Space Symposium Air Transit Information

Flying Into the Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area is serviced by three major international airports that have modern facilities and in the case of San Francisco completely renovated terminals and customs facilities. Direct flights from most international cities arrive and depart daily. If you are worried about the length of your trip, flying from Europe to San Francisco is direct and will only add one to two hours over flying into the east coast. If you are flying direct, be it from Europe, Asia, or Oceana your "port of entry" will be San Francisco provided you book a direct flight.

The largest international airport is San Francisco International (SFO) and is located approximately 12 miles south of downtown San Francisco in San Mateo County. It is served by over 40 airlines with direct flights from most parts of the world and is the only US airport currently equipped to receive AirBus A-380 aircraft. In 2001 it was reconstructed with a new and efficient Customs and Immigration facility, so international travellers will be quickly processed and on their way.

We have provided a complete list of airlines servicing SFO. See "San Francisco International Airlines" for more information and links to airline websites.

The second is Oakland International Airport (OAK) located across the bay. Oakland is served by Alaska Airlines, Aloha Airlines, America West, US Airways, American Airlines, Leanas Aeras Azteca, Continental, Delta, Jet Blue, Mexicana, Southwest and United.

Both are serviced by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and SFO is also serviced by CalTrain, which has commuter and "baby bullet" trains from the same station as BART.

The third international airport is Mineta San José International Airport (SJC) located in San José. It is served by Alaska Airlines, America West, American Airlines, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian Airlines, Jet Blue, Northwest, Mexicana, Southwest and United. There are several direct flights to cities in Mexico and one direct flight to Tokyo per day. It is serviced by both the Santa Clara county VIA light rail system and CalTrain commuter and "baby bullet" trains.

Only San Francisco has free hotel shuttle busses.

All airports are serviced by major airlines, though some newer carriers such as Jet Blue, Air Tran and Southwest may only fly into one or two. Please consult the airline information pages for carrier information, and check with your carrier to see what airports they service.

General Aviation

There are other aiports located slightly outside the Bay Area (Livermore, Watsonville) and some general aviation is allowed into SJC. Plan your trip accordingly and PLEASE file a flight plan and frequently check weather enroute.

Once You Arrive - Hotel Transportation

The Crowne Plaza will provide free shuttle transportation from San Fransisco International to the hotel. Cabs are also available, but if you are arriving at an airport other than SFO you should consider one of the shuttle services such as Super Shuttle.

You can generally get from any airport in the Bay Area to any location in the bay area by public transportation. It will take more time, but it is convenient and inexpensive. Please see the Public Transportation page for more information and links to transit operators and fares.

Repeater System "Talk-In"

Once you arrive in the Bay Area we have arranged to use the N6MPX repeater system courtesy of the Mad Scientists Amateur Radio Club. There are two linked repeaters that can be reached using a handheld transceiver from most Bay Area locations. One is in San Mateo on 2M that will cover most of the bay into Marin County and east to Livermore. Another located in San José on 70cm will cover most of the south bay into the Almaden Valley. These repeaters use a PL of 100Hz with positive offsets. The base frequencies for these repeaters are 147.300 MHz and 441.950 MHz respectively. We will have someone monitor these frequencies on Friday and Saturday to provide talk in services and help facilitate airport pickups for those who may not have cellphone service. There will also be knowledgeable people monitoring the 145.230 (- offset) and 147.210 (+ offset) repeaters. Again, both use PL tones of 100 Hz.

We are also looking into a 1296 MHz repeater frequency - please check back for additional frequencies.

Cellphone Information and Text Messaging

We will provide address for text messaging and cellphone access to the Symposium coordinator in the near future.