A sign welcomes passengers to Oakland, Calif., as they walk out of the terminals to baggage claim at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., on July 25, 2025.

With almost 30 restaurants and shops, the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport rivals a mall or shopping center. Typically reserved for travelers before a flight, the airport now allows Bay Area residents and visitors to spend the day meandering through the airport without a ticket. On Monday, OAK launched a guest pass program. It’s the first time non-passengers are allowed beyond security checkpoints at the airport since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

OAK has overhauled concessions and invested in terminal expansions over the past few years, including new callbacks to iconic Bay Area eats like the Bonjour Bakehouse vending machine, the Oaklandish Coffee Collective and Vietnamese eatery Tay........

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