Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport Passenger Reviews and Traveller Reports

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Ronald DePass

26 November 2008   Customer Rating :

Traveled through IAH to LAX 2 weeks ago and IAH to PTY last week. The first time was the worst. I have travelled through IAH before and never experienced what happened to me this time before. So first, customers had a large queue waiting, second and all of a sudden on baggage claim I'm stopped by a cop, then I'm sent to security control room to check on my bags and to be questioned every type of questions I've never been asked before. I felt mistreated and would not take any flights connecting in Houston unless I had no other chance. Not to say I had to run to have lunch and catch my next flight. Disliked it very much, do not fly through IAH unless it's necessary.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by O Alexandre

24 June 2008   Customer Rating :

Having to wait 2 hours to go thru customs in not funny as not enough booths opened at 11h40! Still after a nice lunch around the airport, my evening flight with AF was fantastic. IAH no thank you, I will avoid it at any cost because of organised chaos!

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by E Fehim

22 March 2008   Customer Rating :

We're due to be flying from San Diego to Houston and then Houston to Gatwick. However, we have only a 50 minute connection time. Is this long enough for us to make that flight? On the way in, we were stuck in immigration at Houston in queue's for over an hour, and as I've never done the return before, I don't hold much hope for catching flight to London. Anyone had any experiences at Houston like this?

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by P Chandler

11 October 2007   Customer Rating :

Flew into Houston from London on Continental a couple of weeks ago. Met with a reasonable number of people in the immigration queue and had documents checked whilst waiting. Got to end of this queue and selected a short queue for one of the booths. It went downhill from here as neither of the 2 families in front had filled in their forms correctly and had to redo them at the desk. 2 points here - how come they got to the desk without having had documents looked at (or did official not want to deal with it) and why were they not taken aside to fill in the forms allowing others to be processed. Bag was either inspected or broken into between Houston and final destination but no TSA notice inside and nothing missing. How do ii know this - I placed duty free cigarettes bought in London into my case before handing it back to the airline and outer wrapping had been torn off when I opened my case later on.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by John Victery

11 September 2007   Customer Rating :

In just a few words, I always have the feeling that, in general, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. The best reception area I have found is that of Air France. One is greeted cordially, assisted courteously, departures and arrivals are timely - in a word, a highly professional way to be of service to its customers in and out of Intercontinental Airport Houston.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Peter Jordan

5 February 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

Houston can be very good and can be awful. Immigration into the US can be hit and miss, but IAH vies with EWR at having the shortest queues on average. (There will always be the odd bad day, but I've had 6 / 7 with a wait of less than 5 minutes in the last few months). Check in, security and baggage reclaim can be quick unless flying CO from Terminal C which is simply awful. If flying domestically I use AA because I know I can breeze through the airport in less than half the time it takes with CO. The international terminal (D) is similarly swift. However whilst BA and AA bags arrive quickly, it can take an hour to get bags to the CO domestic carousels.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Diego Muller
22 October 2006

What a nice airport! Immigration took me about only 20 minutes. Very friendly staff. The airport is beautiful and clean. Unlike someone has said, I caught a connection flight which had only 1h and 20 minutes between arrival and departure!

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Cyn Matranga
22 September 2006

Houston George Bush Airport is a delight. I always use this route when flying to So. California, so the layover/connection is at Houston Airport. The airport is laid out for the comfort of the traveler. It reminds me of a friendly shopping mall. Many and varied restaurants offer all types of food and prices. The shuttle monorails are very efficient, and when one tram had a mechanical glitch, causing it to stop on the tracks, it was dealt with within 5 minutes, and very efficiently. The airport employees are friendly and helpful. I wish all airports were this nice. I highly recommend it!

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Scott McNeil
6 September 2006

As a regular flyer into and out of IAH on British Airways flights, I was hoping that the new terminal E would speed the appalling arrivals process that we used to put up with in Terminal D. Wrong. We just have to walk further to get to the Immigration line, where the wait can still be well over an hour and the Immigration people - rude, unhelpful and arrogant would be understatement about these people. This is the only Country I fly to where I am treated as a criminal even before I have officially entered. It appears that non-US Nationals are regarded as fair game for bored or power crazy officials to deliberately mess around. Their latest trick is to walk along the Immigration queue demanding you switch off your cell phone. And if you ask why, or why are US Citizens are allowed to use theirs while they are waiting - well, see above on that one. To add insult to injury, arrivals on BA are now being singled out for 'special processing', which essentially means we wait longer and after finally clearing Immigration, we then have to go through a secondary search and X-Ray. On Thusday I broke the cardinal rule and asked why. After 10 mins of chain jerking, the answer was 'because you are doing it to us in London.' I broke the cardinal rule again and pointed out that we were not. Leaving through Terminal D is about the same as many other airports, although the facilities for duty free, eating etc are very limited, unless you want to take the 10 min walk to E or C. In summary, IAH is no advertisement for the USA for non- US arrivals not flying in on Continental.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by G Estes
22 August 2006

I recently connected in IAH, travelling on to GUA. Connecting outbound was easy and quick. No delays in arriving or taxi to the gate. On return from GUA, the plane was slowed by taxi congestion by about 5 minutes, I've been thru much worse in the Atlanta airport. Customs is huge and modern. I was through it in 2 minutes. Lines appeared much longer for non-U.S. citizens, but they were moving. Entire time through customs/baggage/security was 15 minutes, so I was pleased overall.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Doug Branham
1 July 2006

The designers of Terminal E need to go back to the drawing board with respect to arrival passenger pickups. Last month, I arrived from Canada and it took 2-1/2 hours for me to find my ride. There are many dead spots so I could not cell phone my ride. In addition, it is not clear whether baggage pickup is in C or E. Last week, I arrived from Panama and it took me 45 minutes to connect with my ride. The traffic at E was intolerable. The commercial side was perhaps 50% occupied while the private car side was 100%. Something must be done to handle the arrival connections with their rides. It is the worst airport that I have seen and I am a regular traveler.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Trysha Weibley
18 April 2006

Every time I fly into or out of this airport on a connecting flight, I leave late and arrive late. It's hard to navigate, prepare to wear good footwear for lots of walking. Confusing layout -but biggest complaint by far is always having to sit the tarmac for at least 60 minutes before take off - or circling for an hour waiting for space to land. I will go out of my way to avoid this airport, as will my husband - who thanks to the delays in Houston, is now going to have a 4 hour layover in Newark before arriving in Syracuse.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Viktorie Kafka
6 February 2006

Do not count on catching you connecting flight unless there is at least 3 hours in between your arrival to HOU and departure to some more humanly places. Yes, its big, spacious and its modern - but that is the end of the benefit list. Houston is my worse experience with major US international airports, even worse than Newark. As one of the main gateways to South-West US and Latin America, the organization is horrible and the immigration and customs is a nightmare. Queuing for 1 hour is minimum during the daytime and 2 hrs are no exception. Immigrations are unfriendly in best case and customs know well how to degrade a person who has no defence tools. Be extremely aware of the line-assistance staff, people who are "supervising" the gueue. They tend to order you to show all the landing papers and documents and ask you immigration questions, even 10 times in a row, after couple of minutes since they finished the previous interrogation! Under NO circumstance express any signs of irony or sarcasm or complaining, when you do they do not hesitate to follow you through immigration and to customs, hassling and leading you to additional checks, lot of degrading and even bigger time waste. And when you miss two consequent flights for these hasslings and disorganization, rather count on missing another one, the transfer counter staff is indolent, overworked and unfriendly. The Continental operated counters are severely under-serviced and it can take hours to make it from arrivals to departures when changing planes. If you fly to Texas and Houston is not your terminal airport, avoid Houston. Detroit, Memphis or Cincinnati are less likely to disgust and drain you after long, exhausting journeys. I have been there 4 times and I hope I will never ever have to repeat it.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Juan Acuna
12 August 2005

Bush Intercontinental is a very spaced out airport with little crowdedness in certain terminals. Terminal E is the newest (I believe) and is very new and clean with a great selection of food choices and its unique walk assistance system that assists with the long walks between gates. Continental only uses this terminal and is also for Continental's international flights. IAH is one of the best airports in the country when it comes to handling immigration and customs. I was in line for no more than 20 minutes compared to a 45-60 minute wait at MIA or LAX. There wasn't any customs lines. Terminal C is very tight in space with very very low ceilings with filthy walls. E is the best out of the entire airport and I would definitely use this airport again as my gateway to the United States .

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Neil Ramsay
8 August 2005

Arrived and departed in Terminal A with United. Baggage claim/meeting area is a little cramped when multiple flights arrive but check in upstairs is spacious and seemed to work well. Security check was thorough and polite. The airside catering facilities are minimalist. Departure lounges were comfortable enough, arrival/departure info is easily accessible and toilets were clean. No complaints about IAH from me.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Ken Ross
21 July 2005

The new immigration facilities in Terminal E are a vast improvement on what was there previously. The again - the previous facilities in D were the worst I have ever seen. Anywhere. Having said that - immigration didn't seem to know we were coming ("what 2nd KLM flight on a Saturday?" was heard from an immigration official)! SO a queue I was at the front off still took 20 minutes to move. Only in Houston. As for the rest - Terminal A is a standard US domestic terminal. Nothing great, nothing awful. Terminal B: Thanks to my cancelled return I had the 'pleasure' of having to connect through MSP on NWA. Hence left from B. Term C - better than it used to be as Continental moves some ops to Term E. Used to be horribly overcrowded - now more spacious. Facilities the same as A & B though bigger. Term D - Knock it down. This place is the pits - from it terrible queues at check in, to the awful eating choices and as for the Duty Free 'shops'. I have been in 3rd world hovels with better facilities than this place. Term E - Very nice. Shame you have to fly Continental to use it though. I would rather put up with term D and AF or KL. I guess that says something more about CO rather than IAH!

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Steve Kenowen

10 July 2005

Houston is a good airport as long as you don't have to leave Terminal E. Most major Continental routes leave from E, so usually this is not a problem (my usual flights between Austin and Boston all go through E fortunately). Terminal E is a beautifully designed facility and is wide, spacious, and new. The President's Club is top notch and boarding always smooth. Terminal C is still used by Continental's smaller routes, and is not particularly bad, it's just very clausterphobic. Ceilings are low and dark, and windows are few and far between. The President's Clubs in C are really starting to show their age. Terminal B for Continental Express is a short train ride away, but the satellite gate system is pretty obnoxious. It's a long, bleak walk to the gate, and once you get there, you realize the only food and shopping options are all the way back in the central building. My main gripe is with Terminal D. While CO's international services leave from E, all international airlines are based in D (most importantly for me, KLM and Air France). D conjures images of an Arizona ghost town. Very few dining options and many that are boarded up and shut down. The Business Class lounges are poor, being stuck in the aging corridors of Terminal D. I usually go to the President's Club in E and then walk to D when it comes time to board my international flight, but this is a good 15 minute walk. Check in at all IAH terminals are quick and efficient (at least for Continental Airlines) and it's a very easy airport to get around.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by M Gallegos

4 June 2005

IAH Has opened a new Immigration and Customs facility for all arriving passengers on all airlines. It is now easy to get through immigration in minutes, instead of hours. Houston is a major gateway to Latin America and Europe, and has a lot of flights coming in all the time. The new facilities in Terminal E are very spacious, fully manned, and very modern and open.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Steve Tait

26 March 2005

We flew through IAH this past Monday from UIO to BOS. The connection was booked online through CO and only allowed one hour and ten minutes between flights. WARNING, this is nowhere near enough time. At a bare minimum 90 minutes should be allowed and longer if there is any type of crowd. There is a very long TSA security line to go through after clearing customs and immigration that took at least 30 minutes. We arrived at our gate as the flight was closing up and had to take two middle coach seats as our first class seats had been given away to upgrades. Of course our checked baggage did not make the flight and we got it 48 hours later. All in all this connecting experienced ruined our return home from a near perfect vacation.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Alan McGreen

9 January 2005

Having used Houston IAH for a pre-christmas visit, I was a bit concerned having read some of the reviews on this page. Maybe it was because our AF flight was over an hour late due to fog in Paris, but the wait to clear immigration was not as bad as we had expected. All booths were in use and all were available to non-US passengers. Information about the need to include the full destination address was regularly broadcast and there were even 2 guys walking up and down the lines of passengers offering to check their documentation was correct. It was certainly no worse as far as process is concerned as any other US gateway. What was a bit of a disappointment was the fairly primitive waiting/queuing arrangements, a long narrow corridor followed by a large room with the usual TENSA barrier "snake" lines. The staff were reasonably friendly and once through customs the airport was fine. A convenient shuttle service to the car rental centre and relatively easy getaway once we had had completed the documentation. Departing on an internal flight with Delta a few days later, despite appalling weather and flight delays due to snow, I found the information services and airside departure lounge very spacious and comfortable. IAH is not the best airport in the world by any means, but it is far from the worst.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Bernard Feissat

14 November 2004

I hade the same bad adventure as I Hilton and G Clifford when arriving at IAH on july 10th from Paris. We had to queue for 2 hours since our AF flight arrived just after KLM and BA flights and together with a Lufthansa one; the line was so long that, though we disembarked first as business passengers, we couldn't see where it was starting and finishing; eventually we could approach what we thought to be the end of the line; but we saw that there was another line coming from the other side opposite, presumably Continental passengers; it took us two hours to reach the desk though they had the good idea to open some US citizens desks to foreigners after they had cleared most of US people; we got some consolation when we saw that clearing immigration was very long for crews as well which is mostly unusual; eventually we reached a desk and guess what? we were sleeping overnight at the Marriott airport hotel, and I had put the hotel name on the green card; but the immigration officer wanted us tu put down the full address of the hotel since they don't accept hotel names as an address even though the hotel is within the airport compound; I must say this officer was very kind, I had the full address of the hotel on my confirmation mail, and the officer said to just "squeeze" it between all other information I had already put down on the card. Of course, luggage were waiting for us when we reached the luggage area and clearing customs was just walking through and giving the white sheet of paper to the customs officer; fortunately we had decided to sleep over in Houston before going onwards to Anchorage next day; I wonder how you can manage to get a same half day connection in IAH; one great thing: this automatic subway train which connects all terminals and drops you in the basement of the airport hotel. Where shall I connect next time I fly to the US; I have already given up with JFK and LA?

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by I Hilton

15 July 2004

I had a very similar experience to Greg Clifford. I arrived on a BA flight from LGW on Monday afternoon, the 12th of July. I fly to IAH on a regular basis and the queues are usually pretty long (over an hour), but on this occasion I was staggered - it took me 2 full hours to get through customs. Organised chaos is the only word to describe the immigration process at this airport.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Greg Clifford

4 February 2004

Terminal Facilities at Houston for flight arrivals from Europe (now mainly arriving into Terminal D) are wildly underdeveloped and understaffed for influxes of flights at the same time. I arrived on an afternoon BA flight from London Dec 18th, 2003 - KLM, Lufthansa and Air France were also inbound at this time. With what I estimate to be a good 1500 "foreign" passengers queuing for immigration, staff had no idea of what was going on, nor frankly cared, and my wait, as a Business Class passenger was a negligible 1.5 hours to the Immigration Officer. Forget about asking any questions of staff, you should just be thankful to be in the US at all, appeared to be the policy. The lines were so long that passengers on later arriving craft were forced to walk past all of us, practically to the far end of the Terminal Pier. Where next were they going to queue, on the tarmac? There were 15 Immigration Booths, half allocated for US Citizens - and all were staffed. When the US Citizens had cleared these staff sat at their desks, doing nothing, no effort was made to open extra desks for the amassed foreigners. The US doesn't need to adopt a hard line policy on terrorism - just treat all "non-resident aliens" like they were at IAH and foreigners won't fly to the US again.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Asif Chaudhury

8 October 2003

IAH is a very simple but convenient airport. Although old and not very nice looking, its very easy to find your way. Arrival is fast and never seems to be very crowded.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by John Lehman

15 August 2003

IAH isn't the best airport in the U.S., but it's not the worst. There are a fair amount of services through the five terminals, but I believe there could be more. Terminal C use to be rather outdated, but there is work being done to it. Terminal B has a few restaurants, and a Continental President's Club, but that's pretty much it. Terminal A has been completely rebuilt, and is very nice and well kept. The underground subway is not the quickest in the world, unlike the one at ATL that slams you on the floor, but it gets you where you need to go. The new terminal E is connected to terminal C, and it is amazing. It should help its only tenant, Continental. So overall, IAH is not that bad an airport. HOU is the one to avoid.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by David Guenthner

1 August 2003

Houston Bush is the major hub for Continental Airlines. Regional jets and turboprops use the B terminal, full-size domestic jets use the C terminal, and international flights use the D terminal. The new E gates are used for domestic but will be converted to international when the new international services building is completed in early 2005. The C terminal is not the worst but it is crowded and well-worn. Continental has an elevated train connecting the B and C terminals which is new, clean, and fast. The central pod of the B terminal -- ticketing, security, shops, and restaurants -- appears to be recently renovated and is very bright and comfortable. However, the concourses that extend from that central pod are dark and very musty and the gate areas are very crowded, even for regional jet passengers.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by Brad Bregani

15 July 2003

Maybe I'm spoiled living in Vancouver Canada, and always flying out of YVR, which was voted one of the top airports in the world...but Houston George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) is poorly laid out, over-crowded and has a poor selection of restaurants and services. On the up-side, I got through security rather quickly as compared to other U.S. airports.

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport review by T Clark

10 June 2003

Houston's Intercontinental Airport, located about 40 minutes north of downtown, consists of four terminals connected by a slow underground railway. The facilities, while modern, are unimpressive and are typical of most major American airports. Continental Airlines dominates the airport with two terminals to itself and its partners. Other domestic airlines share terminal A, recently renovated and still undergoing some construction on its parking lots and other areas. Foreign airlines fly from Terminal D, which can be cramped and sweaty during peak hours. Expansion of this terminal is in the works, however, and should provide the city with a more respectable gateway to its international visitors. Although parts of terminal A are spacious, many of the airport's gate areas have not been renovated since the 70's and are badly in need of expansion. In terminals B and C, Continental seems to have made little effort to create a pleasant space for its largest hub; the gate podiums are made of particle wood, the company's signature blue carpeting is worn and the flourescent lights cast a stale glow reminiscent of a city hospital. Aesthetics aside, parking at the airport has always been a challenge, particularly around holidays. At the terminals, parking is expensive and not always available. This situation should change, however, with the opening of the new facility between terminals A and B. In all, Houston's airport is slowly showing signs of improvement; its strengths mainly lie in its ability to move passengers in and out of the city with few ATC or weather delays.