Q: We picked up our son at San Jose Mineta Airport at 10 p.m. two days before Thanksgiving. We waited in the cellphone lot until our son texted that he was ready for us to pick him up at Terminal B.
The turnoff for Terminal B was closed off and all cars were being routed all the way around the long loop past terminal A. What should have taken 10 minutes turned into 45 minutes of terrible traffic.
Are they planning to do the same thing before Christmas? Isn’t there any other way to expedite dropoffs and pickups during high airport traffic times?
— Lynn McCrory
A: Scott Wintner, San Jose airport’s deputy director, responded to your question. He said that what you experienced was the airport’s protocol once traffic backs up at Terminal B, and the end of the loop there becomes impassable, blocking access to Terminal A and exiting to Airport Parkway.
If traffic were not rerouted past Terminal A, the backup would block entrances to nearby properties and, eventually, highway off-ramps.
He appreciated that you reduced congestion by using the cellphone waiting lot. Traffic volume will be high again around Christmas, which means traffic will be slow again getting to and from the terminals.
Q: Perhaps you can help me get a $171 DMV refund which was authorized, but which I have not received 14 months after I first requested it.
The $150 license fee on my 2002 Honda was due on 9/20/2022. I sent my check early, but it had not been cashed by the end of September, so I paid online a second time. By then the cost was $171, including a late fee.
The DMV cashed the check that October, so I called for a refund, filled out the form they required and was told I would receive the refund. No refund arrived. I called again last December and was told to resubmit the form.
In February, the DMV said the refund would go back to my credit card account, but it had been closed in November 2022, due to fraudulent activity, so I never received the refund. Between then and October, I contacted the DMV at least five more times by phone or letter, and when instructed, submitted the refund request form again. In July, the DMV said it had issued a check in April and to allow 120 days for the check to arrive. It never did.
After all of this, can you help me get my $171 refund?
— Roy Berg, Los Altos
A: I forwarded your information to the DMV. You contacted me this week to say that the DMV had reached out, the problem was resolved, and you now have your refund.
Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.