The goofiest kerfuffle around these parts currently involves our two major airports, San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport. The Oakland International Airport, now known already for a handful of years simply as: OAK--spoken like the three letters not the wood (think: Fly O-A-K!), is being allowed to change its rather very clear name (What is it? An international airport. Where is it? Oakland.) to the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. What in the word salad funk is this?
Oakland Int'l is claiming that folk who fly into Oakland don't know where Oakland is and can't figure out how to use a map in order to locate it, I guess, so the 'brains' behind the airport needed to put the geographical locale of Oakland in the name of the airport. The new name is not only an ungainly mouthful, but feels confusing as well. Oakland lies east of San Francisco across the San Francisco Bay. Oakland is in the East Bay, as that region is known. SF and Oakland flank either side of the bay, SF is to the west of the bay, and you already know where Oakland lies. I think the OAK folk wish to catch more flies with honey, if you will, by including San Francisco in its name. I get it, but think that flyers are savvy enough to figure out what's where when traveling. Or am I being naive? I mean, I don't fly into Gatwick when visiting friends in London. Thanks to internet search engines and ye olde paper maps, it's a safe bet visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area can figure out both where they will land and where they wish to travel once on the ground. Simple!
Just for kicks, I've included a transit map below which shows both where Oakland Int'l (OAK) and San Francisco (SFO) Int'l are located.
I feel your exasperation.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so silly.
DeleteSo ridiculous. And are our taxes paying for this lawsuit?
ReplyDeleteThe city of SF is bringing a suit against Oakland re: the name change. So, I guess, SF taxpayers are footing the bill? Don't know, actually. And, yes, it's ridiculous.
DeleteI seem to remember reading about a man who ended up in AUK.... Auckland by mistake as he had booked by phone and someone didn't double check....
ReplyDeleteOh, wow!! I'd rather visit AUK, to be honest, as I've never been.
DeleteIt's a big city...like any, not representative of the country it is in..I prefer Wellington or Invercargill... Dunedin and Christchurch are good....the best for me is the River City, Whanganui ❤️ only about 40,000 population...but I love it
DeleteThis has very Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vibes. (I can't recall the exact verbiage, but it's ridiculous word salad, too.) The sad thing is, people are stupid. And I bet there is a reason why someone thought this a good solution.
ReplyDelete'Angels of Anahaim' sounds like the title if a Broadway show. ;)
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