Midway’s route data for the next twelve months lists around 155 nonstop destinations from the three Bay Area airports: San Francisco International (SFO), Oakland (OAK) and San José (SJC). SFO on its own reaches around 150 of them. It also reaches more destinations in Asia and Oceania than any other US airport, LAX included, and that is the main reason a scattered group would pick San Francisco.
For a group trip from different cities, a family reunion or a company offsite, the flight question is mostly settled at SFO. Oakland and San José matter for where people stay and which airline they fly, and much less for reach.
The numbers behind the three airports
SFO has nonstop flights to around 150 destinations over the next twelve months. San José (SJC) reaches around 40 and Oakland (OAK) around 30. Figures are from Midway’s route data as of October 2026, counted per airport and rounded to the nearest 5.
The two smaller airports add very little. Of the area’s destinations, only six cannot be reached nonstop from SFO. They are Houston Hobby and Long Beach on Southwest, León, Morelia and Zacatecas in Mexico on Volaris, and Crescent City, on the far north coast of California, from Oakland. Two of the six are second airports in places SFO already serves, Houston through Bush Intercontinental and the Los Angeles area through LAX, Burbank, Ontario and Orange County.
SFO’s list splits into around 85 US cities and around 60 abroad. Mexico has seven of the foreign destinations, and Japan and Canada have five each. Europe is covered all year, with London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Amsterdam, Dublin, Copenhagen, Lisbon and Istanbul in every month of the current schedules.
Routes across the Pacific
SFO reaches more destinations in Asia and Oceania than any other US airport in Midway’s data, even though LAX has the longer list overall. In Asia the list includes Tokyo (Haneda and Narita), Osaka, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. On the Oceania side it has Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland, Nadi and Papeete.
Several of these have no nonstop from any other US airport in Midway’s data, among them Ho Chi Minh City on Vietnam Airlines, Wuhan on China Southern, and United’s Sapporo, Okinawa, Adelaide and Christchurch. United’s four are seasonal. Sapporo and Christchurch run from December to March, Adelaide from December to February, and Okinawa starts in March 2027 in the current schedules.
So a group split between the US and East Asia, Southeast Asia or Australia will often find San Francisco in its overlap, sometimes as the only US option. The US–Asia meeting destinations guide covers the cities on the other side of the ocean.
Airlines at SFO, Oakland and San José
United flies to close to four in five of SFO’s destinations, and for about a third of them it is the only airline. Alaska is second, on around one in six, and Southwest has a short list from SFO, mostly to the West and the middle of the country. That puts SFO between Atlanta, where Delta serves almost every route, and Los Angeles, where no airline reaches half the list.
Oakland and San José are Southwest airports. Southwest flies to most destinations from both, and Volaris flies from both to several Mexican cities. Alaska is the second carrier at San José, which also has Delta, United and American flights to their hubs. So someone loyal to Southwest will usually find more nonstops into Oakland or San José than into SFO.
See which destinations your group can reach from SFO. Enter everyone’s departure airports and Midway lists the cities all of them reach nonstop. It does not merge the three Bay Area airports into one, so run the search again with OAK or SJC to see what they add.
Routes that change with the season
A little under a quarter of SFO’s destinations do not run in every month of the next twelve. Winter adds the ski routes, Aspen from October to April and Vail, Hayden (for Steamboat Springs) and Montrose (for Telluride) from December to March. Summer 2027 adds Madrid on Iberia from May and Lajes in the Azores from June.
So for a group date several months out, check the month before assuming a route exists. Midway’s month filter shows the destinations that run in the month you pick, and it cannot tell you whether an airline will add or drop a route after the schedules it has. For Oakland and San José, most routes are not yet scheduled for September 2027, the last month in the data, so their month-by-month view is less reliable at that end.
Which Bay Area airport to use
The Bay Area is spread out, and BART, Caltrain and the bridges decide how long the trip from airport to hotel takes. In most cases the simpler order is to choose where the group will stay and check SFO for everyone. Then look at Oakland or San José for the people SFO leaves out and for anyone flying Southwest.
SFO
South of the city on the Peninsula, with BART into downtown San Francisco. It is the default for anyone flying from Asia, Oceania or Europe, and the only one of the three with nonstops to Europe or Australia.
Oakland (OAK)
Across the bay, closest to Oakland, Berkeley and the rest of the East Bay, and linked to BART by a short connector train. Its routes are mostly western US cities on Southwest, plus Honolulu, Maui and Kauai, a few Mexican cities and San Salvador.
San José (SJC)
At the south end of the bay, closest to San José, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and the rest of Silicon Valley. It has no train station of its own, and buses link it to Caltrain and BART. Its routes reach further east than Oakland’s, with Delta to Atlanta and Minneapolis, United to Chicago O’Hare and American to Dallas-Fort Worth. Its only route outside North America is a ZIPAIR flight to Tokyo Narita, scheduled for only a few months between December and March.
Check SFO and the airport nearest your hotel with Midway. Run the search once from SFO, then again with OAK or SJC, and compare the overlap.
A worked example
Take a group flying from Ho Chi Minh City, Denver and Boston. They share seven destinations in Midway’s data: Frankfurt, Istanbul, London Heathrow, Munich, Paris, Tokyo Narita and San Francisco. San Francisco is the only one in North America, and every option except Paris has all three routes in every month.
Counted as total time in the air, San Francisco is the shortest option, about 22h45 across the three flights against about 28h45 for Munich, the next one. Istanbul has the shortest longest leg, about 10h45 from Denver, while the Ho Chi Minh City traveller flies about 13h30 to San Francisco. The group has to decide whether the total or the longest seat matters more.
See also: Boston–San Francisco meeting points, San Francisco–Miami and Washington DC–San Francisco, or browse the full city-pair meeting points hub for every pair.
Flight times from SFO
Shortest scheduled time from SFO in Midway’s data:
| To | Flight time |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles (LAX) | 1h 31m |
| Seattle (SEA) | 2h 12m |
| Vancouver (YVR) | 2h 14m |
| Denver (DEN) | 2h 39m |
| Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) | 3h 34m |
| Chicago (ORD) | 4h 20m |
| Mexico City (MEX) | 4h 25m |
| Atlanta (ATL) | 4h 30m |
| New York (JFK) | 5h 25m |
| Honolulu (HNL) | 5h 42m |
| London (LHR) | 10h 25m |
| Tokyo (HND) | 10h 40m |
| Seoul (ICN) | 12h 10m |
| Taipei (TPE) | 13h 15m |
| Sydney (SYD) | 14h 40m |
| Singapore (SIN) | 16h 25m |
Times are the shortest monthly schedule over the next twelve months. Flights toward San Francisco take a different time, mostly because of prevailing winds.
Planning a group meeting in San Francisco
Getting around. San Francisco itself is compact, and BART, Muni and walking cover most trips inside the city. A group split between the city, the East Bay and Silicon Valley will spend a lot of time on trains or the bridges. Picking one base is probably the most useful decision after the flights.
Seasons. Summer in the city is often cool and foggy, and September and October are usually the warmest months. Winter is the rainy season, and it is also when SFO’s ski routes and its seasonal flights to Australia and New Zealand run.
Budget. San Francisco is rarely a cheap meeting city. Downtown hotels sit near the top of the US range, and large conferences at Moscone Center can fill them for a week. Staying in Oakland or near San José usually costs less, at the price of a longer trip into the city.
Who meets in San Francisco
Groups spanning the Pacific. The strongest case. SFO’s list across Asia and Oceania is the longest of any US airport. A group split between the US and Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Australia or New Zealand often finds it in the overlap, usually with year-round service.
Teams split across the coasts. It works when most of the team is in the West. For an even split, the East Coast half flies five and a half hours or more each way, and a middle city such as Denver is probably fairer. The split-coasts offsite guide compares them.
Groups that include Europe. SFO’s ten year-round European cities are usually enough for a group whose US side lives in the West. For a group spread across the whole US, New York or the East Coast hubs reach more of Europe, and the US–Europe meeting destinations guide compares the options.
The route count settles reach. It does not settle the airport or the airline, and Midway treats each Bay Area airport separately. So check the overlap from SFO first, then from Oakland or San José for anyone who flies Southwest.