Houston Airport - United Airlines
 

Hi.

Am flying with UA from London Heathrow to Managua (Nicaragua) via Houston at the end of April, returning on 26 May.

Booked through to Managua on one ticket, so assume that we won't see our baggage between check-in at Heathrow and the carousel at Managua?

I understand that the flight from London will land in Houston at Terminal E, and that the flight to Managua will depart also from Terminal E.

The time between ETA and ETD in both directions is just over 3 hours.

Have got our ESTA.

As we are arriving and departing from the same Terminal at Houston are we likely to encounter any 'time' delays between entering the Arrivals Terminal and getting airside into the Departure Terminal?

Grateful for any recent experience or insider knowledge.

LL

In the US you must pass through immigration, retrieve your luggage, pass through customs, and then re-check your bags before your onward flight. There's no checking bags all the way through, nor is a transfer any different than any other international arrival. You will still have to hustle, but you should have time to do this, particularly if you are in the same terminal and are traveling on a single ticket, but you'll need to go back through security again as well. It's a cumbersome process to connect on an international flight through the US.

>>There's no checking bags all the way through, <<

Well -- it is checked 'all the way through' in the sense that it is tagged for Managua. But yes, you collect it, then just drop it off as you exit Customs. No need to check it again. But it is a PITA

If I were you I would avoid transferring in the US. Total pain. Immigration takes forever, long lines at customs, hassle at security, good chance that you will miss your connection. I live in Houston so speak from experience. Find another route.

There are airports in the US where one will not see luggage when doing Intl-Intl transit. DFW and MIA for sure, but IAH has it too. Double check with check in agent and your bag should have a TRANSIT tag on it.

Thanks.
A nice mixture of advice. Looks like the Trip Advisor Air Forum might be my next stop.

...or UA.

My first stop was the UA website. You'd have thought that somewhere on that website, FAQs for example, there'd be the information that'd answered my questions. Sadly there isn't.

We'll be walking the walk soon, and alert to the fact that Houston (IAH) might be a little testing. I'll tie the thread up with how we got on.

Automatic transfer of baggage for int'l to int'l is new in the US (except for AA at MIA), only at handful of airports, and may not happen all the time. Which is why you won't see the information on airlines' websites.

And weird things can happen too. During our transit for GRU-DFW-HKG last Sept, while all four of our bags were tagged with the TRANSIT at DFW, two of them mistakenly showed up at the carousel before customs. Luckily we spotted them and brought them though customs and rechecked, or else they will likely go missing (again as one of our bags was delayed for two weeks outbound).

Anyways, unless the alternatives are much worse or much more expensive, avoid transiting the US.

Thanks for the reply rkkwan. Looking a bit further into what's what I've come across this link...

http://www.cbp.gov/travel/internatio...al-airport-iah

...and hopefully this part of the text is up-to-date, and still adhered to...

"Streamlining baggage processing: In collaboration with United Airlines, CBP has implemented an International to International (ITI) program for all baggage arriving foreign and departing foreign; passengers that arrive foreign and are departing foreign are not required to retrieve their checked baggage."

Further to my post above, this is quite interesting to [though it does veer off here and there]...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/pract...rough-iah.html

Flew yesterday from LHR to Managua via Houston.

Luggage was checked all the way through to Managua, and we DIDN't have to retrieve our bags at Houston.

On arrival at Houston we followed the One-Stop signs, and got through Immigration quickly and straight in to airside Departures.

I'm glad it went smoothly. Thanks for reporting back.

Kathie. Smooth, but only just.

We had 3.5 hours scheduled layover, but our UA flight from Heathrow to Houston was 2.5 hours adrift setting off from Heathrow. So any delays with Immig on arrival at Houston and we'd have missed our UA connection to Managua.

All in the past now. Currently enjoying being hosted by a fantastic USA/Nicaraguan family on a lovely fruit farm on the outskirts of Managua. Almost dusk and waiting for bats to appear.

Moving on by chicken bus to Leon in the morning.

Flew back from Managua to Heathrow via Houston on Friday.

Luggage booked straight through from Managua to Heathrow.

Took about 45 minutes to clear the ESTA machine and then Immigration via One-stop.

Piece of cake!

Glad to hear the updates, at least with United Airlines no more retrieving luggage!