Three dates to build around
SFO publishes three opening dates for the Terminal 3 West modernization. The expanded western section opens in fall 2027. The six-story building, which holds airline lounges and operational office space, opens in early 2028. The renovated check-in lobby at the eastern end of Terminal 3 opens in early 2029.
Those dates come from airport release SF-24-31 of 20 August 2024. Turner Construction broke ground on 5 September 2024 under a $2.6 billion contract, and the airport carries the programme at $2.8 billion in its capital plan.
A group contract written today runs into all three phases. Price the arrival leg against the phase open on the travel date, and name that phase in the file.
The arrival leg grows
The terminal stays open through the work. Turner built a 1,000-foot West Corridor and a 400-foot East Corridor to carry passengers around the construction zone. Both were fabricated as 11 modules at a nearby air cargo yard and moved across the airfield over 11 consecutive nights.
Turner planned the move once, to avoid relocating the corridors again later in the programme. The airport describes the temporary walkway as 11 sections open from the holiday 2024 travel season, and it publishes a second set of distances: 440 feet from Gate E2 to the rotunda food court, and 1,000 feet from the food court to the International Terminal G gates.
Allow for the walk at the front of day one. No source publishes a walking time for either corridor. Walk it with your own guide, time it, and put the number in the operating file.
Coach courtyards on arrivals
Charter pick-up and drop-off sit in the courtyards on the Arrivals and Baggage Claim level, and charter service must be pre-arranged with the operator. The airport lists 20 operators on a page updated 28 August 2026, from Airport Express and Bauer's Intelligent Transportation to Pacific Coachways and United Coach Tours.
Confirm the operator holds a courtyard assignment for the date, and put the courtyard on the manifest in place of a terminal door number.
Hotel courtesy shuttles load elsewhere. Their zones sit on the centre island of the Departures and Ticketing level roadway at Harvey Milk Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, and on the centre island of the Arrivals level roadway at the International Terminal. The airport states that those shuttles serve hotels and run no service to San Francisco or the wider Bay Area.
The meet-point
Set the meet-point at the coach courtyard and hold it for the life of the programme. Give the group a second reference inside the terminal that does not depend on a concession unit surviving the renovation.
Group check-in splits by flight type. The airport publishes group check-in counters for international flights at the International Terminal. Domestic group check-in runs through the airline. Baggage assistance is available to departing passengers on request.
For an arriving international group, a new Federal Inspection Service sterile connector will carry passengers from Terminal 3 to the Customs Hall in the International Terminal. The airport attaches the connector to this project and publishes no separate opening date for it.
Building the day-one schedule
Build day one around three published anchors in sequence: the coach courtyard on the Arrivals level, the group check-in position for the flight type, and the corridor that carries the group to the boarding area.
Then place the slack. The programme runs at 500 to 600 workers at peak, and the work touches the curb, the check-in hall and the boarding pier at the same time. A group of 40 clears a fixed route in a predictable window, and a group of 120 needs the window measured.
Write the schedule as clock times against each anchor, and hand the guide the same sheet the driver holds.
The onward leg
Airport-area properties reach the terminals by courtesy shuttle. Thirty hotels appear on a list updated 1 September 2026. Burlingame holds 11 of them, South San Francisco 10, San Bruno seven and Millbrae two, and the list names the Hyatt Regency Burlingame, the Marriott Burlingame, the Hilton Burlingame and the Westin Millbrae.
A city-centre property runs no shuttle. The coach is the leg, and it leaves from the courtyard. Hold the departure time against the group's inbound arrival and keep a second coach slot for a late inbound.
What to confirm before you sell
Four items belong in writing: the corridor in use on the travel date, the operator assigned to the courtyard, the group check-in position for the flight, and the shuttle booking at the airport-area property.
The airport publishes no corridor removal date. Ask the public information office and record the answer with the date you received it.
Peak worker volume reaches the kerbside too. Ask the operator which courtyard bays are open on the date, and whether the paved walking route from the courtyard to the terminal door is the final alignment.
What the record leaves out
No source in this record publishes a corridor walking time, a concession tenant list, a lounge operator name or a catering contractor. The mezzanine checkpoint serving AirTrain passengers is attached to the project with no date.
The capital plan of November 2025 puts the programme at 16 percent complete on August 2025 data. Treat every date here as the airport's published schedule, re-check it before each departure, and price the arrival leg against the schedule live at contracting.