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United playing musical gates at SFO, again.

September 6, 2012
Travelers wait for United's short bus shuttle at SFO (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Travelers wait for United’s short bus shuttle at SFO (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Earlier this summer, The BAT reported on United’s surreptitious move into Terminal 1 at SFO. At the time, United said it would move a handful of flights (mostly to Southern California) into Terminal 1, and transport passengers from United’s main Terminal 3 via 20 passenger shuttle buses. But over the summer months, United begain using Terminal 1 willy-nilly—we heard from cranky passengers forced to use Terminal 1 when flying to or from cities all over the country.

Now that’s all changing. Again.

Starting this week, United is moving at least 100 United Express flights to Terminal 1. The move is designed to free up space in Terminal 3 (and on those tiny short-bus shuttles) so United can have all its mainline flights there.

Here are the details the United has confirmed with The BAT:

>Most (but not all) United Express flights moved to Terminal 1 on September 5.

>All mainline flights will now use Terminal 3

>United still wants all customers to check in for ALL flights at Terminal 3, then walk to gates 71A or 87A for a shuttle ride over to Terminal 1. (However, we’ve learned that some wily frequent fliers just print boarding passes at home and go straight to Terminal 1 when they see that their gate number is 71A or 87A.)

>Gate 92 in the international terminal will no longer be used for shuttle transfers.

>There will be no more mainline United flights using Terminal 1

Eventually, all this will change again. All United operations will be happily reunited in Terminal 3 when boarding area E in re-opens after a massive renovation, which an airport spokesperson said is  expected to be completed in November 2013.  (Boarding area E is the old American Airlines space.)

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UPDATE: Sept 7: Here’s the official notice about this now appearing on United’s website:

United flights from San Francisco International (SFO) depart from Terminal 1, Terminal 3 and the International Terminal. Ticketing, check-in and baggage drop for all flights are located at Terminal 3.

You may proceed through security at Terminal 3 and, if you are departing from Terminal 1, take the shuttle bus from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1. If you are departing from Terminal 1 and have already checked in, do not need to see a United representative, and do not have any bags to check, you may proceed through Terminal 1 security with your boarding pass.

Shuttle buses depart every five minutes from Terminal 3 (Gates 71A and 87A) to Terminal 1 (Gate 39). For elevator access to a bus stop, please use Gate 87A.

Have you been faced with United’s musical gates routine at SFO yet? How did that go for you? Please leave your comments below. 
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  • Roberta

    I fly short flights SFO to Santa Barbara 2-3 times a month. This nonsense is so unpredictable and the process is NOT user friendly – at one point transferring there is a long flght of steps with no elevator – and arrows painted on the floor encouraging two-way foot traffic. Shouldn’t airports be more user-friendly by now? I like idea of going directly to Terminal 1 – the only hitch is with sign up for automatic check in 24 hours in advance the gate is “not yet assigned”

  • C

    I can not stand landing at the international terminal. Usually it is much more diffiuclt to get a cab. Mostly it is the uncertainty of not knowing where you are going to end up. I have not yet flown out of terminal 1 but I think I will go through security there if I see that gate on my boarding pass (and hoe that the flight is not delayed or cancelled as there is not a club or a lot of staff over there to help. Does anyone know if “elite” United flyers have any trouble getting into the “elite” security lines in T1?

  • Roz

    We flew from SFO to Medford OR on We. Sept. 5, the first day that Gate 71A was open, we were told. The porter at curbside check-in as well as the United Club desk person were up to speed and told us exactly where to go. Gate 71A is next to the Yankee Pier restaurant at the end of the moving walkway. All went smoothly.

  • Doug

    Eric, of course there are ways to get conveniently between T1 & T3 w/o using those tiny United buses. You can walk–it’s not that far, & good for you–or you can take the AirTrain, just a quick 2 stops away, running around the top levels of all the terminals.

  • chris

    Thanks, James… I just did that T1 to T5 terminal transfer at Heathrow last month…. that is one LOOOOONG bus ride. I thought we’d end up in Kent! –chris

  • James Erickson

    I am not surprised by this; my arrival flights have been gating at the International terminal every other month or so all year. I supporse this is good news for United: travel is up, more flights. The reality is that it is straight forward to get from T3 to T1 given the layout of SFO. Personally, I would walk, but the buses work fine. Try transiting from T1 to T5 at Heathrow.

  • Kathy

    In mid-August we had a flight to Boston, printed Boarding passes at home. Got to the bag drop off at regular United terminal, the machines were not all working, finally got help and they told us we were late (because the computers were not working properly, but that didn’t seem to matter) and they “didn’t have to put our bags through”. They did, thankfully, but with a snarl. Then, we checked our boarding pass, it said one gate, checked the board at the airport which said an entirely different thing – that gate in International. So we ran there. Security had one lane open. With less than 5 minutes to spare we had no time to put shoes back on, ran in socks (luckily it was very early in the a.m., nobody in the terminal) to the gate – which I overshot because a security person said to take the moving walkway which went right by the stairs leading downstairs to the gate. Ran back, ran down stairs, yelled at them to not shut the door. My partner – bad knee – limped in behind me. Great start to our vacation in NH (which was awesome, thankfully!)

  • Paul J

    Quite simply, I can no longer fly on United. Nearly every decision they make fails to consider how it will impact customers… or they just don’t care. I feel like gate changes, cancellations, gate interactions are at an all-time worst for United at SFO and the only option I have is to fly other airlines (Virgin, Southwest).

  • http://www.ask.com Eric

    I fly back and forth from Eugene to SFO on United two or three times a month, and on this last trip when going home to Eugene I was routed out of Terminal 1. This involved a ride on a United short bus from Terminal 3. It was a big pain in the neck since I wasn’t expecting to have to continue traveling to Terminal 1 and had been looking forward to getting to gate 87A and reading my newspaper.

    It would be great if there was a way to go conveniently to T1 that didn’t involve a short bus. But on the bright side, at least there’s a great deli adjacent to the United gates in T1.

  • Pingback: Certain SFO-Short Haul Flights on UA/UX Now Operating From SFO Terminal 1 - Page 32 - FlyerTalk Forums

  • chris

    Confirmation from United: “Yes, it’s 71A. We are no longer using the bus at gate 92. The new bus stop is next to the T-3 desk, and will run to T-1 only. This ‘gate’ will be referred to as 71A.”

  • Dan

    In short, Terminal One sucks if flying on UA/UX, avoid at all costs!

  • chris

    Hi D: that’s what United spokesperson told me. I will double check to be certain that it’s now 71a. Thanks.

  • http://Hipmunk.com Jacqueline

    United was playing musical gates and planes today. After two gate changes to a SFO->SEA flight, they also had plane swap issues. They double booked most exit row seats on the reconfigured 757 and it made for some very annoyed customers who paid more for more leg room.

  • David

    71A might be what they are calling the old transfer point behind the Yankee Pier restaurant. If they are re-opening that, that’s a plus, but the numbering is going to confuse people again.

    -David

  • Justin

    I flew in from Portland the other day and we ended up at the international terminal (G). This was great for me, since I didn’t check bags and only had a few minutes before the next BART train left. I wondered about everyone else, though — someone came on and mumbled something barely intelligible about baggage claim, but they needed to say “NO REALLY, if you checked bags, you need to walk all the way to the OTHER TERMINAL to get them.” I understand if they need to use multiple terminals because of the merger, etc., but they need to actually communicate about it.

    And are they really listing people’s flights at gates where there’s actually a bus to the other terminal?? I would be mad, let me walk.

  • David

    Your photo even shows it at gate 92.

  • David

    71A?

    It was 92A-D, isn’t it? Did they get rid of the international gate they were using? 71A is new if that’s accurate.

    -David

  • http://kziel.com Kris Ziel

    I have had to do the transfer once, transferring from T1 to T3. It was pretty quick and it didn’t take much longer than walking from the end of international terminal to T3.

  • Veronica

    Yes, I had this happen on a flight from Houston last month and it was a hassle. After getting off the plane, everyone lined up for a trip downstairs, then on the little shuttle busses. Reminded me of the tarmac transfers they used to do at Heathrow. When surfacing on the other end, it was pandaemonium with where to go to get our bags. People with kids, bags, etc. getting up and down the stairs and on and off the shuttle was a big mess.