HOUSTON – Having two major airports in Houston is both a blessing and a curse for some travelers.
When booking a flight out of Houston, you have two options: George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) or William P. Hobby Airport (HOU).
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While most of us double-check which airport we’re flying out of when we call an Uber or load up the car, some slip through the cracks only to find out they need to somehow get across H-Town before their flight takes off without them.
“One of the best travel tips I can give you in a city like Houston is that before you even leave your home, your hotel or wherever you are to depart for the airport, understand and know to which airport you’re supposed to go,” said TSA Spokesperson Patricia Mancha. “That’s the very first step if you’re in Houston, know which airport you’re supposed to be traveling from, know which airline you’re supposed to be traveling from as well.”
Every day, people show up at Houston’s airports realizing they were supposed to be at the other airport.
Yes, every single day.
“We get every day, at least one passenger comes to our checkpoint and realizes that they, in fact, were not supposed to go to Houston Hobby, but Houston George Bush Intercontinental and vice versa,” Mancha said.
It’s not like the airports are right next door to one another, either.
The quickest route has 30 miles of pavement between the two airports. In rush hour traffic, that can mean more than an hour of driving just to get from airport to airport.
With more people traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, that means TSA agents will encounter even more people showing up to the wrong airport.
“I could say possibly about a dozen during the holidays, that number increases,” Mancha said.
The number one thing you can do to make sure you’re going to the right airport is look at the three-letter airport code.
- IAH = George Bush Intercontinental Airport
- HOU = William P. Hobby Airport
When in doubt, you can always call your airline to triple-check!
