San Francisco · Airports
Airport transfers in San Francisco
Three airports around one bay, and the bridge or the peninsula you use to reach them decides the journey.
| Route | Off-peak | Allow in peak | Sedan all-in | SUV all-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO to the Financial District | 25–35 min | 45–70 min | $175.33 | $200.33 |
| Oakland to the Financial District | 25–30 min | 50–80 min | Quoted | Quoted |
| San Jose to Palo Alto | 25–30 min | 40–60 min | Quoted | Quoted |
Weekday afternoon examples from our quote engine, as of Oct 2026. Includes 20% chauffeur gratuity, tolls, parking, airport fees, surcharges and taxes. Your quote is confirmed in writing and held for 72 hours. Routes marked Quoted are priced for your exact addresses.
- Gratuity and airport fees included
- Rate agreed in writing, no surge pricing
- Free cancellation up to 2 hours before pickup
- 60 minutes free waiting after landing, flight tracked
The three San Francisco airports
SFO carries the international traffic and most of the corporate travel; Oakland sits across the water and is frequently quicker for the East Bay; San Jose serves the valley and is the obvious choice for anyone whose business is in the South Bay rather than the city. The wrong choice costs an hour. We confirm the terminal against the flight number, meet inside arrivals and hold through customs rather than starting a clock.
San Francisco International (SFO)
Four terminals around a central garage, with the international terminal sitting between the domestic ones rather than off on its own. Arrivals levels are workable and the kerb is enforced but manageable. The run into the city is up the 101, which carries the peninsula commute and fails in a way that no alternative routing rescues.
Oakland (OAK)
Across the bay, small, and from gate to kerb a fraction of SFO’s walk. For anyone staying in the East Bay or Berkeley it is comfortably the better airport. Into the city it means the Bay Bridge, which at peak is the entire journey — a trip of about nineteen miles that can take an hour.
San Jose (SJC)
At the southern end of the bay and the right airport for Palo Alto, Mountain View, Santa Clara and San Jose itself. Small, quick to clear and close to the valley campuses. For a meeting on Sand Hill Road, flying into SJC rather than SFO regularly saves forty minutes in each direction.
San Francisco fog, delays and how we plan
Fog is a schedule problem here, not a visibility one
SFO’s parallel runways sit close enough together that low cloud forces a reduced arrival rate, and the resulting delays cascade through the afternoon on days when the weather at ground level looks perfectly fine. We track the actual arrival rather than the timetable, because in summer the two frequently disagree by an hour or more.
Diversions and the bay alternatives
Because we cover all three airports, a diversion from SFO to Oakland or San Jose does not mean starting the booking again — we re-plan and meet you where you actually land. Those are longer ground runs and we quote them as such rather than pretending the distance has not changed.
From the San Francisco airports into the city and the valley
Door to kerb, ordinary conditions. The peninsula commute and the Bay Bridge are the two things that move these numbers, and neither is avoidable by routing.
Northbound into the city in the morning and southbound out of it in the evening are both slow, and a trip that runs with the flow can take twice as long as the same trip against it. We time airport runs around the corridor rather than the clock.
| Route | Approx. distance | Off-peak | Allow in peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFO to the Financial District | 14 miles | 25–35 min | 45–70 min |
| SFO to SoMa | 13 miles | 22–30 min | 40–65 min |
| SFO to Palo Alto | 20 miles | 25–35 min | 50–75 min |
| Oakland to the Financial District | 19 miles | 25–30 min | 50–80 min |
| Oakland to Berkeley | 12 miles | 20–25 min | 30–45 min |
| San Jose to Palo Alto | 17 miles | 25–30 min | 40–60 min |
How San Francisco airport transfers are priced
Every airport route is quoted per route and confirmed in writing before you travel, with no surge pricing at any hour. Oakland and San Jose are quoted as the longer transfers they are from the city.
If your meetings are on the peninsula and the flights are not booked, ask us first. San Jose instead of SFO is frequently the difference between arriving for a morning meeting and missing it.
Prefer to speak to someone? Dispatch is staffed 24 hours a day.
More in San Francisco
Corporate & roadshows
Investor roadshows, Sand Hill Road and the valley campuses
Private aviation
SFO, Oakland, San Jose and the peninsula fields
Hotel transfers
Nob Hill, Union Square, SoMa and the peninsula
Events & venues
Moscone, Chase Center, Oracle Park and the valley venues
Universities & campuses
Stanford, Berkeley, UCSF and the peninsula campuses
All San Francisco services
Airports, districts and journey times across San Francisco