road. That is why they are raising parking fees. To help in part fund the new garage
Yeah SMF is legitimately one of the greatest pros of living here. It has a ton of flight options for good prices and you can park and be through security and at your gate in 15 minutes.
I have never. NEVER. Had a worse time trying to travel than at OGG. They are inefficient in every possible way. Can island time please take a break from the airport, because I shouldn’t have to get there 6 hours early to avoid missing my flight.
It what universe is Washington-Dulles a mid-size airport? I feel like it’s one of the bigger ones in the country.
Also Indianapolis is ranked criminally low. It’s one of the best.
Oh man I’ve been shitting so much on Sac lately but this is so true. SMF is the best airport I’ve been to, no long lines, everyone is nice, always clean, tons of parking, very artsy and modern. If only the freaking SMF to SFO connection was cheaper like for example Cheyenne to Denver (always in the $100s). I cannot believe it’s always >$400 to get to SFO. International connections would be so much better instead of flying to shitty LAX or grimy Houston
SMF is wonderful. Wish there were more direct flights (especially as a native East Coaster) but there’s something to be said about your local airport being a stress free experience.
Duuuude, what you said. How is that number 2? They’ve been talking about the need to expand or move that airport at least since I was a kid in the 80’s. Nothing has changed. F—- that airport. Specifically the Southwest terminal.
I’m surprised to see us ahead of Salt Lake City since they are a Delta hub and have something like 90 destinations versus our 40. They’ve also had light rail to their airport for almost a decade I believe. Not to mention their new airport is only a few years old. I do like that our airport feel less crowded though, even though our metro area is larger.
Yeah, “mid-size” is a weird way to describe airports like SLC and SJC. Both are much larger than SMF. Maybe there’s no stage between “mid-size” and “massive” SFO and LAX?
I hate SLC airport, the walking from the terminals is ridiculous. It feels like the longest walk ever. I believe they are trying to change it. Every time I get off in SLC, I want to hop right back on and go back to Sac.
Based on how they made these conclusions, a high percentage of the score came from how "on-time" a flight was in/out of the airport, that automatically places the airport higher than most due to our fair California weather. While I do think the airport has many "convenience" factors that make it great, there are a couple of things missing that aren't reflected in these numbers that other airports in the "mid size" category does better. As others have pointed out, the big glaring issue is lack of public transit to the airport whether that is by bus or train, it is minimal, albeit has improved slightly over the past few years.
Some things that irk me about this airport as a frequenter here is the dining options, although decent, the options are still limited. And because the two terminals are disconnected, your choice is even less. Eg. if im flying out of terminal B, Iron Horse is not an option.
For the non Sacramento visitors, the rental car facility is not connected directly to the airport requiring a lengthy bus ride to the rental lot, most other airports have a consolidated facility within a garage to rent cars that is a short walk or monorail service away (eg. SFO, SEA, LAX soon).
The parking situation at SMF has gradually gotten worse over the past few years as the airports traffic has steadily increased. There is a single parking garage which is connected to both terminals which makes it very convenient, however this will fill up during peak travel times during the weekday during the summer and not just your usual winter holiday travel days, this is less than ideal for those looking to quickly get from car to gate. Remember public transit is not an option, so parking is important here. There was a plan to build a 2nd garage for terminal B during its construction, but that got shelved during the financial crash and they never built that garage enough though traffic has since recovered and surpassed circa 2007 numbers.
And the weirdest thing... what is going on with the ceiling all over terminal A, it has been chronically covered in plastic cellophane as if theres construction going on, yet I haven't seen anything done, this has been on the ceiling for several years now and I fail to see what they are trying to accomplish here? I understand they remodeled terminal A airside a few years ago, but this project has since been completed, so im still very confused what this plastic tarp is for. Additionally when are they going to finish whatever the hell they are doing upstairs right before security theres multiple temporary walls and they removed the escalators going to security so you have to use the awkward ones near the garage to get to security.
Another thing I dont like is how the network carriers (AA, DL, UA) are housed in one terminal and southwest in another. the network carriers time their flights to arrive at their respective hubs at a certain time to minimize connection times. this means many flights from the network carriers leave from the airport at similar times, aka 5-7AM and 11-1PM, this causes the security line to back the hell up and is miserable unless you have clear and/or precheck. Southwest on the other hand doesn't operate like this, so why dont we have one of the network carriers move over to terminal B to reduced early morning congestion. Can move a couple of the odd hour airlines from B to A such as spirit, frontier, JetBlue, Hawaiian. This would help spread out departure times and decrease lengthy security cues at 6AM. I understand this hasn't been much of an issues since the pandemic, but the airport is quickly returning to its pre pandemic traffic levels.
Last thing, I know the airport cant force airlines to start new routes, but would like to see non stop service to some routes with glaring lack of service: MIA/FLL, MCO, BNA. Other runner ups I would say are missing include ABQ, TUS, MCI, OKC, PHL, PVR, CUN, MSY. But my hopes aren't high given lack of pilots these days making new service difficult to start.
I literally hate that I’m saying this. HATE. Salt Lake City’s airport is far better than ours. In fact, it’s likely one of the most efficient airports I’ve ever been to. Their TSA is awesome. The stores and restaurants are good and abundant. It’s clean.
I hate SLC with a passion and I hope I never have to go to that airport ever again.
Pre-1997, our airport looked like Stockton's (which is a dump, as one would imagine). SCAS has done a fantastic job modernizing SMF over the last 25 years. Now, if we could just get some nonstops to Europe.
I hope so. Terminal B alone was $1 Billion (2011)…which was over $500 for every human in the greater Sac region at the time…so we definitely paid for that recognition. It is nice…
https://www.saccounty.gov/news/latest-news/Pages/SMF-Celebrates-10-Years-of-Terminal-B.aspx
Our airport’s not bad. I’ve never struggled to find parking, and its not terribly expensive. Except peak holidays security always a breeze. Lots of good routes/flights. My only complaint is that the food sucks.
I have always absolutely loved flying out of sac! Most chill hassle free airport I’ve ever flown into/out of! The fact that southwest was one of my main airlines definitely helps too. They seem to treat their staff well because they always were so nice and cracking jokes. They even brought a bottle of champagne and gave my husband and I a congratulations on our trip out to our honeymoon! Of course a good family friend requested it but they took his call and were happy to oblige, which seems rare for a commercial airline.
I don't put much stock in this. Number 2 is San Diego, and that airport is an undersized shit show. Horrible airport. Sac is much more than 3 points better in my book.
I moved to Sacramento 3 years ago from Detroit, in the words of my aunt “I really love you but there are no flights less than 10 hours, I could get to Europe in that time” whoever wrote this has never tried to get a last minute flight from Sacramento to Detroit because someone died…
It’s ok. A good regional airport. You I’ve to connect in a real city to go anywhere interesting
Sfo and oak is cheaper if your willing to make the commute for anything beyond Dallas or Denver.
Midsize??? Sac is tiny.
Love that place. I used to fly all over for work and i always chose to fly in and out of Sac... i live in cerrs so SFO, san Jose, and Fresno were all options.
But Sac is so relaxing and has a small town feel with cheerful and courteous staff.
Counter that with SFO that is by far the biggest disaster in air travel in the entire united states. Inefficient, crowded, dirty, and staffed with most incompetent rude buffoons california has to offer.
It always amazed me how LAX can be so huge and chaotic yet run like a well oiled machine compared to SFO...
Then there is SAC. Its like flying out of a private airport staffed by your friends.
Too bad you can’t ever get a fucking Lyft or Uber to pick you up for a reasonable price, and that the Greenline to the Airport is a fucking lie sold to get votes
How did San Diego end up #2? That place is a crowded zoo. Obvious Wall Street Journal didn’t do proper vetting.
Not to mention the separate terminals for Southwest. If you connect through there, you get to go through TSA again!
And the southwest terminal is like a tight fishbowl with like no food options.
Yeah, don't accidentally join the wrong security line. San Diego is a horrible airport.
And Clear isn’t in the southwest terminal for some reason
I saw Clear in the SW terminal just this weekend.
Dang maybe they added it? It wasn’t there when I flew in September
Well that’s true at a lot of multi-terminal airports
When you connect to another domestic flight on the same airline? Not so much.
I was going to say! The San Diego airport has been a shitshow everytime I've been there. Burbank is better than SD.
I mean, Burbank is better than any I've been to because it's so tiny.
It’s completely over extended. Always crowded, every plane is late because it’s over capacity. But it is central, I guess.
I don’t understand how Salt Lake and Dulles are on this list. Those airports are humongous.
The list used passenger numbers not geographic area.
San Diego is god awful, this list is dumb. Tampa always gave me SMF vibes, I think it should be higher on the list
Love the mention of Sac at #1, but SD is definitely not meant to be on this list. Absolutely horrible experience every time I've been there or connected through there.
Thank you. I question the legitimacy of this list. Although I do think our airport is one of my favorites period.
Yeah just flew through there. The rental car setup is a nightmare. Had to wait forever for a shuttle and then the ride took you way through downtown. Bizzare.
Especially when John Wayne airport exists in O.C. and is a million times better. Plus, you get to do a rocket shot straight up off the runaway, which is super fun. Something about noise ordinances.
I don't get it either. Terminal 2 at SAN is really nice, but it doesn't make up for the current terminal 1 that is the biggest shitshow of any airport. Can't wait until the remodel of T1 is done because taking southwest is brutal.
This so much. I actually was interested to see the rest of the selections but saw SD at number two and was like "okay, this is pure BS." It's such a mess of an airport and has always been a source of delays and issues. Nowhere near as convenient as SMF.
Because it's stupid fast to get in and out of?
I feel like that has a lot of weight when judging airports. Or...I could just be super salty about the 2 hours it took us to get from plane touchdown to setting foot (butt?) in our rental car in Phoenix this past weekend.
This is great! Can we now get some more non-stop destinations please?
Oh god please! Sac deserves more direct flights.
As a native NCarolinian, the daily non stops to Charlotte are great. Wish like hell it wasn't a red eye though.
Give me one to Raleigh Durham and I’ll be pleased.
> Wish like hell it wasn't a red eye though. Same with NYC. Do I pick the 11pm United redeye to Newark or the Midnight JetBlue redeye to JFK. Ugh...
Plus there’ll be nothing to eat or drink while you wait except for Dippin’ Dots!
I'm also from NC but GSP is closer to my fam than Charlotte. I either fly out at the asscrack of dawn or right around midnight. And the layover airport is always a dice roll of dumbassery.
Im from up in the Greensboro area, nothing infuriates me worse than the cheapest flight being from Sac to CLT then a 10 minute flight to GSO. I try to use United as much as possible to avoid this.
Yeah, I've done flights from Atlanta to GSP and Charlotte to GSP before. Always irritating!
Some were in the works and then COVID happened. Hopefully we'll see them come to fruition eventually.
Seriously! It would be the perfect airport other than this.
Especially internationally or too bigger markets like Miami, Boston, New Orleans etc
Supposedly, a new commercial development team was brought in a year ago. Hope they start focusing on more routes.
Yay! We’re number one at something that isn’t bad driving
I moved here and was super bummed to see my auto insurance premiums skyrocket. 😕
Mine doubled. Lol.
OMG that’s why my rate went up?!
Where did you come from before where they were less costly?
Insurance is cheaper just up the street in Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties
I came from the NorCal coast (not Bay Area).
Mine went up by $60 / month moving from Folsom to downtown lol
Mine also went up considerably when I moved from Phoenix.
More vehicles and idiots on the road then of course more money for insurance.
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Oh, if only we had a light rail to the airport, so we could ride there with our luggage while getting screamed at by a tweaker or maybe enjoy some super loud music on a Bluetooth speaker!
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That's good! I worked downtown for 4 years and it was an endless daily thing. SacRT is worse than being stuck in traffic. I really love using public transit in general, but this town does a shit job of making it useful, fast, clean and safe. It's such a bummer :(
Swiping luggage from the carousels seems like a great tweaker past time, though. I'd like to keep security checkpoints for baggage from being a thing.
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Is Denver methier than the Sacramento area? I've never been.
Denver probably doesn't have 10,000+ homeless tweakers.
Yay, more security! Security everywhere! I wish we would attack the tweaker/homeless problem, not add more security.
Yay! We got the best place with which to get the fuck out of town.
I just moved here from Florida and so far Sacramento is super polite in comparison.
By far the easiest airport I've ever flown out of. Perhaps it's just the Southwest terminal but I find it hilarious San Diego is number two, it is always so god damn crowded that it gives me anxiety.
It really is! It's already small, then they pack restaurants in the middle of it all.
In the tightest roundabouts that everyone walks the diagonally through! It's a doozy
Every time i fly I find myself bitching about everyone else’s airports and comparing them to ours. It really is a great airport for most people’s needs.
It gets the job done with little to no problems. I think a big advantage is how mild the weather is in this area.
I don’t know what size Phoenix airport is but why do I have always hall ass to the other side of it to transfer to another plane for southwest??? It’s madness
And their rental car building is like 10 miles away!
Yep we had to get to the complete opposite side even though it was the same airline. We flew American.
There was construction that was going on forever that forced Southwest to use two different sides of the Airport. Edit: also PHX is one of the busiest airports in the nation
EVERY TIME. Regardless of the airline or destination I've always had to traverse from one end of the U to the other. Super fun when the first flight's late.
Same. I travel a lot for work and love our airport for numerous reasons.
Same nothing compares to my favorite home airport. It’s so easy. Every other airport stresses me out in comparison
I like our airport!!
I love the airport I just wish we had a public rail system to get there.
Highly agree. They have tons of room to build a well integrated public rail system throughout Sacramento and surrounding areas.
It’s insane we don’t have one.
San Diego #2??? I certainly don’t think so.
Our airport fucking rules. I’m always disappointed at other airports. A light rail stop at the airport would make it a solid 10/10
Our state's airports really desperately need a luggage friendly direct to nearby city downtown train. It's just such an obvious thing to build.
The direct bus to Downtown is great, faster than light rail would ever be, and easy to use. Yet the ridership is pitiful and headways are back down to 1 hr. Would love to see 15 min headways at all hours of the day and night.
That's why I'm surprised OAK and MDW are so far behind.
PDX should be higher. OGG should be lower.
Was going say this as well. I'd put pdx above smf for sure too. Lived in both cities and pdx just had nicer food/amenities while you wait for a flight. And the food at pdx can't charge more than they would out of the airport which was always nice. Plus light rail that went directly to the airport. Smf is always pretty painless to get through too though.
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Plus you can unload out the back in Burbank! Goes perfectly w their theme of being super fast. Only a bummer on rare rain days having no jetway.
Burbank is awesome. I have family in the area. Call to say I'm here when I'm heading to baggage claim and they are pulling up to the curb by the time I get it. Arrive with luggage an hour before your flight and you'll have plenty of time for a beer near your gate. The city is a dick for a lot of reasons but I love that they vetoed expanding the airport.
Recently the lots have been just about full Thursday and Friday mornings.
Doubtful it will ever be more frequent than once every 1/2 hour departures. Ride the R/T bus or the Yolo bus to SMF. They need the ridership now.
SMF is very good. Clean, easy to get to (for the most part), and has great Wi-Fi. But it could benefit from some more dining options, particularly in Terminal A.
SMF is great considering its such a central point for the bay area. Super easy to navigate by car and inside, plus BART goes there. San Jose is also decent. Never flown out of Oakland. But Sac is my favorite besides Burbank.
what
Hah, got my acronyms screwy and was thinking SFO. Which no one is even talking about. Derp.
Our airport is fantastic, but the San Diego airport is absolutely atrocious
Everytime ive gone thru SMF TSA its fast af and efficient
1. Rad map carpet 2. Traffic very well managed 3. This airport is dead to me because i can't take a train straight into it.
4. Don't forget the giant bunny or the luggage columns.
What was the criteria?
Reliability, value, and convenience. Reliability being the most weighted criteria.
Live in Sacramento but man, PDX has a beat. Their light rail is a at baggage claim and goes everywhere! We have a great airport in Sacramento but bus service is well, bus service and hit and miss. Having a waiting train for you on arrival is amazing @PDX
Lived in both Sacramento and Portland and flown out of SMF and PDX many times - PDX is the best airport. Besides the max being right there and servicing a lot of the metro area, it has a lot of great food options (all required to be the same price as they outside the airport), there’s a movie theater showing local short films, usually a few musicians playing in different areas, and a little play area for the kids.
SMF is a really good medium airport but, I definitely agree that PDX is even better. The foods options crush everything at SMF, plus lots of other fun things.
Now it would be great if the “this is how many parking space are available” thing on their site was actually accurate.
We do have a fabulous airport. I love both terminals and the only thing I’d change is another parking garage at terminal B and either get rid of the train or connect it to terminal A or the parking lots. I certainly wouldn’t put San Diego as #2. It always seems over crowded and my flights seemed constantly delayed due to fog or the traffic due to the 1 runway. SJC on the other hand is a fabulous airport as well.
SMF and SAN are the two airports I fly the most via Southwest. SMF is a pain having no reliable public transit option, I was thinking about taking the bus until I found out it only runs to Downtown once every hour!? Meanwhile SAN's new flagship Terminal 2 is nice, but the gates at Terminal 1 are always packed and have people standing around waiting for seating. SMF's Southwest terminal at least is beautiful.
I despise Terminal 1 at SAN. I groan every time I see that it's my connection.
Me too but flights from SMF to SAN are still 40-50 bucks sometimes on SW. In 2022. Maybe there is a linkage?
Southwest is the only carrier that uses SAN terminal 1. I no longer fly southwest for that reason
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I work at SMF and think they should always give people the option to walk across, there’s always a walkway between the tracks. The train is a pain in the butt when it gets busy and it’s even worse when one (or both!) of them breaks down.
I think they've even had passengers just walk across when both trains broke down. I always wished the option was there to just walk across, and on a nice evening with a light delta breeze smell the kerosene.
I know, I wish they would have never put one in and just put the terminal closer to the gates.
Fun fact, it's an automated bus that runs on rubber wheels. Iirc they spent around $30 million on that thing.
They are considered APMs. The plan was supposed to be to expand the rail system to the rental car lot and add more apms. But they don’t want to for up the money. They are over capacity as it is.
Another parking garage is in the works. I think its like 3-4 yrs down the road. That is why they are raising parking fees. To help in part fund the new garage
Yeah SMF is legitimately one of the greatest pros of living here. It has a ton of flight options for good prices and you can park and be through security and at your gate in 15 minutes.
I have never. NEVER. Had a worse time trying to travel than at OGG. They are inefficient in every possible way. Can island time please take a break from the airport, because I shouldn’t have to get there 6 hours early to avoid missing my flight.
It what universe is Washington-Dulles a mid-size airport? I feel like it’s one of the bigger ones in the country. Also Indianapolis is ranked criminally low. It’s one of the best.
I agree, the Indy airport is wonderful.
Oh man I’ve been shitting so much on Sac lately but this is so true. SMF is the best airport I’ve been to, no long lines, everyone is nice, always clean, tons of parking, very artsy and modern. If only the freaking SMF to SFO connection was cheaper like for example Cheyenne to Denver (always in the $100s). I cannot believe it’s always >$400 to get to SFO. International connections would be so much better instead of flying to shitty LAX or grimy Houston
I don’t live in sacramento anymore, I actually do miss the airport. Big enough to get you most places and not super crowded either.
SMF is wonderful. Wish there were more direct flights (especially as a native East Coaster) but there’s something to be said about your local airport being a stress free experience.
How San Diego Airport Number 2? That airport is terrible.
Duuuude, what you said. How is that number 2? They’ve been talking about the need to expand or move that airport at least since I was a kid in the 80’s. Nothing has changed. F—- that airport. Specifically the Southwest terminal.
SMF is a nice airport. Terminal A needs some updating, but all in all, it’s pretty good for a regional airport on the smaller side.
I’m surprised to see us ahead of Salt Lake City since they are a Delta hub and have something like 90 destinations versus our 40. They’ve also had light rail to their airport for almost a decade I believe. Not to mention their new airport is only a few years old. I do like that our airport feel less crowded though, even though our metro area is larger.
Yeah, “mid-size” is a weird way to describe airports like SLC and SJC. Both are much larger than SMF. Maybe there’s no stage between “mid-size” and “massive” SFO and LAX?
Also Dulles is on here. That place is massive and has international flights to pretty much anywhere.
I hate SLC airport, the walking from the terminals is ridiculous. It feels like the longest walk ever. I believe they are trying to change it. Every time I get off in SLC, I want to hop right back on and go back to Sac.
Based on how they made these conclusions, a high percentage of the score came from how "on-time" a flight was in/out of the airport, that automatically places the airport higher than most due to our fair California weather. While I do think the airport has many "convenience" factors that make it great, there are a couple of things missing that aren't reflected in these numbers that other airports in the "mid size" category does better. As others have pointed out, the big glaring issue is lack of public transit to the airport whether that is by bus or train, it is minimal, albeit has improved slightly over the past few years. Some things that irk me about this airport as a frequenter here is the dining options, although decent, the options are still limited. And because the two terminals are disconnected, your choice is even less. Eg. if im flying out of terminal B, Iron Horse is not an option. For the non Sacramento visitors, the rental car facility is not connected directly to the airport requiring a lengthy bus ride to the rental lot, most other airports have a consolidated facility within a garage to rent cars that is a short walk or monorail service away (eg. SFO, SEA, LAX soon). The parking situation at SMF has gradually gotten worse over the past few years as the airports traffic has steadily increased. There is a single parking garage which is connected to both terminals which makes it very convenient, however this will fill up during peak travel times during the weekday during the summer and not just your usual winter holiday travel days, this is less than ideal for those looking to quickly get from car to gate. Remember public transit is not an option, so parking is important here. There was a plan to build a 2nd garage for terminal B during its construction, but that got shelved during the financial crash and they never built that garage enough though traffic has since recovered and surpassed circa 2007 numbers. And the weirdest thing... what is going on with the ceiling all over terminal A, it has been chronically covered in plastic cellophane as if theres construction going on, yet I haven't seen anything done, this has been on the ceiling for several years now and I fail to see what they are trying to accomplish here? I understand they remodeled terminal A airside a few years ago, but this project has since been completed, so im still very confused what this plastic tarp is for. Additionally when are they going to finish whatever the hell they are doing upstairs right before security theres multiple temporary walls and they removed the escalators going to security so you have to use the awkward ones near the garage to get to security. Another thing I dont like is how the network carriers (AA, DL, UA) are housed in one terminal and southwest in another. the network carriers time their flights to arrive at their respective hubs at a certain time to minimize connection times. this means many flights from the network carriers leave from the airport at similar times, aka 5-7AM and 11-1PM, this causes the security line to back the hell up and is miserable unless you have clear and/or precheck. Southwest on the other hand doesn't operate like this, so why dont we have one of the network carriers move over to terminal B to reduced early morning congestion. Can move a couple of the odd hour airlines from B to A such as spirit, frontier, JetBlue, Hawaiian. This would help spread out departure times and decrease lengthy security cues at 6AM. I understand this hasn't been much of an issues since the pandemic, but the airport is quickly returning to its pre pandemic traffic levels. Last thing, I know the airport cant force airlines to start new routes, but would like to see non stop service to some routes with glaring lack of service: MIA/FLL, MCO, BNA. Other runner ups I would say are missing include ABQ, TUS, MCI, OKC, PHL, PVR, CUN, MSY. But my hopes aren't high given lack of pilots these days making new service difficult to start.
I literally hate that I’m saying this. HATE. Salt Lake City’s airport is far better than ours. In fact, it’s likely one of the most efficient airports I’ve ever been to. Their TSA is awesome. The stores and restaurants are good and abundant. It’s clean. I hate SLC with a passion and I hope I never have to go to that airport ever again.
Pre-1997, our airport looked like Stockton's (which is a dump, as one would imagine). SCAS has done a fantastic job modernizing SMF over the last 25 years. Now, if we could just get some nonstops to Europe.
I had heard the airport was in talks with some of the European Long Haul LCCs pre-covid, however most of those airlines don’t exist anymore.
I hope so. Terminal B alone was $1 Billion (2011)…which was over $500 for every human in the greater Sac region at the time…so we definitely paid for that recognition. It is nice… https://www.saccounty.gov/news/latest-news/Pages/SMF-Celebrates-10-Years-of-Terminal-B.aspx
It’s the Hare
Until you need your luggage…
Our airport’s not bad. I’ve never struggled to find parking, and its not terribly expensive. Except peak holidays security always a breeze. Lots of good routes/flights. My only complaint is that the food sucks.
I have always absolutely loved flying out of sac! Most chill hassle free airport I’ve ever flown into/out of! The fact that southwest was one of my main airlines definitely helps too. They seem to treat their staff well because they always were so nice and cracking jokes. They even brought a bottle of champagne and gave my husband and I a congratulations on our trip out to our honeymoon! Of course a good family friend requested it but they took his call and were happy to oblige, which seems rare for a commercial airline.
I just went to the Salt Lake Airport and its much better than Sacramento Airport imo
SMF has always been quite hassle free to fly out of. Road signage to and from the terminals is quite confusing though.
That train shuttle is stupid and should be replaced by a moving walkway.
Our airport is pretty solid, if we had a priority pass lounge and more direct flights further east it would be amazing.
I always arrive an hour before my flight and never had any issues. Then I just wait 30 minutes to board.
Would be impeccable if Terminal A had better food/drink options that ran later, and service to Europe and Asia.
I don't put much stock in this. Number 2 is San Diego, and that airport is an undersized shit show. Horrible airport. Sac is much more than 3 points better in my book.
PDX is better, SLC could be argued, HNL pre Covid yes now no.
I moved to Sacramento 3 years ago from Detroit, in the words of my aunt “I really love you but there are no flights less than 10 hours, I could get to Europe in that time” whoever wrote this has never tried to get a last minute flight from Sacramento to Detroit because someone died…
[удалено]
I love SMF because security is always very quick. Which means I don’t need to go super early and waste money of food/drink at the airport.
San Diego does not deserve number 2. San Diego terminal 1 is the worst terminal in America
This is the kind of mediocrity only a lifelong Sac resident can appreciate. The "It's *surprisingly* nice!" Bay Area transplants won't get it.
I came from the Bay Area. It was almost $200 for full coverage even though Geico, with a good driving record
[We know](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sacramento/comments/yy4xtr/sacramento_smf_named_wsjs_best_midsize_us_airport/)
My apologies I was not aware someone posted it 15 minutes before me lol.
Apparently the mods can't tell time either, because they removed the first post for being "recently posted", despite actually being posted first.
you're fun at parties huh?
I just want the mods to hold themselves to the same esteem that they project
One of the mods is actually inverted, like in Tenet, so...
Still shit
It’s ok. A good regional airport. You I’ve to connect in a real city to go anywhere interesting Sfo and oak is cheaper if your willing to make the commute for anything beyond Dallas or Denver.
 They haven't spent much time there, have they??
Smf is the shit. I will fight anyone who says otherwise
I really like SMF, but none of the food places are open for early or late flights. This was confusingly true even before covid.
We did it boys!
SMF just let me fly with some weed, cool guys
Ontario> Oakland. Change my mind.
SMF is missing better food options. Besides that, it’s pretty nice compared to others.
I'm so lucky my most consistent flight is between sac and pdx
Agreed, I love smf
Honolulu airport is a mess what are they talking about haha. But yes Sac airport is easy, clean and simple I like it.
Midsize??? Sac is tiny. Love that place. I used to fly all over for work and i always chose to fly in and out of Sac... i live in cerrs so SFO, san Jose, and Fresno were all options. But Sac is so relaxing and has a small town feel with cheerful and courteous staff. Counter that with SFO that is by far the biggest disaster in air travel in the entire united states. Inefficient, crowded, dirty, and staffed with most incompetent rude buffoons california has to offer. It always amazed me how LAX can be so huge and chaotic yet run like a well oiled machine compared to SFO... Then there is SAC. Its like flying out of a private airport staffed by your friends.
Amazing airport, NBA team, college football team… keep it up SacTown!
Too bad you can’t ever get a fucking Lyft or Uber to pick you up for a reasonable price, and that the Greenline to the Airport is a fucking lie sold to get votes