Houston IAH

Quite possibly the worst international airport experience I have ever had - and I've flown around the world extensively. The control of queues at immigration and security was appalling with one person processing a huge line of 'visitor' passports. The US citizen line seemed to disappear quite quickly especially when people were channelled into the visitor queues not a good impression for overseas visitors to the US or Texas. Airport staff were rude and unhelpful ignoring questions altogether and giving the wrong answers. The security line management was conducted inefficiently and staff barked condescending instructions in childish sing-song voices. Non-English speaking visitors must've been quite confused. I was very disappointed to be yelled at treated like a second class citizen and grunted at and won't be returning to Houston if I can help it ever.

Your experience at Houston seems dependent on what part of the airport you need to pass through. On International arrivals immigration lines are always long but if it is an option for you get signed up for Global Entry. There is never a line at the dozen or so kiosks and you will be on your way through immigration in minutes rather than hours. Once into the airport Terminal B is by far the worst. Crowded and more than showing its age. Be prepared to stand in the gate area unless you are willing to camp out in the windowless hallways. Use the washroom and eat elsewhere in the airport if you can otherwise be prepared to stand in line for both. Terminal E being the newest has plenty of space with decent places to eat. Apart from staying away from Terminal B Houston is simply typical.

Recently we had to come to Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport to take a flight to Seattle; unfortunately this airport is the worst airport I have ever visited. Customers were being required to go through body scans at security. This took an extremely long time two security lines. They are so inefficient with long lines and waits even with connecting flights. With two hours between connecting flights literally need run to catch our plane and finally we lost the fly to Seattle. Tomorrow we will go to Madrid via Houston and have three hours to make the transfer we hope to be on time for our next flight.

I use this airport often and have never had excessive delays at immigration. The staffing is controlled by the US Federal Government. It is always a clean and well maintained airport with good dining and shopping options.

Arriving from DEN very recently my husband and I needed to get to Terminal E to catch our connection to LHR. The signage could certainly be improved upon but the United Airlines member of staff we spoke to could not have been more helpful and soon pointed us in the right direction. We had a good lunch at Ruby's diner in Terminal E. All in all not a bad experience.

Horrible for customs immigration security baggage claims and rechecks worst airport that I have ever visited. Majority of customers were being required to go through body scans at security. This took an extremely long time with tons of frustrated people two security lines and one body scanner. They are so inefficient with long lines and waits even with connecting flights. Two hours between connecting flights and my family still had to literally run to catch our plane.

We've had pretty good experiences here the only problem being occasionally long trips between terminals (and some confusing signage). The commuter plane terminal was a bit dumpy (though it looks like there was construction going on during our last visit). Never had a long wait at Immigration or Customs. We've usually waited between flights at one of the United Clubs so have not spent much time at the airport's restaurants or shops which looked pretty standard for most large airports. I'd certainly rather transit (or travel from downtown Houston to) Houston Hobby but that's not typically an option for us.

I thought that our horrible experience trying to get through customs at this airport was possibly an isolated one until I saw the other customer reviews expressing the same issues on numerous occasions. It appears that this is business as usual at this airport. Requiring travelers to stand in line for hours and miss connecting flights is not what airport security measures should include. With only 5 of the 24 stations being staffed and several hundred customers in line its a management issue rather than a security issue. I would avoid using this airport for international travel if at all possible.

The lines at US customs are a joke. 3 flights through Houston one missed flight other two times barely made 2.5 hour connections. There were more customs officers at Calgary Alberta at 11 pm than on duty in Houston. Whoever is in charge needs a serious lesson in customer service and labor management. The most annoying part is the indifference of both staff and management when they are causing extreme anxiety to the travelling public as well as missed flights and extra expense. My travelling friends have all experienced this same horrific service and now avoid Houston if possible.

Saturday 28 April 2012 - so called Fast Track Immigration Line. I waited for 1hr 40 minutes to get through. I would have been better off going to the regular immigration queue. I waited for so long that combined with the horrible security queues for flight connections I should have missed my flight to London - United waited for me. I arrived at the gate 10 mins after departure time! So no thanks to the Immigration Staff! I was spending a total of 2hrs 10 minutes in the country and 1hr 40 mins of that was spent in the line at Immigration. There seemed to be one person on duty who was taking around 10 mins with each person plus there was only one line out of 8 that seemed to be open. This is a major hub with a large number of transit passengers. It would be a shame if we had to make other travel arrangements with airlines that use cities other than Houston as hubs.