George Bush Intercontinental Airport

George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH  IATA) is the main international airport of Houston and a major gateway into Texas.

Understand

Until its opening in 1969, William P. Hobby Airport was the main airport of the region, serving quite a bit of intercontinental service. While Intercontinental was meant to replace Hobby, it ended up supplementing it to the point that there was even planes flying between the two as "cross-town shuttles" in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Continental Airlines established a dual hub systen with IAH and Hobby, and United eventually inherited the Intercontinental hub when they mergered. In fact, this airport is United's largest hub and also host's the airline's (and one of the world's) longest flight (Houston - Sydney).

Flights
Note: Due to the lack of TSA Staff from the Federal Government shutdown, the TSA checkpoint at Terminal B has been closed until further notice. This will affect all United Airlines travelers with domestic flights departing out of Terminal B. Please check with United to determine where your flight will depart. If your flight departs at Terminal B, you must go to the United ticket counters and TSA checkpoints at Terminals C or E to check in and hop onto the Skyway tram go to your flight. This does not affect all United Airlines flights departing internationally as well as all other International and Domestic airlines as they depart out of Terminal D for International (except Air Canada and WestJet) and Terminal A for Domestic (including Air Canada and WestJet). As usual, please allow additional time (usually 2 hours) to get to your flight.

There are five terminals at the airport - Terminals A-C for domestic flights, and Terminals D and E for international flights.

United is almost in every terminal, speaking to the size of the hub.

 Terminal A
Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American, Delta, Frontier, Spirit, United (check in at Terminal B), WestJet
 Terminal B
United
 Terminal C
United
 Terminal D
Aeromexico, Air China, Air France, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Avianca, Bahamasair, British Airways, Emirates, EVA Air, Interjet, KLM, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, VivaAerobus, Volaris
 Terminal E
United

There are some interesting fifth-freedom flights here - Singapore Airlines operates a Houston-Manchester-Singapore flight, and Air China operates a Beijing-Houston-Panama City flight.

Customs

All international arrivals except preclearance flights must go through customs. While the building for that is techinally part of Terminal E, in practice it is shared by both international terminals D and E (terminals that are already quite interconnected, sharing a check-in area), which have bridges to the international arrivals processing area.

Ground transportation

The light rail hasn't been extended to the airport yet, so car travel is probably your best option

By car

Take I-69 or I-45 to Beltway 8 or the Will Clayton Parkway, where the airport can be accessed from.

By bus

The METRO (Houston's public transit authority) operates the 102 Bush IAH Express to the south side of terminal C.

EVA Air operates shuttles for its passengers between the Richardson Tapioca House in Dallas Chinatown and the airport, as well as a service to and from Austin (only available for Laurel class passengers).

Get around

There are two train services - the Skyway (post-security) and the Subway (pre-security) They stop at all the terminals (Terminals D and E are combined into one stop) while the Subway makes an extra stop at the airport Mariott.

Wait

Lounges
  • Air China. (updated Aug 2018)
  • Air France. (updated Aug 2018)
  • American Airlines Admirals Club. (updated Aug 2018)
  • British Airways. (updated Aug 2018)
  • American Express Centurion Lounge. (updated Aug 2018)
  • Emirates. (updated Aug 2018)
  • EVA Air. (updated Aug 2018)
  • KLM. (updated Aug 2018)
  • Lufthansa. (updated Aug 2018)
  • Qatar Airways. Opens 4 hours before departure. (updated Aug 2018)
  • United Lounges. (updated Aug 2018)
    • United Club. (updated Aug 2018)
      • Terminal E, between Gates E11 and E12. (updated Aug 2018)
      • Terminal C, South Concourse, toward Gate C33. (updated Aug 2018)
      • Terminal B, South Mezzanine, above the United Express ticket counter. (updated Aug 2018)
      • Terminal A, across from Gate A9. (updated Aug 2018)
      • Terminal C, near Gate C1. 5:30AM-10:30PM. (updated Aug 2018)
    • United Polaris Lounge, Terminal E, between the United Club location and Gate E12. (updated Aug 2018)
  • USO Lounge. (updated Aug 2018)

Eat and drink

Buy

Connect

The airport has free Wi-Fi - connect to "Free Airport WIFI" and agree to the terms to get connected.

Cope

Sleep

There is one hotel at the airport:

  • AIrport Mariott. (updated Aug 2018)

Nearby

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