For all of us who live in NorCal...

I flew into KSMF to meet a Southwest flight last week. First time I have been to KSMF in years, and there have been some changes the rest of you might be interested in.

GA is still tied to 16R and the controllers are still friendly to small aircraft. I flew in w/a Beech right behind me. No issues at all.

The old GA facility is completely gone, replaced by yet another "jet center" - don't bother leaving comments on AirNav because comments have been disabled.

The "jet center" is nice enough, but they have a mandatory $20 parking fee or you can buy 10 gallons of fuel and there is no mention of this on their web site. Since the price was "only" $6.08 I elected for the fuel. They are open until 2200. The "jet center" is a long way from the PAX terminals so be prepared for a walk.

I drove my guests to KSMF for their departure.

sounds like it is leaps and bounds better than the old commuter terminal we had to use back in the good old days.

I haven't flown into KSMF in maybe a dozen years, but they used to have a free shuttle that would pick you up at the GA facility and take you to door on the ramp side of the main terminal. Obviously this was before 9/11 and TSA. When you were ready to head back to your plane all you had to do is pick up the courtesy phone. Guess all that changed. Sad.

The shuttle bus still operates from the Jet Center and the terminal, ask the staff behind the desk to call the bus.

And, they have free cookies and coffee, newspapers, tv, flight planning, while getting your 10 gallons of gas