Houston IAH

I arrived from San Jose Costa Rica at 5.30pm on Sunday evening April 26 with two hours to make my connection to Chicago. This was without a doubt the worst customs process I have experienced. It took greater than an hour to get to the APC machines and then another half hour to then have the passport stamped. There were only two agents on duty with probably 1000+ people in line. This is an extremely inefficient process. Once we finally retrieved our luggage there was another one hour plus wait. There was no organization to this line and people were really angry accusing others of cutting in the line in front of them. When we finally went through customs with our suitcases there were four agents who just looked at our passports and let us through. I'm not sure I understand this second step or why there was not organization or enough people to handle all of the people attempting to get through Customs. Flights are scheduled. I heard afterwards that there were more than 2500 people attempting to get through Customs. This was a travesty! I have gone through Customs in Atlanta Los Angeles Chicago and Newark and have never seen anything as disorganized as this. It was outrageous and changes should be made.

We had a 3 hours connection through Houston airport coming back from Costa Rica connecting to Seattle on April 26th. After the immigration line (around 40 minutes) we thought the worst was over. Once we got our luggage we had to go through customs. There were thousands of people in the area and it was a total mess. There were only four Border protection officers working causing huge delays. The most frustrating part was there were no clear lines so some people were standing in line for almost 2 hours (it is not an exaggeration) and some people realizing they were going to miss their flight were cutting the line. People would get into actual flights since everyone was getting frustrated. 4 or 5 Border protection guys had to come in (so there were more than four?) to interfere. Setting the lines seem to be pretty simple task to accomplish. I agree with some of the comments I heard over those two hours (that is one of the few decent ones I can post): After arriving from Mexico Costa Rica and other countries we all of a sudden felt being in a third world country in Houston. The administration should be ashamed of themselves.

I'm a frequent traveler and this by far was the worst airport experience dealing with immigration and customs. We were traveling back from Liberia Costa Rica and while the United Airlines staff on the plane was clear with instructions as to where to go wen we reached our gate once we got to immigration the problems were apparent. We were in line first for passport scanners for around 40 minutes then another wait for what looked to be 4 agents checking passports for hundreds of travelers in just the US citizens line. Then we headed in to get luggage and were in another completely disorganized winding line that blocked access to baggage. We got to our baggage and realized that the line we saw was only about one tenth of the actual line that wound back and forth with only the honest of other travelers to keep order. We saw airport agents whom we called out to to maintain order and they ignored people while they texted on their phones. With people trying to cut into lines that people had stood in for 1.5 hrs already missing connections there were near riot situations. We called out for security and finally airport police came and somewhat restored order while airport agents opened another line behind those of us who had been in line for hours missing flights and expedited them through not even checking passports. We missed our connections and there were no more flights for the rest of the night for us to get out. We got a room at our expense and will get out now 24 hours later. I travel by air all over the country but will never go through Houston for an international flight again.

I arrived at about 5.10pm from Huatulco Mexico. Passport control area was a mess poorly managed. The baggage area to re-check bags was the worst I've seen in decades of travel. There were not enough agents anywhere no-one offering any help probably 4000 people stuck at all the carousels with a line that wound around every one of the carousels. No one helping people just having to figure out a system. Nearly everyone including myself missed their connecting flights. My next United flight was to have been at 7.30pm. I like many others was on my phone trying to arrange other connections. My husband was able to get through to the airline and I was booked and confirmed on two evening flights but with American Airlines. The confirmation did me no good because United had only about five agents trying to assist hundreds of people who had missed their flights and only about three of the agents appeared to be actually working. So I again missed my new flights because you could get no help whatsoever from any of the United Airlines agents. They were non-existent and yet we and immigration were blamed for missing the connecting flights and therefore could receive no vouchers no compensation of any sort. An agent finally sent me down to American. Finally I was given a so-called voucher which I was told would give me a half- price hotel. I hope never to return in my lifetime.

Much like the last review we arrived at 5 for a 7.30 flight customs had no queues only two lines people constantly cutting in line one side of baggage claim had a line one third as long as the other. The highlight was that there wasn't a fist fight. That and I didn't need to go to the bathroom. Needless to say we missed our flight rebooked while we were in line and only have to wait another 12 hours for our new flight. They said the reasoning behind this chaos was weather delays which backed them up. So I'm guessing that they NEVER have weather delays always have enough staffing and their three-part system always works to perfection. We went from Cabo which runs like a finely tuned automobile to Bush which is more like a '78 Pinto.

Both of my experiences in transit at this airport have been awful. The TSA staff cover the spectrum of unprofessional behavior condescending rude and inefficient. I travelled in a group of over 100 people and this dissatisfaction was felt among a majority of us. I have never before been compelled to write a review on something online but the snide remarks concerning our nationality from the staff here and the feeling I was left with from my experience with more than a few of the staff members warrants a warning to other international travelers: You may be in for a difficult time.

I arrived 5pm on 15th April with a connecting flight at 7.30pm - I never made that flight thanks to TSA at Houston. Several hundred people had arrived with only a handful of TSA agents dealing with people. The result was 2.5 hours to clear immigration and missing my connecting flight last of the night from Houston. I had to pay for my own hotel and wait on standby for a flight the next day. Now TSA had to know how many flights were arriving so why so few staff. Also when people like me asked other staff for help and we could see we would miss our flights we were completely ignored if not treated with disdain. Dozens of us missed flights and TSA staff acted as if we were nuisance for asking for help. I have a choice of hubs and now will avoid Houston. BTW there is no separate immigration for people connecting just one entrance for every one with very few TSA agents there to process you. Beware or allow 3-4 hours for connecting flights.

Immigration is completely disorganized. As a USA resident for last 18 years I have always entered the USA with US citizens today they closed all but 5 gates and all residents were placed in same line as visitors! The line to immigration took over an hour. Somebody needs to improve line scheduling. It's disgraceful! I was treated like a 2nd class citizen. Missed my flight with my wife able to take different immigration line and catch the flight. I had to stay overnight and catch another flight in morning.

Our BA flight into Houston arrived somewhat later than scheduled (around 7pm) and we arrived into Terminal E. Upon exiting the aircraft we had a reasonable length walk (about 10 minutes) to reach US immigration. Out of a possible 30 or so desks there were about six open for international passengers at that time of night. The immigration officer we saw was polite and processed us smoothly. We did not have to line up for very long before being processed but I did note that more people had joined a line once we had cleared immigration. It would I think take some considerable time to clear immigration here if there had been another international flight arriving. I saw the Global Entry kiosks before arriving at Immigration but I did not see anyone use these at the time I passed them. (As a UK citizen I am ineligible to use such a service). Baggage for our flight came off quite quickly. One thing I have now noticed is that when the customs form is handed in you now have to show your passport to them also. The taxi rank was not well sign-posted outside and the dispatcher had isolated himself in a glass box!. Once we had managed to communicate with this individual the taxi arrived soon afterwards. Used Terminal D for departures. Nothing much in the way of restaurants airside; would suggest people (particularly children) have something to eat if at all possible before arriving at this airport. Its a very dated airport.

This is without doubt my least favorite airport in the US. After my fourth nightmarish international transit recently I felt compelled to write. While the immigration lines have been improved somewhat by the introduction of the automated entry kiosks the airport continues to have major problems with traffic flow through customs and the security line one must endure to connect to your domestic flight. All international arrivals funnel through one security checkpoint regardless of the terminal you are departing from. Every time I have come through Houston there are hundreds of people in this line so many in fact that they have to hold you back in the customs area (in yet another line) as a measure of crowd control. There is no sympathy for tight connections (usually caused by this customs/security backup). Needless to say there are many frayed nerves and the entire experience every time has been stressful. You really have to allow plenty of extra time the published airline schedules are indeed within legal minimum connection parameters but this being Houston don't count on it being enough. Add to this the fact that the airport itself is dated (think 70s deluxe) getting shabby in some areas and arranged in a rather 'hodgepodge' fashion and it all makes for an overall unpleasant experience.