Houston IAH

Landing from international flight on Sunday - 3/9/14 around 5.30pm but had no idea of the 2 hour plus ordeal that would be required to get 1 checked bag of business clothes - no purchases of any kind - to the other side of customs. There were no weather concerns for that day so every person in customs area had arrived on a scheduled flight. It seemed that no one at IAH customs had any idea that people were flying that day. A total of 5 stations at customs were manned I think there are about 75 stations. After we basically checked ourselves through an electronic kiosk we then had another line to give the forms to the agent. After that line we had another hour in the line/scrambled mess of people to get the one piece of luggage cleared. Once again there was no queue - just a mess of people with agents coming through yelling to get your forms filled out. Total confusion reigns. Finally you reach a place where only 3 agents are manning the door quickly look at the passports again and you leave. The agent controlling the leftmost lane - was purposefully slow - processing 1 person for every other lines 10. Like most travelers I would do all this without complaint if there were a weather emergency or that this long time in customs was necessary for all passengers and their belongings to be carefully scanned to protect our country. I felt like I was in some argument between airlines/airport managers/customs officials. Shame on the decision makers for making people the pawns in this scheme of traveller misery.

Inbound 14 Feb 2014 LHR-IAH. Usual long queues at Immigration but nothing out of the ordinary for non US citizen visitor. Real pain was at Customs with 4 double lines snaking through the hall. Only 2 eventually 3 officers on duty who now seemingly check your passport as well as collecting the customs forms - why - this at least doubles the time taken to process passengers and causes long delays at peak times. Do the Management at Houston not understand that they are losing revenue as customers no longer have time to spend money on food and drink in their airport and frustrate customers who maybe struggling to connect with outbound flights. I used to allow at least 1.5 hours for transit through US gateways looks like this is now more like 2+ hours if you are lucky. I hope someone has told the airlines and that they have re-programmed their computers to account for these excessive delays. I will now have to look for direct flights where ever possible Houston we have a problem.

What an embarrassment as my wife and I cleared customs around mid-day on a Thursday. The new machines crashed (all of them all at once) and they did not seem very intuitive. I'm all for technology but it needs to work. Anyway its all been said here already; long lines and seemingly not enough staff to handle the volume. Let's get to work and get simple stuff like this fixed.

2/26/14 from Cancun to Seattle via Houston airport and have to say this was my worst experience going through US customs in Houston airport. I was traveling with 3 kids and it took us 2 hours to get through 6 ridiculous lines before we could get to our gate and miss our flight with many others travelers. There was one line to just show your passport then you go to another line to scan passports and get your picture taken at an electronic machine that then prints out your picture with passport info. Then you go to 3rd line to show some security guy the passport printout and then to find out that again you go to 4th line to get that printout stamped. Afterwards you have to get our checked in bags and go to another line to check them right back in for connection flight. Oh and then go through TSA security again where they didn't care that you only had 5 minutes before your flight takes off and makes you stay in general line. Oh and the walk to Gate E is long and even though we got a guy on motorized vehicle to drive us to the gate we still didn't make it. He was the only helpful person at the whole airport. He told us to go to Customer Service and ask to be put on next flight. Well United customer service was rude and said it's not their fault that customs took so long and that if we don't get on a flight that day (had 3) then we will have to wait until next day where they have flight at 5.40pm and they will not pay for hotel or food. Luckily we were able to make it to one of the flights that evening and got home but it sure left a negative opinion of United. They definitely need to work on their customer service and managing their connection flights.

International arrivals - beware. This airport will not help people with connecting flights make their connections. Some airports make sure that people with close connections get priority through customs and security. Security staff (after customs is cleared) appear to be trained to lie and tell you there will be no problem with connections. Several people at 12 p.m. 2/25 in line at security had connections leaving in 10-20 minutes. We asked to be let through more quickly. We were told to get in back of the line and we would be "fine". I was in the "E" terminal and was told gate "C40" was "right next door" and not to worry. I had 8 minutes to get to the gate. The terminal was several long hallways and shopping areas away. I tried my best to run. I asked for help from an airport employee sitting with a motorized vehicle who refused to help me. I arrived 10 seconds before the gate closed. This is not "fine"! Does it take a genius to provide good service and get people with connecting flights to the front? Other airports do it! Horrible experience.

I can appreciate the other review of how bad Houston Airport is for international travellers - particularly those transit passengers just passing through. It turns into a completely wasted day. Management seems to not care about passenger flow. They torture you with long lines with 4 or 5 stations out of 80 (yes 80) open. The appearance of security is there so while they delay you anyone can walk off with your luggage because there is nothing to monitor it at the back end. No nexus pass to speed things up. No priority for connections or smooth connection process. Do not buy duty free perfume or liquor etc. You are a transit passenger but it will be confiscated or taxed because you pass through customs. In short I will limit myself to direct flights out of Canada now. Passing via United States is not an option.

We had 2 elderly passengers requiring wheelchairs to meet us at Houston (from Cancun heading to OKC) which arrangements had been made when we booked. When we got to Houston they picked up my Mom and Aunt on a cart but it was full of other passengers so I couldn't ride with them. Since we had to go through customs we knew they would be taken care of in their wheelchairs. Turns out the cart guy dropped them off somewhere with no wheelchairs available and no one to assist. The guy also told them they would miss their connecting flight. So my 81 year old Mom and Aunt were wandering around the customs area and having to walk with their carryon luggage with no assistance. Since we had already passed customs and the ensuing security check (again) we couldn't go back to get them. Evidently no one can go back to customs to assist even airport personnel. We finally went back to the security area and just waited for them. Eventually they made their way through. We did indeed miss our connecting flight to OKC and ended up getting a hotel in Houston. If someone had indeed met them with wheelchairs at the gate in Houston (as they were supposed to) we would have made our flights and breezed through the airport process. There were 6 of us flying together on that flight we all missed it because we weren't going to leave them behind. This was a nightmare end to our 13 person family vacation in Cancun.

Truly a horrible experience! If (somehow) you manage to make it through Customs and have a connecting flight you face another amazing line to be re-screened by TSA before you are allowed to enter the concourse to get to your gate. There was only two machines screening with no alternatives (No Pre-check lines First Class Line and no line if you held status). I would avoid IAH at all costs! My only recommendation (which I have not tried) would be to exit the airport after customs and then re-enter so that you can go through normal TSA screening. It has to be faster than I experienced!

I have never had a problem with this airport! People are always friendly and fast and so I actually almost always attempt to route my international flights from this hub! For all of those here that are complaining about waiting times to clear customs - especially those of you that complain there's no expedited line for first class customers - I say to you that this is your own fault. If you've got the money to travel internationally (first class or not) then you certainly can spare the hundred dollars it takes to apply for the US Border Agency's Global Entry program. A quick line to an automated kiosk just moments to electronically declare your imports and you're set to go and cleared for re-entry.

After a relaxing week in Jamaica all our happiness was dashed when we were met with a line of easily close to 1000 people attempting to clear customs. Customs and immigration officers were rude and lazy. Almost all the booths were closed and as a result almost everyone we saw on our flight from Jamaica missed their connecting flight. No expedited areas for First Class passengers either. Why on earth did we have to go through a TSA screening when we just passed customs and have not left the airport? I will never fly through here again which is a shame because it is convenient to our Austin location.