Oakland Airport's name change to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport has duped at least a couple of Spirit Airlines passengers so far, who have shown up at SFO wondering why they can't find any Spirit Airlines counter.

Oakland airport officials are still deflecting and denying that any confusion is taking place after port directors finalized the name change in May. The City of San Francisco has filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit against the Port of Oakland, which is still pending, arguing that the name is ripe for confusion. But for now, the airport has begun rolling out the new name, San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, which some airlines are already using on their websites and on boarding passes.

Now, SFGate has a report that suggests at least a handful of passengers have been showing up at San Francisco International Airport and wandering up to the information booth, asking why they can't find their flights. And these are passengers whose tickets were actually for OAK, not SFO.

"While we have had past anecdotes of passengers showing up at the wrong airport, we are currently seeing evidence of confusion that we have not seen before,” says SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel, in an email to SFGate. “And that confusion will likely increase if OAK continues to roll out its infringing new name."

Workers at the information booths at the airport keep logs of interactions with passengers, and they now have a new line-item for "New OAK Airport name caused confusion," per SFGate.

Logs obtained for a period betwen June 18 and July 1 listed six such interactions with passengers, two of which were specifically seeking Spirit Airlines flights. Spirit Airlines operates out of Oakland Aiport, but not out of SFO. At least one other passenger was seeking a non-stop flight to Michoacán, Mexico that did not exist at SFO.

An obvious irony here is that Port of Oakland's board of directors was seeking to raise the profile of Oakland's airport and attract more passengers there with the name change, but this evidence suggests the name change is actually sending people to SFO.

Of course, this is just a handful of confused passengers in June, and we would need more data to confirm a trend over several months.

A Port of Oakalnd spokesperson, Robert Bernardo, gave a statement to SFGate saying only, "We are not aware of any reports of traveler confusion." Bernardo said that no passengers had so far used their customer-relations contact form to lodge any complaints, and that they had only received positive feedback from "industry partners" about the name change.

An environmental group looking to prevent the Port of Oakland from expanding the airport, called the Stop OAK Expansion Coalition, has described the name change as a desperate attempt to raise traffic numbers through the airport after the pandemic.

"They’re faced with the reality that they’re planning an expansion based on market demands that are not materializing," said group member David Foecke, speaking to the Chronicle in April. "So they have to find another reason to justify their expansion."

Expect any further evidence of passenger confusion to be used by the City of San Francisco in its legal case.

Previously: San Francisco Has Filed Its Promised Lawsuit Against Oakland and Its Port Commission Over Airport Renaming

Photo: Duke Cullinan