A planned May Day protest at SFO was causing a bit of a disruption for air travelers Friday, with cars being redirected at the International Terminal and several city officials were among the arrestees after SFPD intervened.

A protest led to a temporary closure of the departure-level roadway at SFO's International Terminal, though this was not a surprise demonstration. As KRON4 reports, SFO officials issued a permit for the protest, and the roadway had been closed as of 11 am to "safely accommodate free speech activity."

Vehicles arriving at the airport with departing passengers were being rerouted to the lower arrivals level for drop-offs Friday. And the airport was also recommending that air travelers utilize the "Kiss & Fly" dropoff area at the car rental center, with the International terminal accessible via AirTrain.

Protesters at SFO were reportedly chanting things like "ICE out of SFO," and could be seen carrying signs with messages including "Tax the Rich."

The airport's three domestic terminals were not being impacted by the protest.

The SFPD said it was onsite at the airport "facilitating and monitoring" the protest activity, but they ultimately declared that the roadway needed to be cleared "within 10 minutes" or protesters would be subject to arrest, as Mission Local reports.

The protesters did not clear the roadway, and among the arrestees, who were supporting the airport workers' union, were Supervisor Connie Chan — who is running for Congress with significant labor support — and Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, as well as former supervisor Jane Kim, per Mission Local.

Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who is currently still on medical leave from the board, was reportedly at the protest but left before the arrests began, according to Mission Local.

May Day protests are happening around the country today, and there is a planned rally and march starting at SF's Embarcadero Plaza at 4 pm.

The May Day Strong organization, as NPR reports, is focusing this year on protesting the authoritarian policies of the Trump administration.

The nation's largest union, the National Education Association, is helping to organize protest events Friday.

"We know there are bus drivers in New York and teachers in Idaho and nurses in Louisiana who are feeling the impact of a system that has decided … to put billionaires ahead of everyone else," says NEA President Becky Pringle, speaking to NPR.

And some teachers are voicing support for things like the California "billionaire's tax" that just qualified for the ballot, or similar efforts at the national level to tax the ultra-wealthy.

"Not taxing the ultra-rich leaves schools without teachers, libraries without books, unsafe bridges, shuttered hospitals, and the rest of us paying more," said Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union, in a statement to NPR. "We want a different future where students and communities have what they need. It's going to take all of us organizing together to make that happen."

Photo by Duke Cullinan

This story was updated with reports of the arrests.

The image of a happy couple being reunited just after an air passenger steps off the jetway is something out of a 90s romcom. But it is going to start happening again, at long last, at San Francisco International Airport.

Not since September 2001 have non-ticketed folk been allowed to walk up to airport gates, either accompanying departing loved ones or awaiting their arrival. But Oakland Airport — ugh, we have to start calling it Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport — began allowing this "guest pass" program back in December, and a growing number of airports around the country are doing the same.

Now SFO is issuing these guest passes, called Gate Explorer Passes, starting today.

As SFO announced in a release, through the Gate Explorer program, visitors to the airport can plan to join friends or loved ones at airport gates by applying for a pass — which can be done either the day of, or up to 30 days in advance.

"We are very excited to launch the SFO Gate Explorer program," says Airport Director Mike Nakornkhet in a statement. "Airports are about bringing people together, and this program creates so many new ways for friends and family to connect, whether on arrival, departure, or even a long layover.

Nakornkhet adds, "This also allows a new audience to enjoy all the shopping, dining, artwork, museum exhibitions and amenities that make SFO so special."

Gate Explorer Pass holder will, of course, need to bring along a Real ID or passport to get through security, and they will need to wait for an email showing their pass was approved, which will come after 12 am on the day the pass pertains to.

And, the airport notes, "SFO Gate Explorer Pass program participants are subject to the same security regulations and processes as ticketed passengers, including security wait times."

As KPIX notes, in addition to Oakland, other California airports have also added similar programs, including San Diego, Orange County, and Ontario airports.

The first of these programs launched in Pittsburgh in 2017, and more airports are likely to follow suit.

Related: Yes, We're Really Going to Be Calling It 'Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport'

Photo by Duke Cullinan

It seems as though San Francisco city officials have given in, and while the name is different from what was originally proposed, Oakland Airport is now legally able to put "San Francisco Bay" in its name.

The two-year-long legal battle is over regarding the Port of Oakland's attempt to associate Oakland Airport with San Francisco Bay, and the city of San Francisco's rejection of Oakland trying to hoodwink air travelers into flying there instead of SFO.

While the Port of Oakland isn't entirely getting its way, it is getting away with this: The airport shall heretofore be known as Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.

As NBC Bay Area reports, the two sides have settled the case, and this is the compromise they reached after the Port of Oakland had initially settled on "San Francisco-Oakland Bay Airport."

Oakland's airport will not be able to use "SF" when referring to itself, or in any hashtags on social media, according to the agreement. And the words "San Francisco" must always be followed by "Bay" in reference to the airport.

Neither side admitted liability, and no money changed hands, as the Chronicle reports. And the legal documents settling the dispute were all signed last week with little fanfare.

The Chronicle notes further that there is a list of prohibited names for the Oakland airport to use, and these include "San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport," "Oakland San Francisco International Bay Airport," and "Oakland San Francisco Bay International Airport." The "international" part apparently belongs to SFO, and they don't want confusion there — even though Oakland Airport has long been home to international flights, albeit far fewer than SFO.

SFO director Mike Nakornkhet issued a statement saying that the agreement should provide "clarity" to air travelers so that they can make "informed decisions" about where to fly — but will it? It seems just as likely that people unfamiliar with the Bay Area could just assume that San Francisco and Oakland share an airport, just like Seattle and Tacoma do.

The attorney for the Port of Oakland, Mary Richardson, issued her own statement saying, "We’re proud Oakland fought for, and preserved the right to retain our airport’s full name that puts Oakland first and recognizes OAK’s location on the San Francisco Bay."

This controversy began in April 2024, when Port of Oakland officials announced out of the blue that they were considering changing the airport's name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. SF City Attorney David Chiu balked, a lawsuit was filed within weeks, and the Port of Oakland has dug in its heels ever since — apparently out of a desire to boost the airport's profile and increase traffic there. (Critics noted that the Port had been planning a big airport expansion which, based on a decline in business travel since the pandemic, was not justified by actual passenger traffic numbers.)

As recently as last summer, SFO and city officials were expressing their displeasure with the "Oakland San Francisco Bay" name, even accusing Oakland Port officials of not acting in good faith.

But apparently San Francisco officials weren't confident they could stop this in court, after Oakland appealed their injunction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and once they put "Oakland" in front of the airport name.

Anyway, we probably haven't heard the last of this kerfuffle, because the confusion for passengers seems inevitable. But we'll see.

Make sure to tell your elderly relatives there's a difference between the two airports.

Previously: Sure Enough, SFO Not at All Receptive to Oakland Airport’s New Proposed ‘San Francisco' Name

Top image: Monitors show boarding groups at a Southwest Airlines gate at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport on January 26, 2026 in Oakland, California. Southwest Airlines will launch a new seating policy tomorrow, marking the end of the carrier’s decades-long open-seating tradition and a significant change to its long-standing boarding process. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Newly installed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says that airports in sanctuary cities shouldn't have the privilege of processing international passengers, if they don't want to cooperate with ICE and Border Patrol.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is lobbing a new threat in the direction of San Francisco and all other sanctuary cities, making the fairly unlikely threat that his department will shut down Customs and Border Protection operations at major airports where sanctuary policies are in place.

In a Monday interview with Fox News, Mullin said, "Democrats are wanting to defund Customs and Border Patrol. Well, who processes those individuals when they walk off the plane? So, I’m going to have to be forced to make hard decisions. Who is willing to work with us and partner with us?"

This all sounds like a Trumpian threat without any real thought behind it. Cities that are considered sanctuary jurisdictions include Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Portland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, in addition to San Francisco. So, what, you're going to hobble international travel into and out of all those airports?!

Mullin went on to say, in his interview, "Why is the Department of Homeland Security such a political hotbed? All they are doing is trying to keep our streets safe, trying to keep our nation secure, trying to keep bad actors from having terrorist attacks on the homeland. It should be something we all get behind.”

As the Daily Beast notes, he also told Fox News anchor Bret Baier, "We need to focus on cities that want to work with us." And when it comes to airports, if he had his way, I guess that means that you'd only be able to fly into the country through Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, and Miami under this theoretical plan?

As Visit California reports, SFO sees around 4.5 million passengers per month and LAX sees 6.3 million. For the month of December, about 3.6 million international passengers came through California airports, all told.

Good luck getting through security in Houston if they all have to start flying through there!

Previously: Kristi Noem, on the Way Out the Door, Claims to Have Been In Frequent Contact With Mayor Daniel Lurie

Top image: U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin attends a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 26, 2026 in Washington, DC. This is Trump's second Cabinet meeting of 2026 and the first since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on February 28. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The family of Katherine Kerwood, a 21-year-old woman from the UK who landed at SFO for a solo tour of Northern California last Tuesday, are searching for her whereabouts after her phone went silent Friday and they learned she never checked into her hostel when she landed.

Twenty-one-year-old British tourist Katherine Esther Gamboa Kerwood landed in San Francisco for a week-long solo sightseeing tour of Northern California last Tuesday with plans to travel to Sacramento upon landing.

As KTVU reports, her family said she called them when she arrived at SFO and said she’d be checking into a hostel in Sacramento that day. During her week-long visit, Kerwood had plans to visit Sacramento, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz.

The next time Kerwood’s family heard from her was Friday when they received a text saying she was still staying at the hostel. Family friend Ali Zaidi told KTVU that immediately following the text, Kerwood’s family asked to speak to her on the phone — as she’s normally very communicative, and there was no further response. They later discovered she never checked into the hostel.

"She's generally very responsive and the fact that she didn't message for hours is the first signal," Zaidi said. "Second, when she messaged they said, 'Hey, let's get on the phone,' and immediately she didn't respond."

Security footage from SFO showed Kerwood meeting a man there who brought her flowers. Her family later discovered the man’s name is “David,” whom they learned Kerwood had previously met in the UK. Kerwood is reportedly scheduled to return to London Wednesday.

According to KTVU, the case is being investigated by both the San Francisco Police Department and authorities in the United Kingdom. Authorities across California have also been alerted via a statewide law enforcement database.

Image: Inside of San Francisco International airport, International Terminal, San Francisco, California, June 7, 2023. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Taking the guesswork out of how early you need to be at the airport, United Airlines has added a very helpful feature to its app, in the midst of an ongoing congressional impasse over the funding that keeps TSA operating.

The partial government shutdown that kept TSA employees from being paid for over a month — the second shutdown affecting their pay in the last six months — is still not over. And while the situation at security checkpoints improved somwhat this week after a Trump executive order led to at least partial paychecks going out, and fewer sick calls, security-line wait times at some of the nation's airports remain higher than usual.

United Airlines has rolled out a new app feature — and one that might have been even more helpful two weeks ago — that provides real-time line-standing estimates at airport security at SFO and the airline's six other hubs.

The feature is available under the Travel tab on the app and will be visible on the information page for your upcoming flight. The module provides estimated wait times for both regular TSA and TSA Pre-Check, and shows which checkpoint at a given airport has the shortest line when you arrive.

The feature is available at SFO, Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Houston Bush Intercontinental, LAX, Washington Dulles, and Newark airports.

"We appreciate the work and professionalism of our TSA agents, and while most began receiving back pay earlier this week, the US Department of Homeland Security shutdown continues and people want to stay informed about expected security wait times at our airports," said Jason Birnbaum, United's Chief Information Officer, in a statement. "Our customers rely on our mobile app for all their travel needs, and this new feature lets them know what to expect and better plan their trip."

The TSA wait-time feature rolls out today on the United app along with multiple other new features, including Apple AirTag integration for baggage tracking, automated rebooking assistance, and turn-by-turn directions for finding connecting gates.

United is the primary carrier operating at SFO, representing about 50% of all passenger traffic into and out of the airport.

As we learned earlier this week, around 25% of all flights at the airport are likely to experience takeoff and landing delays in the next six months due to a runway repaving project that is closing two of the airport's four runways.

SFO was planning to put two parallel runways into use for simultaneous landings of planes over the next six months, as it repaves one of its runways, but the FAA has stepped in to say 'No, you won't.'

Airport officials were trying to put a positive spin Monday on the first day of the closure of one of the airports north/south runways for a repaving project, suggesting that only about 10% of flights should expect to see delays during the next six months of the project.

But as Reuters reported Tuesday morning, the FAA has put a restriction on SFO in its plan to land pairs of planes simultaneously on its two east/west runways, saying that it will need to conduct staggered landings instead, which will lead to more delays. The FAA says the restriction will stay in place until the repaving and restriping project is complete, reducing the arrival capacity at SFO from 54 flights per hour to 36.

SFO typically is allowed to conduct simultaneous landings on the parallel 28L and 28R runways in clear weather, and staggered landings are only required during inclement weather. During this closure, these same two runways will be in use for all takeoffs as well.

In issuing the restriction, the FAA cited recent collisions and near-miss incidents at other airports, including a February 27 incident involving an American Airlines plane and a police helicopter in San Antonio. A United Airlines jet that had flown out of SFO also had a near-miss with a military helicopter at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana last week.

Doug Yakel, the SFO spokesperson, who definitely was saying "less than 10%" of flights would be impacted back in December, now says they were anticipating 15% of flights to be impacted, and the FAA restriction raises that to 25%.

"The FAA has made us aware of this reduced arrival rate," Yakel said, speaking to the Chronicle. "While we were forecasting about 15% of flights being delayed by our runway project, we expect this change will increase the delay potential to approximately 25% of arriving flights experiencing a delay of at least 30 minutes. We are working with the FAA on ways to improve the arrival rate at SFO."

The repaving and restriping project will close both of the airport's north/south runways, 1L and 1R — the latter is being repaved, and the former will be used as an extra taxiway to reduce congestion. These two runways are typically used for 95% of all takeoffs.

United Airlines, which accounts for about half of all air traffic into and out of SFO, is likely to see the greatest impacts with flight delays.

As we noted yesterday, the current closure of Runway 1R follows recent, similar closures for repaving projects, including the closure of one of the major landing runways, 28L, in the first half of 2024. That closure also caused delays at the airport, but the closure ended in late June just as the busy summer travel season was picking up.

This closure is expected to last until October 1.

Previously: Six-Month Runway Closure at SFO May Cause Some Delays

Photo by David Syphers

It's time once again for some runway repaving at SFO, and that may mean some unexpected delays for the next six months, with the airport being short one of its four runways.

We first learned about this closure back in December, and now it is beginning. Runway 1R (1 Right) is closed as of Monday, March 30, for a repaving and restriping project that will take six months to complete. It is expected to reopen on October 2, 2026.

As SFO Public Information Officer Doug Yakel explains in a release, this means that Runways 28L and 28R (28 Left and 28 Right) will be used for all takeoffs and landings during the duration. And because this is the most typical configuration on most days at SFO, due to prevailing wind conditions, the closure of 1R is not expected to disrupt too much traffic.

The airport expects that only around 10% of flights will experience delays during this period, and those delays should be 30 minutes or less. Most of these delays are likely to occur during the 9 am to 9 pm peak period.

Update: Due to newly placed FAA restrictions on simultaneous landings on the airport's remaining parallel runways, delays are likely to be more widespread, and the airport is now saying around 25% of flights will see delays.

The airport further warns that "some communities will experience a temporary increase in departing air traffic overhead" due to all takeoffs taking place on 28L and 28R.

SFO has eight total departure and arrival runways on two axes, four of each, numbered by the end at which the plane begins its takeoff or landing. Runway 28R, for instance, is called 10L at the other end, if the plane were landing in the opposite direction.

As the airport explains here of its flight patterns, winds at SFO blow from the west or north about 95% to 98% of the time. "Northerly and westerly winds at SFO mean that aircraft have to depart and arrive facing into the wind towards the north and west," airport officials say.

This means that the usual runways for takeoffs are 1L and 1R, and the usual runways for most landings are 28L and 28R.

While 1R is being repaved, 1L will also remain closed and used as a taxiway to reduce congestion, Yakel says.

The biggest issues are likely to arise on the rare days when the wind patterns shift. Southeasterly winds mean that planes need to use the big east-west runways, 28L&R, for takeoffs — starting on the other end, 10L and 10R, on the diagram. And the other ends of 1L and 1R, called 19R and 19L are used for landings during these times.

The airport has managed to get through these repaving projects without too many major hiccups in recent years, though the closure of 28L in the first half of 2024 did cause noticeable delays. The shortest runway, 1L/19R, was repaved in 2023.

The repaving and restriping of Runway 1R will also include related taxiway improvements, and new lighting. The project, which is being done by Granite Construction Company, is budgeted to cost $180 million, with $92.1 million being paid for by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Previously: SFO Closing One of Its Runways for Six Months in 2026 as Part of $180 Million Revamp

Top image: Photo by Russss/Wikimedia

We now have a fuller picture of what went down at Gate E2 at SFO's Terminal 3 on Sunday night, how ICE agents ended up there, and what happened with the woman afterwards.

Initial reporting around a viral incident Sunday at SFO was confusing as to how and why a woman and her nine-year-old daughter came to be targeted by ICE agents near a boarding gate, and how the scene became so dramatic with the woman in tears and apparently resisting the officers — all while onlookers chanted "Shame!" and San Francisco police provided crowd control.

A statement from an airport spokesperson, saying that "federal officers were transporting two individuals on an outbound flight when this incident occurred," turns out to have been factually incorrect, as were some subsequent reports about the incident.

The New York Times has come through with some better reporting, identifying the woman who was detained as Angelina Lopez-Jimenez, an immigrant from Guatelama who first came to the US with her daughter, who was then a toddler, during Trump's first term, in April 2018. We don't know anything about Lopez-Jimenez's story beyond the fact that she was picked up by federal agents near a port of entry at San Luis, Arizona. She was photographed, fingerprinted, and released with a court date for a removal hearing.

Per the Times, Lopez-Jimenez showed up for some court dates, but missed others, and she was absent when an immigration judge ordered her deportation on May 8, 2019.

We don't know anything else about her case, except that she later ended up in the Bay Area. And as the Times notes, she may not even have been aware that there was a deportation order out there. She had been living with her daughter in Contra Costa County, and the two were intending to fly to Miami on Sunday to visit a relative.

The reason ICE found her at SFO is, as the New York Times reports, because TSA had flagged her in its boarding logs, and alerted ICE that she would be there. She was reportedly approached by a plainclothed agent who asked her name, and then asked to see her passports, both from Guatemala. According to the reporting, other agents approached, and they asked her to follow them to the International Terminal, and at that point she attempted to run — clearly out of desperation, given that she had her daughter in tow.

This was the moment where onlookers began taking video showing Lopez-Jimenez in tears, being restrained, because she apparently was wriggling and making it difficult for the officers to get handcuffs on her.

The Times tracked Lopez-Jimenez's arrest and deportation from there, saying that she was arrested just before 11 pm Sunday at SFO. By 7:50 pm Monday, she was in McAllen, Texas, at the McAllen Plaza Hotel and Suites, and by 3 am Tuesday she was already checked out, headed for an 8 am flight out of Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas, bound for Guatemala.

It certainly seems like a whole lot of expense, trauma, and effort just to target a woman with no criminal record, and her nine-year-old daughter, and make sure they got out of the country.

"These are not the violent criminals that the Trump administration talks about,” said Nancy Tung, chairwoman of the San Francisco Democratic Party, speaking to the Times. “It’s just wrong.” Tung also serves on the SF Airport Commission.

Tung noted that this shows how TSA databases are now a tool for ICE, and that domestic terminals at airports are now places where ICE agents are hunting down undocumented individuals if they are trying to board planes.

Previously: ICE Not Deployed to Assist TSA at SFO, But They Were There Arresting Someone Sunday Night

A witness at SFO Sunday filed a complaint that SFPD officers violated sanctuary laws by shielding ICE agents in plainclothes from bystanders who were asking them to identify themselves, as the ICE agents attempted to restrain a woman being deported with her young daughter.

Witness Nicole Killian filed a complaint with the California Department of Justice and the SF City Attorney, as Mission Local reports, alleging that SFPD officers assisted ICE agents who were restraining a mother and her daughter at San Francisco International Airport Sunday as they were being deported to Guatemala.

Attorneys knowledgeable about local sanctuary policies told Mission Local the actions of SFPD officers may have violated SF’s sanctuary ordinance as well as SFPD’s policy directives.

As SFist reported Monday, the arrest was not related to President Donald Trump’s recent directive to send ICE agents to some US airports amid the partial government shutdown — and SFO employs private contractors to manage security checkpoints, so therefore doesn't rely on federal TSA employees.

The Chronicle reports that the woman being restrained, Angelina Lopez-Jimenez, had tried to escape custody, and officials said she may have been detained elsewhere and was being transported through SFO. An immigration judge had reportedly issued a final order for Lopez-Jimenez and her daughter’s deportation seven years ago, in 2019.

Mission Local reports that a total of 20 SFPD officers were on the scene of the arrest. A group of bystanders filmed police officers forming a buffer around ICE agents in plainclothes, who witnesses say refused to identify themselves. SFPD officers were also filmed escorting ICE agents as they transported the woman in a wheelchair away from the scene.

SFPD released a statement that officers were responding to a 911 call about the incident, and they stayed on the scene to “maintain public safety.”

“The crowd was furious, but was giving them their distance and was only asking reasonable questions about the identification and documenting what was happening,” Killian told Mission Local. “I was like, you’re not supposed to be helping, but if you’re allowed to crowd control, how is that not helping them?”

Grisel Ruiz, ​​the senior managing attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, pointed out that SFPD’s crowd control role amounted to providing resources that supported ICE operations.

“Creating a perimeter around an ICE arrest to keep the public at a distance so that ICE can conduct an arrest appears to be the SFPD using its resources to support an ICE arrest,” Ruiz told Mission Local.

Bill Ong Hing, a longtime immigration attorney, professor of law at University of San Francisco, and a former police commissioner, told Mission Local that SFPD is only allowed to assist ICE in an emergency or if the public potentially poses harm to ICE agents. Otherwise, police may have violated both the city's ordinance and SFPD’s directive.

“SFPD may argue [the woman being arrested] created a situation where there was a danger to the public," Hing says.

Angela Chan, assistant chief attorney at the San Francisco public defender’s office, told Mission Local, “It does not appear there is any crime being committed by any members of the public.”

“A dozen officers stand in a circle to help officials to take or keep someone in custody, that seems to fit the definition of ‘assisting,'” Chan said, calling the incident “alarming and horrifying.”

Previously: ICE Not Deployed to Assist TSA at SFO, But They Were There Arresting Someone Sunday Night

Image: din_jarring/Reddit

ICE agents are not be getting deployed at SFO as they are at other airports to assist TSA agents amid the partial government shutdown, but they were there on Sunday anyway, conducting an arrest.

News came out Sunday that President Trump was seeking to solve the problem of TSA agent shortages at US airports — caused by the impasse in Congress over the funding of ICE, which has impacted the paychecks of TSA agents but not ICE agents — by deploying ICE agents to TSA checkpoints. This will likely create new nightmares on its own, however for now, the Bay Area is being spared this particular deployment.

As ABC News is reporting Monday, ICE agents are being sent to 14 airports around the country that have seen the highest rates of TSA agents calling in sick, and neither SFO nor Oakland Airport is on the list. The list includes major hubs like Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport, Chicago O'Hare, Phoenix, Houston's Bush Intercontinental, and JFK, as well as airports in New Orleans, Cleveland, and Fort Meyers, Florida.

The list of airports where ICE is coming is reportedly "subject to change."

Still, ICE agents were present at SFO on Sunday, with a post on Reddit Sunday night linking a deportation arrest caught on video to the Trump announcement, saying "ICE already causing havoc at SFO."

As KTVU reports, ICE agents were at the airport on an unrelated matter, and airport officials confirmed that they conducted the arrest in the secure area of Terminal 3.

A crying woman could be seen being forcibly handcuffed in the video, which said the arrest occurred around 10 pm near Gate E2.

A young girl was reportedly also taken into custody with the woman.

"We understand federal officers were transporting two individuals on an outbound flight when this incident occurred," said SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel in an email to KTVU. "We believe this is an isolated incident and have no reason to suspect broader enforcement action at SFO."

Regarding the use of ICE agents to perform the functions of TSA agents at airports, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi told ABC 7 Sunday, "It's completely wrong.  ICE agents are not trained for the job they have now."

Update: The Chronicle adds the detail that SFO is one of around 20 airports in the country that employs private contractors to staff security checkpoints, rather than federal TSA employees, so therefore it is not impacted during government shutdowns.

Also, according to state Senator Scott Wiener, the woman seen crying and being held down near a boarding gate at SFO was being put on a plane with her daughter to be forcibly deported, and reportedly she did get on the plane.

Photo by Duke Cullinan

Nine Bay Area airports, including SFO and Oakland, are on the FAA’s “hot spot” list notifying pilots about areas on the ground at US airports that could potentially be the sites of collisions or near-misses due to confusing layouts and busy runway crossings.

As the Chronicle reports, the Federal Aviation Administration keeps an ongoing list of over 150 “hot spot” US airports, with the aim of bringing awareness to pilots and drivers on the ground about areas that have a history of collisions or near-misses — or areas that pose a potential risk, according to the FAA. Thirty-four California airports are included on the list, including San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, and Mineta San Jose International, and six others in the Bay Area.

“We review these hot spots regularly with the FAA, airlines, and ground operators to heighten awareness and develop mitigation strategies,” SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told the Chronicle.

At SFO, the FAA identified four ground “hot spots” tied to navigation errors and unclear markings, as the Chronicle reports. In one area, pilots taxiing east on Taxiway B have turned onto the wrong path, putting their planes in danger; and in another area of the airport, missed turns have led aircraft to cross active runways, per the Chronicle. Two additional locations involve uncertainty about where to stop before runway crossings, particularly where pavement markings are less visible.

The Chronicle reports that at Oakland International Airport, three areas were flagged for potential confusion on the ground. In one, similarly labeled taxiways intersecting a runway have led to mix-ups. In another, aircraft departing the gate have missed turns and continued toward a runway. A third involves a taxiway segment where the risk of entering a runway without clearance is elevated.

At least three close calls have occurred at SFO in the past year. In June 2025, as SFist reported, an overtired air traffic controller cleared a plane to cross an active runway in error before the pilot caught it. And in May 2025, two planes came within about a mile of each other in flight, as the Chronicle reported. In September, as People magazine reported, a ground collision occurred between two United Airlines planes in an area where air traffic controllers “do not communicate with flights.”

As SFist reported in 2023, runway close calls are becoming a growing problem nationwide. Multiple incidents at SFO drew national attention that year, including three near-misses in a single day where planes came within 30 to 50 feet of each other, and two aborted landings after pilots spotted aircraft still on the runway.

In 2017, as SFist reported, an Air Canada jet almost landed on a taxiway lined with planes full of passengers, coming close to killing over 1,000 people. In that case, the pilot had mistaken Taxiway C for a runway, and an air traffic controller managed to catch the error and tell the pilot to pull up just in time.

According to Yakel, SFO began implementing various improvements in 2024, per the Chronicle.

“Such strategies may be procedural, or they may be consist of physical improvements, such as this taxiway improvement project completed in 2024, or the runway project starting later this month, which includes adjacent taxiway work,” Yakel said.

Yakel said “hot spot” airports are often kept on the list even after improvements are made, ensuring that airport personnel continue to be mindful of the risks.

Image: Russss/Wikimedia

Related: Close Calls on SFO Runways Are Just Tip of the Iceberg In Broader National Trend

President Trump was not on his ridiculously self-named Trump Force One airplane when it blew through SFO on Monday, but maybe one of his idiot sons had crypto business in town or something, as the plane was spotted here.

Back when Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he dubbed his private jet “Trump Force One,” because…. Get it? Air Force One? Trump Force One! Well, I’m sure Trumpers all find this very clever.

Trump plane at SFO Today
by u/BEB_expert in bayarea

Regardless, he still calls it that. And as some Reddit-using SF travelers noticed on Monday, and as was reported in SFGate, the Trump Force One airplane was spotted on the ground at SFO on Monday.

It’s unclear what time the airplane came through on Monday, but SFGate reports that “airport representatives confirmed to SFGATE” that it was indeed the Trump Force One aircraft.

That said, Trump himself was definitely not on the plane. Trump’s schedule for Monday shows he was in Washington, DC all day. So maybe one of his unemployable sons was jetting around to the Bay Area for some reason.

Either way, the plane is pretty conspicuous, and fully Trump tacky on the inside. According to SFGate, the “757 is outfitted with 24-karat gold accents, along with customized Italian leather seats emblazoned with the family crest.”

Related: Trump Military Accident In San Diego Manages to Hit Highway Patrol With Artillery Shrapnel [SFist]

Image: BEB_expert via Reddit

Photo by David Syphers

Waymos are ferrying paying customers from SF and elsewhere to San Francisco International Airport for the first time on Thursday, but the robocars will not be able to take you directly to the terminals, at least not yet.

It appears that we are in the final phase of the testing period for Waymo, as laid out in a permit they were granted last September to begin testing service to SFO. And as of Thursday morning, Waymo vehicles began taking a limited number of paying passengers to and from the airport. But, as the company announced on its blog, all pickups and drop-offs will occur at the SFO Rental Car Center — passengers will need to take the AirTrain from there to get to their terminal, so not quite door-to-door service.

Waymo said Thursday that it has "plans to serve additional airport locations like the terminals in the future."

Also, for now, the airport service is only being made available to "a select number of riders," the company says, and it "will gradually welcome all riders over the coming months." That means that Waymo customers flying in for the Super Bowl may not be able to take advantage of the service.

This marks a significant milestone for the autonomous taxi service, after it first began being allowed to take passengers on freeways two months ago. And it follows several months in which Waymo was testing service at SFO with drivers behind the wheel, and then autonomously with airport employees as passengers.

"Serving rides to and from San Francisco International Airport delivers one of the most requested features for our riders and further deepens our relationship with the city," says Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, in a statement. "With millions traveling in for major events this year, we look forward to meeting the growing demand for reliable, fully autonomous rides. We are proud to offer a service that is improving road safety in San Francisco and providing a magical start or end to Bay Area journeys."

SFO Director Mike Nakornkhet adds in a release that the introduction of Waymo "demonstrates our continued commitment to providing an extraordinary travel experience with transportation options that are safe, sustainable, and reliable."

Obviously, as Waymos roll out at the airport, there could be hiccups. The usual scrum of civilian cars, taxis, and Ubers/Lyfts jockeying for curb space at the airport's four terminals will only be made worse with the somestimes jerky and hesitant autonomous vehicles squeezing through as well. We'll see!

Waymo's fleet now covers 260 square miles in the Bay Area, including parts of the South Bay and North Bay.

Previously: Waymo Launches Freeway Service In Bay Area and LA For Select Users, SFO Service Still to Come

Photo courtesy of Waymo