1. Baggage claim → AirTrain (Blue Line)
You are at baggage claim
2. Rental Car Center → National
You are at the Rental Car Center (counter hall)
Steps
AirTrain: From the terminals, use SFO’s free AirTrain and board the
Blue Line to the Rental Car Center (780 N. McDonnell Road).
The Red Line serves other airport stops—confirm you are on the Blue Line for rental cars.
Exact corridors and elevator banks differ by terminal; follow overhead Rental Car /
AirTrain signs.
- Baggage claim: Look for the nearest elevators or escalators. You must head up to Level 3 to reach the bridges leading to the AirTrain.
- Up to the AirTrain level: Use elevators or escalators as signed to reach the AirTrain level (the first map labels this step as Elevator to Level 3).
- AirTrain platform: Continue following signs to the AirTrain station, then board the Blue Line toward the Rental Car Center.
- Arrive at the RCC: Get off at the Rental Car Center stop. Enter the rental counter building; you want the main counter hall on Level 4 (see label on the second map).
- National counter: You are on Level 4 (the rental counter floor). After you leave the AirTrain and enter the Rental Car Center counter hall, find the National counter—it is located between Alamo and Hertz.
- National Pickup: After getting your keys, head past Alamo, go through the doorway, turn right toward the garage entrance on Level 4 (same route as the blue path on the map).
Video
About this page
This guide follows the route from baggage claim at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to the AirTrain, the Blue Line ride to the Rental Car Center, and inside the center to the National counter and National pickup on Level 4, matching the two maps above. The embedded video is the same walk in real time.