IAH to HOU Questions
 

Need to transfer from IAH to HOU on Saturday 24 December

International flight from Buenos Aires; arrives at 5:10am. Domestic flight at HOU leaves at 8:40am

Is this enough time to clear customs with Global Entry and make it to Hobby in time for flight?
[Should have TSA precheck]

Taxi vs Uber? Have $65 Uber credit, Taxi estimate is $73.

How long should the drive take at that hour of the morning?

Have you already made the reservations?

Which reservation?
The domestic is on Southwest and is with points; it can be changed.
International is set and can't be changed.

Houston tends to not suck as an international arrival port - way better than Miami and other nonDFW entries from South and Central America. We could have made that 3.5 hour turnaround from LAX to Long Beach if we'd needed to and that was on T'giving weekend. You should be ok but you won't go wrong with a 10am flight from Hobby nor by overestimating the suck level of Houston traffic. I'm not sure you can overestimate the suck level of Houston traffic . . .

It's over 30 miles between airports, so I think you have to assume it might take an hour, even on a Saturday. But it could be faster. To me, that's cutting things a bit close, even with Global Entry. I wouldn't book an international-to-domestic transfer window in NYC between JFK and LGA with less than a 4-hour window (for the sake of my sanity). I would recommend you do the same. I think it's possible to do this transfer but it would make me nervous.

I wouldn't do it myself either; it's my husband that is doing this; it's his choice and he seems quite adamant about it.

Assuming inbound flight arrives on-time, only carry-on luggage and that hubby will already have boarding pass for connecting flight he will use up 30 minutes to deplane, clear Immigration & Customs (using GE) and exit terminal at IAH, 1 hour for ride to Hobby, under 30 minutes to clear TSA and arrive at departure gate for connecting flight. That means he's sitting at the departure gate with 1:30 to spare. Seems doable to me.

Carry on only.

Would your answers change if you knew this was on Southwest?

My only other thouht, would be to book him on a flight later in the morning -- 11 ish -- and then have him try for standby on the 8:40 am flight.

The 8:40 is non-stop 2+ hours; the 11am is twice as long trip, with a stop and plane change in PHX.

<<Would your answers change if you knew this was on Southwest?>>

Southwest is known for efficiency and a lack of suck. Hobby is a small airport - only slightly larger than Albuquerque's. And getting through customs at IAH is NOTHING like getting through them at JFK. Having the second flight on SW makes the connection more feasible, not less.

And yeah, he can hold the 8:40 booking. If he's going to change it, let him change from a good booking on points to a crappy one (the 11 am flight) instead of hoping for the reverse.