San Francisco Moves To Build Private Luxury Airport Terminal (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0184382434
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/09/1649254/san-francisco-moves-to-build-private-luxury-airport-terminal
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/09/san-francisco-airport-private-terminal
> The [San Francisco international airport] is hoping to build a brand-new terminal [1]exclusively for passengers who pay a premium , gaining access to a luxurious airport experience complete with private security lines and valet service from terminal to tarmac. It will service commercial flights, not business or corporate jets, and the terminal will have its own Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lines for international travel.
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> SFO is seeking bidders to take on the development, construction and operation of the private terminal, which is planned for a 75,000-sq-ft site located across the runway from all current public terminals. The airport will accept proposals between late September and early October, and is looking to award a contract by early December with hopes of opening the terminal in late 2028. [...]
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> If SFO is successful, it would become the next major American airport to open a luxury terminal. Los Angeles, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airports all offer a private terminal through PS (formerly known as the Private Suite), a company owned by security firm Gavin de Becker and Associates. Multiple representatives from PS and Gavin de Becker and Associates attended a June conference hosted by SFO about the private terminal, and PS has said it hopes to open a private terminal at every major US airport by 2030.
The report notes that access to existing PS private terminals "can cost passengers $1,295 for a one-time experience, or up to $4,850 for a yearly membership."
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/09/san-francisco-airport-private-terminal
This already exists (kind of) (Score:3)
In Guarulhos International Airport (São Paulo, Brazil), there's an exclusive terminal for super rich clients of a bank, so they don't need to mingle with the riffraff at the ordinary terminal.
It even provides helicopters transfers between the airport and the city and private suites for prolonged waiting times.
[1]https://terminal.btgpactual.co... [btgpactual.com]
[1] https://terminal.btgpactual.com/en
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P.S.: I see this already exists on some US airports too.
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Yeah, there was a local news story about it when one went into Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport a few months ago. No story about it here though.
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Amsterdam has had this for years. Not to be confused with what private planes use on the other side of the airport.
[1]https://www.schiphol.nl/en/vip [schiphol.nl]
rates:
[2]https://www.schiphol.nl/en/vip... [schiphol.nl]
[1] https://www.schiphol.nl/en/vip
[2] https://www.schiphol.nl/en/vip/rates
Being too wealthy really is sociopathic (Score:5, Insightful)
This level of aversion to having to "slum it with the masses" where every last bastion where you might come across a person with a 5 figure income is systemically avoided through force is probably not good for society as a whole. They already have private airplanes, private communities, private helicopters, private schools, private beachfronts and now private terminals. Don't ever risk getting into a conversation with a human being who doesn't have at least 1.5M in Palantir stock.
And then we wonder why all the wealthy people are turning into drug addled weirdos with psychopathic tendencies and are more and more talking like supervillains. Too much inherited wealth is like we are putting children through a sociopath factory. Like Trump isn't an accident, he's a product of his upbringing.
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Cocaine is God's way of telling you you are making too much money. -- Robin Williams
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That's a very nice classless society you have there.
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Did I say classless?
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> This level of aversion to having to "slum it with the masses" where every last bastion where you might come across a person with a 5 figure income is systemically avoided
So the much the same as those with 5 figure incomes who drive rather than take public transit to avoid the homeless people.
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And of course the homeless people in the urban cores are partially an outcome from suburban living becoming the mainstay. Problems are multivariate, that doesn't lead to good outcomes either. All these things are generally bad for society as a whole but they are of course mostly caused by the impulse to not give a shit about that as a whole.
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> And of course the homeless people in the urban cores are partially an outcome from suburban living becoming the mainstay.
Bullshit. Suburbans are the CHEAPEST way to construct housing. And we have so many homeless because we _stopped_ constructing new suburbs.
Can you tell me without looking it up, how many housing units per family do we have right now?
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> Suburbans are the CHEAPEST way to construct housing.
Yes, that's a problem, particularly as they keep getting further and further away from the urban core they depend on to sustain themselves.
> Can you tell me without looking it up, how many housing units per family do we have right now?
Why would it matter if I can't look it up? Nationwide? In a particular state? In a particular local region (where it actually matters)?
Re: Being too wealthy really is sociopathic (Score:2)
A bus comes by here and I live in the sticks.
Now if it only came more often than every two hours, or took less than 45 minutes to do what takes 20 by car...
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> OP's only explanation is that they must be sociopathic for having an aversion that to that.
I'm sorry was I talking about middle class public transit riders? What do you think my response would be to the homeless issues, but good job vice signalling.
This is such rote by-the-numbers right wing outrage slop that I have to presume an AI wrote it.
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I'd realize you are doing an absolute straweman of my position so you could find a reason to rant about the homeless? However could I have interpreted that...
Also are you saying they are not? Go watch Karp's latest interview, Thiel jabbering about the antichrist, Musk slipping further into white supremacist conspiracies, the guy trying to live forever from youth blood, Bill Ackman raving like a lunatic on X, the All-In-Guys basically saying we need dictators, these people are deranged.
Nice trolling, but non-incels have other reasons (Score:2)
> So the much the same as those with 5 figure incomes who drive rather than take public transit to avoid the homeless people.
Convince a woman to reproduce with you and you'll know most people don't drive to avoid the homeless, they do so because it's unaffordable to raise kids anywhere served by public transportation on a 5 figure income (really even 6 figure). They have to go far out in the burbs and again...while you might be able to get to and from work in 3h via public transportation, you have kids and loved ones waiting for you...I know given your history you might not be able to relate to that...but...yeah, fuck off.
Pe
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> Convince a woman to reproduce with you and you'll know most people don't drive to avoid the homeless, they do so because it's unaffordable to raise kids anywhere served by public transportation on a 5 figure income (really even 6 figure).
I don't know where you live, but around here income is not really an impediment to having kids. My anecdotal experience is that despite global trends they are actually inversely proportional at the local level. Of course poor people around here can also afford cars, which is probably also not true globally.
> People are driving because it's a direct route to their home and public transportation doubles the commute time, which they don't have surplus time to begin with..
Ok. That too.
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>> This level of aversion to having to "slum it with the masses" where every last bastion where you might come across a person with a 5 figure income is systemically avoided
> So the much the same as those with 5 figure incomes who drive rather than take public transit to avoid the homeless people.
I'm not convinced those people exist. Rather, the people with 5-figure income can afford to take a car, so why would they willingly walk for ten minutes to the nearest bus stop and then spend an hour on two different modes of public transit to go somewhere that takes fifteen minutes by car?
I'm also not convinced that very many people exist who would pay $5k a year to go through a different entrance to the airport just so that they don't interact with anybody who isn't in the six-figure club.
That said, I'll
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I agree that people becoming averse to mixing with the poorer is not great for society as a whole, but it is not the cause, but rather a symptom and kind of unavoidable consequence of the ever growing income disparity, and the general disrespect of US residents towards anyone poorer than themselves. Which in turn is often met with hostility and violence by the poorer part of the population. I don't think that disrespect, hostility and violence would disappear if people were forced to meet poorer population
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Oh I agree it's not the cause but it's part of the feedback cycle that's been driving it further and further apart.
> I don't think that disrespect, hostility and violence would disappear if people were forced to meet poorer population more often. A solution could be to lower the income disparity, but that is clearly a very unpopular option among US citizens.
I agree it wouldn't disappear but for example I know there are some studies out there showing that in many places the highest crime areas are those boundaries between wealth sectors, as you point out, a correlation to the inequality. I do think though that for a person when you isolate yourself like the wealthy are able to do it does have a negative effect on mental health, there was the term
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> This level of aversion to having to "slum it with the masses" where every last bastion where you might come across a person with a 5 figure income is systemically avoided through force is probably not good for society as a whole. They already have private airplanes, private communities, private helicopters, private schools, private beachfronts and now private terminals. Don't ever risk getting into a conversation with a human being who doesn't have at least 1.5M in Palantir stock.
> And then we wonder why all the wealthy people are turning into drug addled weirdos with psychopathic tendencies and are more and more talking like supervillains. Too much inherited wealth is like we are putting children through a sociopath factory. Like Trump isn't an accident, he's a product of his upbringing.
I get your point, but when you are rich, you can simply afford more. For the same reason that they're going to drive a luxury SUV rather than a cheap Kia.
I am not willing to ride the bus with a bunch of near homeless people, as the busses where I live tend to have at least one guy that's pissing on the seat and another that is looking like he's about to go batshit, and yet another that is screaming about who he is about to beat the shit out of, and I don't walk into areas where people that clearly
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Why do people immediately pivot to the homeless like this is actually what I'm talking about? Are there homeless people in the terminals of SFO, waiting at the gates? Or that I'm demanding people in non-transit cities start taking the bus when the busses in most cities aren't good for a lot of other reasons? I'm not!
That said would you agree that the issue of homeless people is one that also has negative societal consequences? That our refusal to actually fix the issue and push it aside probably ends up ca
Oh For Fucks Sake (Score:2)
Is it sociapathic to not want to stand in line for an hour to access an overcrowded lounge that you you pay good money for "exclusive" access to?
Is it sociopathic to not want to share your personal space with some massive crowd of obnoxiously loud pajama wearing mouth breathers making phone calls on speaker?
Is it sociopathic to not like that your "complimentary" snacks/meals have all been consumed by a bunch of people.
Is it sociapathic to want some peace and privacy.
Is is sociopathic to be able to pay for
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What was the point of listing 6 things that are all accommodated in the current airport system? Lady doth protest too much?
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Hmm. I don't know if you noticed, but what you did was to take a group of people you don't know, assigned a set of negative character traits to them, and then condemned them for it. Isn't that bigotry?
Now, I'm sure you're right about some of them, and may even be right generally, but...
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Maybe, but I'm not criticizing them for merely being wealthy, I am criticizing their behaviors.
Terrorist Targets? (Score:4, Interesting)
With only the rich and famous using them, private luxury terminals would seem to be prime terrorist targets.
Re:Terrorist Targets? (Score:5, Funny)
Gimme a sec while I ponder whether I feel bad about that.
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Human beings suffering and dying in horrible ways? If you don't, you're taking your username too seriously.
The RIch are Just People ... (Score:3)
America is a democratic society, and its rich are just ordinary citizens. They may have more $$$, but they are otherwise equal to others, not a separate noble caste.
In other words, they're "just like us" ... but they should never have to mingle with the peasant caste when they travel! That would be un-American!
Better Chairs for Layover/Delayed Flight Flyers! (Score:2)
i think that all airport terminals should have proper and reclining seating for those affected by the problems that they cause, and also ones inherent with flying where the weather might be bad. No one wants a blood clot in their legs. So, I think that their priorities are off.
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> i think that all airport terminals should have proper and reclining seating
How much in additional taxes or airport fees are you willing to pay for that?
Money talks (Score:3)
Some airlines (in some locations) already provide concierge service for their most valuable travelers. The exceptionally rich use private jets (or use services such as NetJets). For those not quite so rich, and not in the concierge class for their airline, but have the money, and desire to avoid the airport experience (and I can fully understand why one does not want to spend time in most airports), there is probably a market (as has been shown in other locations). It used to be the case that various affiliated lounges were the way to escape, but these days those lounges are overcrowded.
Private or public funding? (Score:2)
If this is private funding, meh. Let them spend their money as they want.
If any public funds are used for this, then there should be a *lot* of pushback from society.
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This will be used by dual-citizenship holders, who will fly on taxpayers' money.
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What? None of my dual-citizenship friends ever flew for free.
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> If any public funds are used for this, then there should be a *lot* of pushback from society.
The terminal is proposed to be on property near or next to where the existing corporate/private aviation organizations/buildings already lease space. I suspect the ground lease of any new building site would be a net positive to the airports revenue.
Signature Aviation (Score:2)
Seems redundant, I already use a private terminal at SFO (and a few other airports). Maybe it isn't fancy but the staff returned my rental car for me. Flying privately is super convenient compared to commercial carriers.
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When my wife complains about how much avgas costs I remind her what the OTHER choice is, TSA 2 hours early line hell.
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From TFS, this is serving commercial flights rather than general aviation.
Oh. Thank God. (Score:2)
The more these spread the less I have to suffer adjacency to the plebeians. It's like a breath of fresh air to get away from the unwashed.
If we could have more planes that loaded the masses behind first class, instead of them traipsing through the first class cabin at all. That would be good too.
But, don't get all butt-hurt knowing that I'm better than you. If I was truly wealthy, I'd be flying private.
Beau.... what the hell? (Score:2)
Not only is this not at all news for nerds, as I pointed out earlier, but someone just reminded me that these are all over and Atlanta got one earlier this year. Where was Atlanta's utterly-non-slashdot-related article? Did they not mention it in The Guardian, or do you just live in Frisco?
They said the gropes (Score:2)
They're the white glove treatment, not harsh pedestrian vinyl. "This way, sir"
horrible idea (Score:2)
This is a horrible idea. This will just take money away from having decent public airports and reduce the incentive to provide them. We don't need more ways for the rich to separate themselves from everyone else.
Why do we care? (Score:2)
Not really news for nerds so much as news for San Fran residents who fly a lot.
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I'd rather pay more to use this terminal than be corralled in with the hoi polloi.
Re:Why do we care? (Score:5, Funny)
please form a line at the guillotine
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Or, for only $5k, get your own private guillotine with no waiting at all! And a padded neckrest, and a 8K video monitor. $20k for a lifetime* subscription.
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I get you. It needs to be streamed as well.
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Well, if you can afford to drop my weekly pay on an "airport experience", then... congratulations?
But I'm going to stick with it not being nerdy news, just an oddly placed airport advert.
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And why didn't we get an article about the one in Atlanta? It went in before this one.
You've never met an airplane nerd? (Score:3, Insightful)
Or a transportation nerd? This is a huge deal to a certain type of nerd.
I'm a politics nerd and this is a big deal to me. It's another example of something we took for granted being turned into a luxury for the wealthy.
What? (Score:2)
> It's another example of something we took for granted being turned into a luxury for the wealthy.
What exactly did you take for granted that has been turned into a luxury for the wealthy? When did you ever have access to a private terminal? You probably never even had access to an airline lounge until some recent credit card perk. And it's excessive credit card perks that has created the need for private terminals.
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An old example. Did you see a story about the one they put in Atlanta a few months ago? LAX? Dallas-Fort Worth? Miami? Nope. Why now? Not like those were the first either, just the first by this company.
This just smells like Beau continuing to mistake The Guardian for a news source, and The Guardian mistaking the inside of their rectums for reality.
It shouldn't be a big deal to you unless you have an interest in the service. There's nothing new or special about it, it's not a sign of some elitist
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(sigh)
Flying sure isn't what it used to be. Neither are cruise ships.
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You must be new here, or not paying attention to the site for the past 30 years, and that's Okay.
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For context, here are the most active stories of all time from the hall of fame (link in footer of site):
5687 Kerry Concedes Election To Bush by timothy
4183 Strike on Iraq by CmdrTaco
3709 Barack Obama Wins US Presidency by CmdrTaco
3468 Six Bomb Blasts Around Central London by Zonk
3451 Equal Time For Creationism by Zonk
3360 Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
3315 The Pseudoscience of Intelligent Design by Hemos
3314 Saddam Hussein Arrested by CmdrTaco
3265 Fahrenheit 9/11 Disc
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And that's okay because...?