SJC is a much better airport than SFO, but OAK is the one the cheap flights go to, and is inexpensive to get to SF from.

SFO is one of my favorite airports because they designed it for convenience. There is a parking garage at the core of the airport, so you can drive into this garage and drive in a circle and park adjacent to your terminal, and walk out on the axis directly to your flights. The new very large international terminal links directly to BART, which is quite a good idea as well. I've always had a very low opinion of SJC.

I'm confused as to how SJC could be considered a much better airport than SFO. Many cheap flights do go to OAK but Virgin and JetBlue also fly out of SFO. I've never had a problem finding a cheap flight that goes out of SFO, if I have time to plan ahead.

Having never been to SFO or OAK, I find this shocking, since SJC seems kinda slummy, especially when flying via NWA.

I guess it all depends on what you're looking for in an airport, but if your metric is "time taken to get from the expressway exit to wheels-up in your plane", I'd rank the Bay Area OAK, SJC, then SFO.

I'm not really looking for amenities; if I needed them, I'd probably just pay for the Amex Platinum and get into the airline lounges.

SFO International is pretty cool. Very open and light with decent A/C.