Think It Will Fly?

[don]

SFO Terminal 2 ready for takeoff

John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2011

(04-06) 21:39 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The first plane to unload at San Francisco International Airport's sleekly remodeled Terminal 2 had stenciled on its fuselage: "My other ride is a spaceship."

This is the future of San Francisco air travel.

Virgin America Flight VX2001 and its star-studded passenger list christened the rebirth of San Francisco's vintage 1954 terminal Wednesday. The building underwent a $383 million upgrade designed to make it a model of sustainable development and relaxing travel.

Those are two concepts not often associated with U.S. airports, with their rigorous security screenings, drab waiting areas and overpriced chain food.

"We want to return the romance to travel, make it less stressful," airport spokesman Michael McCarron said. "This is an elegant place."

The refurbished terminal, which will open to commercial flights next Thursday, has waiting areas with white leather sofas, red banquettes and sci-fi-reminiscent "egg" chairs.

Work tables have a dozen power outlets each for travelers' laptops or other portable electronics, which can also tap into free Wi-Fi. One children's play area features wooden xylophones; another, a glass-enclosed case of mechanical butterflies that "fly" by turning a crank, then flutter back down.
Post-security chill spot

There are tiers of windows, soaring white ceilings and eye-catching art, like a sunset-colored net suspended below skylights in the "recompose" area of ottomans just after the security checkpoints.

"I have two metal knees and a metal shoulder, so I have to strip practically half-naked to get through those things," architect Arthur Gensler said of airport checkpoints.

"We tried to create a place where people, before they get to the shops or get to the restroom, they can be comfortable," said Gensler, who began designing the new terminal in 2008.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee likened the result to a luxury hotel.

"We immediately felt we had walked into a five-star hotel lobby," Lee said during Wednesday's unveiling of the 640,000-square-foot terminal for the news media. "It's been done right."
The project, completed on time and under budget, aims to become the U.S. Green Building Council's first LEED gold-certified terminal.

Eco-friendly

The building's toilets use reclaimed water. It has energy-efficient fixtures and handy bins for composting, recycling and trash. Carpet and flooring were made from recycled material.

About 75 percent of the restaurants are local, with an emphasis on locally sourced food.

"People don't want to see those chain, repetitive, boring types of approaches," Lee said. "They want to see locally grown, organic companies."

Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld said simply: "This is the future of airports."

It's also the past. About 90 percent of the original building content was recycled. Besides housing Virgin America, the terminal will also hold American Airlines, which had used the original 1954 building before it closed in 2000 with the opening of the new international terminal.

"We feel as if we're coming back home again," said Timothy Ahern, an American Airlines vice president. The airline had a vintage dual-prop DC-3 on display for the occasion. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson was not to be outdone.

Making an entrance

Branson landed at the new terminal in an Airbus A320 with about 100 people onboard, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin, supermodel Rachel Hunter and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who initiated the terminal project when he was mayor as a means to boost San Francisco as a modern transportation hub.

The plane touched down on a parallel runaway alongside Virgin Galactic's conjoined WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo, which together make up a launch system for commercial suborbital space flights. The crafts had rendezvoused with the A320 above the Pacific Ocean near Point Reyes - flying just 50 feet apart as journalists, well-heeled donors to Virgin Group's nonprofit that supports science and engineering education, and about a dozen schoolchildren marveled.

Branson beamed as he took over the public address system inside the plane shortly after touchdown.

"I don't know if a spaceship has ever landed at a commercial airport," Branson said, "so that was historic in its own right."

T2 Quick facts

Airline tenants: Terminal 2 will house Virgin America and American Airlines.
Public open house: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Free. Register at sfg.ly/flSBLC.
Getting in: The original 15,000 slots for the open house filled up in two days. An additional 5,000 slots have been added.
History: The terminal handled international flights until 2000.
Terminal's new nickname: T2

E-mail John Coté at jcote@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...MN9R1IRE7R.DTL

[flintlock]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

"We want to return the romance to travel, make it less stressful," airport spokesman Michael McCarron said. "This is an elegant place."

"People don't want to see those chain, repetitive, boring types of approaches," Lee said. "They want to see locally grown, organic companies."

And I'd like the Swedish Bikini team to serve me drinks while getting a massage from a super model. The real question should be, can people afford it and will they instead opt for the cheaper fare? The article makes it seem as if people willingly choose crappy food and amenities over luxury.

[don]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

And I'd like the Swedish Bikini team to serve me drinks while getting a massage from a super model. The real question should be, can people afford it and will they instead opt for the cheaper fare? The article makes it seem as if people willingly choose crappy food and amenities over luxury.

Ditto on the Swedes. My wife and I flew to Florida last October. Today's price: double and climbing.

[GRG55]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

And I'd like the Swedish Bikini team to serve me drinks while getting a massage from a super model. The real question should be, can people afford it and will they instead opt for the cheaper fare? The article makes it seem as if people willingly choose crappy food and amenities over luxury.

Properly done the terminal amenities should NOT increase air fares. It took more than a half a century before the captive audience marketing opportunties of air terminals were finally "discovered". I am sure many of us here can still remember the days of one news stand and an airport cafe that served gawdawful coffee and even worse hamburgers - and that was it. With the security requirements dictating arrival at the check-in well before flight times this captive audience dynamic is even more prevalent now. Any air terminal that is passing amenity charges on to air tickets is mismanaged beyond belief.

Ditto on the Swedes. My wife and I flew to Florida last October. Today's price: double and climbing.

The price is probably doubling in part because:

1. Uneconomic routes and capacity were curtailed heavily during the financial crisis [amazing how that sort of thing concentrates the minds of otherwise slothful executives].
2. The capacity is not coming back very quickly, but the number of air travelers has rebounded quite handsomely from the trough.
3. Airline management seems to have finally figured out that running an airline is like running the fresh produce department in a supermarket; those seats are a commodity now, they have a short shelf life and any left unsold are "spoiled product" the moment the wheels leave the ground.
4. Jet fuel is more expensive than a year ago; this ain't your father's energy price spike...

[flintlock]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

I meant fare as in the food, not the airline tickets.

The poor quality of Terminal amenities today probably has a lot to do with who is running them and the fact they have a virtual monopoly. I just don't think your average flyer, already hit with higher fares, and long delays, is looking to throw more money at some airport "experience". Most of us just want to get in and out as quickly as possible. Something tells me the providers of these improved amenities aren't going to dig into their pockets to raise quality without raising prices of the services as well. Of course super world travelers like you GRG, are the exception of course, where its champagne wishes and caviar dreams every day!

[BiscayneSunrise]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

Airport amenities tend to pay for themselves in that the higher end food and retail establishments in airports are some of the most profitable in their respective chains. The dried out turkey sandwich has been replaced with sushi bars and Chipotle and the souvenir shop selling T-shirts and baseball caps has been supplanted by Brooks brothers and Hugo Boss. Airport managers realized bringing in the higher end establishments just isn't an aesthetic attraction but brings in significant dollars to the airport budget.

Your average traveler to Fort Lauderdale going on a spring break cruise may be parsimonious but a significant number of airline customers are road warriors who tend to be higher income and relatively free spending customers. A very attractive combination.

As for whether the new terminal changes the trajectory of the No Cal economy remains to be seen. The operational side of the airport remains highly congested with a 1960's runway layout boxed in by the bay and suburban growth. A shiny new paint job doesn't fix the underlying infrastructure deficiencies at the airport. Silicon valley generates a huge amount amount of really high yield customers (and I mean huge and really high yield) and that will always be there but when one looks at the economic impact of an airport on a regions economy, one must look at the entire package such as taxes and regulations, schools, amenities attractive to executives and business people, convention centers, connectivity to ones customers and supply chain, etc. As delightful as the lifestyle is there, take all those things together and San Francisco ranks mid level.

PS: Kudos to Branson, ever the visionary and showman. American Airlines rolls out a rickety old DC-3 model, Sir Richard shows up with a brand new, real live space ship.

[don]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

Greg: We usually fly into West Palm Beach when we visit south Florida. It was at Sam Snead's restaurant that I cracked a tooth on a steak sandwich

[cjppjc]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

Looks better than anything we have in Jersey. Xanadu included.

[GRG55]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

I meant fare as in the food, not the airline tickets.

The poor quality of Terminal amenities today probably has a lot to do with who is running them and the fact they have a virtual monopoly. I just don't think your average flyer, already hit with higher fares, and long delays, is looking to throw more money at some airport "experience". Most of us just want to get in and out as quickly as possible. Something tells me the providers of these improved amenities aren't going to dig into their pockets to raise quality without raising prices of the services as well. Of course super world travelers like you GRG, are the exception of course, where its champagne wishes and caviar dreams every day!

I go out of my way to avoid air travel in the USA. The ever increasing paranoia of security officials towards foreigners since 9/11 and some of the silly and ineffective procedures are a sufficient disincentive, so I have no idea what is going in in the terminals there. I particularly object to the idiocy of people making a connecting flight/transiting through a US airport having to actually collect their baggage and go through the Immigration process to enter the country, only to immediately recheck their bags for the ongoing flight out of the country. I will go to whatever lengths necessary to avoid transiting through the USA now.


Some of the terminals that I travel through frequently and how I would describe them are:

1. Frankfurt: Teutonically spartan, but everything works;
2. London Heathrow 5: Amazingly efficient;
3. International Terminal at Vancouver, B.C.: Comparatively calming;
4. Geneva: Boring
5. Amsterdam Schiphol: Aging gracefully;
6. Toronto: Aging not so gracefully;
7. Dubai, UAE: Now far too big and inconvenient;
8. Doha, Qatar: Most convenient transit airport terminal in the Gulf for now;
9. Bahrain: Still works but now overcrowded;
10. Perth, Australia: Even more boring than Geneva.
11. Almaty, Kazakhstan: A trip back to Soviet times...

[c1ue]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

I go out of my way to avoid air travel in the USA.

I have the same problem with Canada. Connecting to the US via Canada - at least the last time I went through 10 years ago - requires disembarkation, pickup of luggage, and recheckin/resecurity line.

A friend connected via Calgary from Japan to the US and had the same experience just a few months ago, with the added bonus of having to walk 1/2 mile (his words) to circle around.

Admittedly at least part of this problem is due to US paranoia...

As for airports - the airport itself isn't as big a deal for me as the lounges.

Frankfurt has some amazing lounges - though the best ones are the ones not serving US airlines.

London is crap. The carry-on policy is inane and I hate how they keep jacking up taxes/fees. It used to be that LHR was a cheap was to get into Europe - now it is comparable to Frankfurt despite Frankfurt being the main Star Alliance hub between North America, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. The airport is also old and forces you to walk very long distances. Lounge isn't anything to write home about either.

[GRG55]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

I have the same problem with Canada. Connecting to the US via Canada - at least the last time I went through 10 years ago - requires disembarkation, pickup of luggage, and recheckin/resecurity line.

A friend connected via Calgary from Japan to the US and had the same experience just a few months ago, with the added bonus of having to walk 1/2 mile (his words) to circle around.

Admittedly at least part of this problem is due to US paranoia...

Correct. And now, if you are transiting through a Canadian airport with a destination in the USA, your checked luggage gets routed directly to the US Customs and Immigration officials to pry through at most Canadian airports.

As for airports - the airport itself isn't as big a deal for me as the lounges.

Frankfurt has some amazing lounges - though the best ones are the ones not serving US airlines.

London is crap. The carry-on policy is inane and I hate how they keep jacking up taxes/fees. It used to be that LHR was a cheap was to get into Europe - now it is comparable to Frankfurt despite Frankfurt being the main Star Alliance hub between North America, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. The airport is also old and forces you to walk very long distances. Lounge isn't anything to write home about either.

No argument that British Airport Authority [BAA, not to be confused with BA, which is British Airways] has in the past imposed some decidedly idiotic carry-on rules. At this moment however the carry on rules going through the UK are the same as most everywhere else. But that doesn't mean they won't change them again ten minutes from now...

As for the terminal, I specifically singled out Terminal 5, which is a bloody dream compared to what Heathrow used to be like. Contrary to your commentary above, the flagship carrier lounges at Frankfurt [Lufthansa] don't compare at all with BA's LHR Term 5 lounges...and I use both of them a lot. However, I agree completely that London is pricing itself out of the market. I rarely transit between North America and Europe/MENA through London any more - I use Heathrow only if London is my end destination - because the air fares cannot compete with routing through Frankfurt or Schiphol.

[aaron]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

There are plenty of people left who can afford higher prices. They will also spend money at the airport.

Much of society's wealth is being sucked up to the top. Most of the people at the bottom never flew before and most of the people in the middle will never fly again. The upper caste is doing quite well, it seems to me. Yes, there is not the super-charged credit fueled trips of '06, but I guess the number of people who can afford to fly around and shop at the airport malls is increasing.

The largest factor, the factor we always seem to come to... Well, just take a look around the next time you are at the airport. The number of Asian travelers has increased dramatically.

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

There are plenty of people left who can afford higher prices. They will also spend money at the airport.

Much of society's wealth is being sucked up to the top. Most of the people at the bottom never flew before and most of the people in the middle will never fly again. The upper caste is doing quite well, it seems to me. Yes, there is not the super-charged credit fueled trips of '06, but I guess the number of people who can afford to fly around and shop at the airport malls is increasing.

The largest factor, the factor we always seem to come to... Well, just take a look around the next time you are at the airport. The number of Asian travelers has increased dramatically.

I was just reading a piece by Doug Casey who writes the following:

Agriculture isn’t an easy business, and it has plenty of risks. But there’s always going to be a demand for its products, and I suspect the margins are going to stay high for a long time to come. Why? There’s still plenty of potential farmland around the world that’s wild or fallow, but politics is likely to keep it that way. Population won’t be growing that much (and will be falling in the developed world), but people will be wealthier and want to eat better. So you want the kind of food that people with some money eat.

I’m not crazy about commodity-type foods, like wheat, soy and corn; these are high-volume, industrial-style foods, subject to political interference. And they’re not important as foods for wealthy people, which is the profitable part of the market. Besides, grains are where everybody’s attention is directed.

So, it seems that the big money is in heirloom tomatoes and expensive olive oil. I'm confused. Didn't we just settle on a mad max future with muscular guys in leather suits battling to the death in the dust? My wife is talking about starting a swanky B&B in Provence. Who exactly will be paying $500/night to stay in these places? After every last American goes on food stamps, who will the wealthy refrigerator magnet er ... magnates, sell magnets too?

Sorry if this is a derail, I am suffering cogitative dissonance at what I can only describe as a massive wave of wealth I am seeing in Europe right now.

[GRG55]

Re: Think It Will Fly?

I was just reading a piece by Doug Casey who writes the following:




So, it seems that the big money is in heirloom tomatoes and expensive olive oil. I'm confused. Didn't we just settle on a mad max future with muscular guys in leather suits battling to the death in the dust? My wife is talking about starting a swanky B&B in Provence. Who exactly will be paying $500/night to stay in these places? After every last American goes on food stamps, who will the wealthy refrigerator magnet er ... magnates, sell magnets too?

Sorry if this is a derail, I am suffering cogitative dissonance at what I can only describe as a massive wave of wealth I am seeing in Europe right now.

The same trends that have been in place for quite some time will continue to drive this. We seem to have difficulty imagining a world that can exist without the infamous "American consumer", but if you have been living in Tangiers you will have seen first hand the changes over the past decade. Setting aside whether those might be "good" or "bad", it is undeniable that both the population and the aggregate disposable income has increased in Tangiers. I only use that as an illustration for what is happening all over. I have witnessed remarkable changes in the cities of Central Asia, the Persian Gulf, India and those parts of Africa I have frequented regularly since the start of this millenium.

Yes, there is excessive concentration of wealth, too much corruption, social injustice, lack of legal enforcement, and a host of other problems in all these places. Yes, some portion of the wealth created has the fictious flavour of the global FIRE economy attached to it. However, it is undeniable that many more people in these places are genuinely better off than they were a decade ago - better incomes, better education, longer life expectancies - how many "American consumers" can make that same claim? Although one wouldn't know it watching the BBC or CNN, even in those countries, like Bahrain, that seem to be going up in flames, there's a very significant constituency of citizens that are far better off than they were in 2001.

Maybe it'll be the old money of Europe or the matrons of Palm Beach that frequent your wife's luxury B&B in Provence, but over time I doubt they'll be the only ones...