Oakland International OAK: the complete layover guide

OAK is one long building wearing two terminal names. Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 sit side by side on a single curb, and you can walk between them inside or outside security in minutes.

First, the name. The Port of Oakland renamed the airport Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in 2025, after a legal fight with San Francisco over an earlier version of the name. The IATA code is still OAK, airlines still say Oakland, and nothing about the building changed. The important geography point survives the branding: OAK sits on the east side of the bay, San Francisco International sits on the west side, and they are separate airports about an hour apart by road.

Terminal 1 holds Gates 1 to 17 and hosts every airline except Southwest, including Alaska, Delta, Hawaiian, Allegiant, Spirit and the international carriers such as Volaris. International arrivals clear US immigration and customs here. Terminal 2 holds Gates 20 to 32 and belongs entirely to Southwest, which carries the large majority of OAK passengers.

The connection between the two is the best thing about this airport. Airside, an indoor walkway with moving walkways links Gate 4 in Terminal 1 to Gate 20 in Terminal 2. The walk takes about 5 to 10 minutes and there is no second security screening. You can also walk between the terminals outside on the curb if you have not cleared security yet. Either way, a terminal change at OAK is a stroll, not a project.

That makes connections forgiving. On a single ticket with both flights inside the same security perimeter, 60 minutes is comfortable here in a way it never is at a mega hub. On separate tickets you are collecting bags and checking in again, so give yourself 2 hours, more if your first flight has a habit of running late.

Getting to a city is easy too, and you have two cities to choose from. The BART Oakland Airport Connector, a driverless tram, runs from a station outside the terminals to Coliseum station in about 8 minutes, departing every 5 to 20 minutes depending on the time of day. From Coliseum, trains reach downtown Oakland in roughly 10 minutes and downtown San Francisco in roughly 25, so plan on 25 minutes total to Oakland and 40 to 45 minutes total to San Francisco including the transfer. The connector runs from 5 am on weekdays, 6 am on Saturdays and 8 am on Sundays, until around midnight every night. The connector leg alone costs about 6 dollars and the full fare to San Francisco is higher; check the BART fare calculator before you commit.

One honest warning for long stays: OAK concessions mostly shut down by late evening and nothing operates around the clock. If your layover runs past 9 pm, buy food while you still can.