From my apartment, I allotted 45 minutes to get to the Caltrain Station at Fourth and King Streets. I got to the station early, so I grabbed a coffee for the train. The trip to Millbrae was 25 minutes, and 15 minutes later I was printing my boarding pass from the automated kiosk in the north terminal.
Total time to SFO: 85 minutes
Total cost: $2.25
Now, I could have made it to the airport slightly faster with Supershuttle or a cab, but a shuttle can take over an hour to the airport, depending on the stops, they ask that you make your pick-up reservation for 2 hours before you need to be at the airport, and it's $16 + tip. A cab can make it in about 45 minutes, without traffic, but that's over $30.
Once at SFO, I made it easy through security (I know a check-in with light traffic) and had over an hour until my flight began boarding.
Total time from arrival at SFO to the closure of the plane's door: 9o minutes.
Even on a Satruday morning, we spent 15 minutes cruising the tarmac before take off. Once in the air, it was about 50 minutes until landing at LAX. At LAX, our gate wasn't ready, so we spent 25 minutes in the plane, 1,000 feet from our gate.
Total time from take off to exiting plane: 90 minutes
Add five minutes to navigate my way out of the airport to meet my friend curbside (no checked luggage).
Total trip time: 4.5 hours
Consider the alternative voters will be offered in November 2004....