People flying in and out of Eureka-Arcata airport on United Express will soon be introduced to additional ugliness when making their connections at San Francisco International. According to Emily Jacobs, program coordinator for the county’s airline operations, the airline will soon be moving all of its intra-California traffic out of the terminal and onto the tarmac. While details are still a bit vague, it appears that the shift will happen as early as next month. When it does, Humboldt flyers will be subject to longer delays and far more tedious airport rigmarole.

Jacobs told your Lost Coast Outpost that the change, which is prompted by runway renovation and a shortage of gates at SFO, will essentially look like it did in the bad old days, before Humboldt county passengers were allowed to disembark inside the building itself. Passengers will board and deplane at some remote corner of the airport, whence they will be herded into a shuttle bus and taken to the terminal. More information is coming, but it looks as if everyone will be forced to go through airport security a second time before catching a connecting flight.

United Express should be releasing more information soon, Jacobs said, but until then travelers should brace themselves for longer layovers at the airport starting sometime in June. That ticket you just bought for your summer vacation, the one where you have just a spare hour on the ground to make your connecting flight? Yeah, well … that’s not looking so good.