If you’ve got a short layover coming up in Houston soon, don’t worry. 1 hour is plenty of time. In my personal experience:
- A 45 minute layover is all that’s really needed when making domestic to domestic connections at IAH.
- I would want 55 minutes to make a domestic to international connection.
- 2 hours is the minimum amount of time needed to make an international to domestic connection without stressing yourself out.
Don’t believe a word of what your brother‘s best friend‘s sister said about how horrible this airport is for making connections. She’s a liar. In my opinion, it’s one of the better ones.
Table of Contents
The reason why a 1 hour layover is enough time in Houston (usually)
Despite being one of the largest (and busiest) airports in the entire United States, the Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport is a lot more efficient as it may seem.
Sub 1 hour layovers are possible thanks to the Skyway connection train that connects all terminals. It is by far the fastest way to move from terminal to terminal at IAH. This same sort of above ground train is what makes DFW minimum connection times so short, so…maybe the Texans are on to something?
Using the Skyway, you won’t have to pass through additional security checkpoints to move from one terminal to the next. Just hop on, enjoy the view, and you’ll be at the other end of the airport before you know it.
Reasons why a 1 hour layover might not be enough time
Despite how quickly the Skyway makes moving from one terminal to the next, you’ll need more time if any of the following occur:
- Your arrival and departure gates are located at the far end of each terminal (which will require a lot more walking). I wouldn’t worry too much about this though. It’ll only be an issue if you’re a slow walker.
- You’re traveling with a group. Anyone who has done this knows that there will inevitably be one or two people in the group who desperately need to use the bathroom (#2) and eat along the way.
- The Skyway is out of service. This is extremely rare, but it can happen (and it’s a mother****** when it does).
As you’ll see below, there are five terminals at IAH, consisting of three separate buildings. If you don’t use the Skyway, the only way to move from one to the next is to take a shuttle bus (or walk). You’ll then have to stand in line for the security checkpoint to enter the other terminal. If things are busy, I could take a while.
What is the minimum layover for domestic flights in Houston?
I am of the opinion that 45 minutes is the minimum layover time you’ll need in Houston for going from one domestic flight to another. This even includes scenarios where you’re switching airlines (assuming that you checked in online and already have a boarding pass).
What is the minimum layover for international flights in Houston?
The Houston Airport (IAH) was designed from the ground up to handle a large number of international flights on a daily basis. Therefore, it’s fairly quick and easy way to get to or from a domestic flight.
Connecting TO an international flight
Since all terminals are accessible behind any security checkpoint via the Skyway, it won’t take long to reach the departure gate for your international flight.
The FAA requires boarding international flights earlier than domestic flights, so the minimum layover time for a domestic to international connection at IAH is 55 minutes. You could probably do it less time than that, but based on my own personal experience, I feel that’s safe.
Connecting FROM an international flight
Connecting from an international flight to a domestic flight in Houston is going to be a lot easier if your layover is 2 hours or longer. Remember – you’re going to have to go through passport control and customs once you arrive.
If you have bags to check, you’ll have to retrieve them from the baggage carousel before going through customs, and then recheck them for your onward connection. All of this takes time, and since IAH is always busy, the more time the better.
A brief overview of the terminal layout at the Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Looking at the terminal map of the Houston Airport (below), it would seem to be very complex layout. There are five separate terminals (A, B, C, D, and E) , broken up into three separate buildings.
Thankfully, the above ground Skyway train makes moving from terminal to terminal at IAH a breeze. Without it, minimum layover times would be at least double what they are now.
Walking time between all terminals at IAH
The only sane way to walk between all terminals at IAH is to use the inter-terminal train. You can certainly walk outside from one terminal to the next, but it’s a horrifically massive waste of time. It’s also a guaranteed way to show up sweating like a pig for your next flight.
Therefore, all of the time estimates below for moving from one terminal to the next at the Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport involves using the train:
Terminal A to:
- Terminal B: 5 minutes
- Terminal C: 10 minutes
- Terminal D: 13 minutes
- Terminal E: 13 minutes
Terminal B to:
- Terminal A: 5 minutes
- Terminal C: 5 minutes
- Terminal D: 8 minutes
- Terminal E: 8 minutes
Terminal C to:
- Terminal A: 10 minutes
- Terminal B: 5 minutes
- Terminal D: 3 minutes (you can walk, bit it takes longer)
- Terminal E: 3 minutes (you can walk, bit it takes longer)
Terminal D to:
- Terminal A: 13 minutes
- Terminal B: 8 minutes
- Terminal C: 3 minutes (you can walk, bit it takes longer)
- Terminal E: 3 minutes (you can walk, bit it takes longer)
Terminal E to:
- Terminal A: 13 minutes
- Terminal B: 8 minutes
- Terminal C: 3 minutes (you can walk, bit it takes longer)
- Terminal D: 3 minutes (you can walk, bit it takes longer)
As always, it’s safe to add a little extra time to these time estimates if you’re a slow mover or you’re traveling with someone who needs a little extra motivation.
How long of a layover do you need in Houston for a no-stress connection?
Since IAH can seem overwhelming if you’re not used to (or comfortable with) large airports, I would advise you to plan for a longer layover if possible. Here’s what I recommend for each scenario:
Domestic to domestic flights
If 45 minutes is the minimum layover for domestic to domestic flights in Houston, I would recommend an hour and a half if you don’t want to have any stress about making your connection. This will give you enough time to grab a bite to eat and do a little people or plane spotting before boarding your next flight.
Domestic to international flights
55 minutes was the minimum amount of time that I recommended for making a domestic to international connection in Houston, so I would recommend two hours to make it seem less stressful.
This will give you all the time that you need to walk around and stretch out, as well as eating a more substantial meal. Because we all know that unless you’re flying business class, the food they serve on airplanes these days is downright lousy.
International to domestic flights
If you want no stress at all when it comes to making an international to domestic connection in Houston, try for a minimum layover of three hours. You’re more than likely not going to need that much time, but this will give you extra padding if you experience delays going through passport control and customs. Delays happen sometimes, so it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.
Useful tips for making a 1 hour layover at Houston
For the most part, sub 1 hour layovers in Houston will be extremely easy. Especially if you’re flying the same airline. You will most likely not experience any issues, but if that doesn’t stop you from reaching for the antacid, here are a few tips to help get you through it:
- First and foremost, don’t worry! Thousands of people have layovers of one hour or less at the Houston Airport every day. It’s completely normal, and very common. The airlines wouldn’t allow it if it never worked out.
- Look for signs to the Skyway as soon as you get off your flight. The stations are located on the third floor of every terminal, and if you’re paying attention, chances are good that you won’t have to walk very far to find one.
- The Houston Airport can be a very busy place in certain times of the day. I’ve always found that the quickest way to walk through it is to stay along the walls.
- If you’re feeling hungry, wait until you get near your connecting gate before getting something to eat. There are a wide variety of good restaurants in every terminal, so you won’t be missing out on anything by rushing to your gate.
Martin
Hey!
I will arrive in Houston airport on an international flight from Frankfurt. I have a connecting flight to Guatemala City.
The layover between these flights is 1 hour.
I will not be entering the US at any time. Coming from Germany and going to Guatemala.
Will I be more or less OK in terms of reaching my gate?
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Martin – 1 hour to make an international to international connection at IAH will be tight. You will have to pass through US passport control and customs upon arrival in Houston, which will take some time. A 1 hour connection isn’t impossible though, so study the terminal maps before you go and be ready to move fast once you land. Getting a seat towards the front of the plane on your FRA-IAH segment will also help, since you won’t have to wait for everyone else to deplane first. Good luck!
mert
Hey, thanks for this article. We will be arriving from London Heathrow and and have a short layover of 2hours 14 minutes for our connecting flight to Cancun. All via united airlines. Reading your article I like to think we should be fine, do you agree? Worth mentioned we dont have checked luggage.
Scott (SANspotter)
Hey Mert – yeah, 2:14 will be more than enough time (especially since you won’t have any checked luggage). It’ll take a bit of time to get through passport control, but your layover will be long enough to not have to worry about it. Enjoy Cancun!
Maddy
Hi Scott, thanks for this article. I’m flying from London to Houston before flying on to Costa Rica. I have a 1hr 45min layover. Landing at Terminal E and taking off from C. Do you think that should be manageable?
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Maddy! Yeah, I think that should be enough. You will have to through the full US customs and immigration process, but as long as you keep moving you shouldn’t have any issues. It’s a fairly easy airport to transit in my opinion. Have a good trip!
Ruth
Hi Mandy doing same in July how did it go and any tips?
Alex
Is a 2 hour layover enough on a Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) with an international arrival and then onto New York (with luggage) on United?
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Alex – yes, I don’t see how that would be an issue. You won’t have a lot of time to spare, but it’s certainly a doable connection (even with checked luggage).
JT
Hey Scott, booking a set of flights :
Sea-Tac->Harry Reid (1hr 36min layover)
Harry Reid->IAH terminal C (1hr 20min layover )
IAH terminal E->GIG
Do you believe getting from C-E in Houston, with only a carry on and additional small bag is plausible?
Thanks,
JT
Scott (SANspotter)
Hey JT – yeah, that’ll be easy! You can either walk or take the inter-terminal train from C to E. You’ll have more than enough time to walk (and stop for a bite to eat along the way) IMHO. Have a great trip!
Raghav
Hey, thanks for this article.
I have a flight from Dallas to houston( united airline -terminal c) ___ than 53 mins layover ____ than houston to frankfurt (Lufthansa- terminal D)
Q 1. Do you think 53 mins is enough from terminal c to d?
Q2 i don’t have to do security again right?
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Raghav! You are correct – you will not have to go through security again to move from concourse C to D. You can freely move between them (via the train or by walking) and it won’t take long. 53 minutes will be easy. Have a good trip!
Raghav
Thanks Scott.
I just got off the phone with Lufthansa and they said i need to pick up my bags again ( from united) at houston and re check in them to Lufthansa.
With this i am not sure if 53 mins are enough than, since i have to be in checkin line again in houston for Lufthansa. Wanted to check with you based on your experience?
Scott (SANspotter)
If you purchased the entire itinerary (Dallas > Houston > Frankfurt) as one ticket, then you will not have to retrieve your luggage in Houston. United and Lufthansa are partner airlines, and your luggage will automatically transfer.
However, if your Dallas-Houston and Houston-Frankfurt tickets were purchased separately, then yes – you will have to retrieve and re-check your luggage in Houston (and 53 minutes will likely not be enough time).
Jennifer
We will be traveling back to the states from Calgary in August on WestJet terminal A. We will only have carryon luggage. Do you think it’s possible to get to terminal E to catch a UA flight in 70 minutes to MS? It’s the LAST flight to get us home and it’s not a connection so I guess we have to go through customs? PLEASE tell me this might work! 🙂 Trying not to spend the night at the airport!!
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Jennifer! Good news: you won’t have to spend the night at the airport. 🙂 70 minutes is going to be really easy, since you’ll actually go through US customs and immigration prior to leaving Calgary. That means that your flight will arrive into Houston as any domestic US flight would, and it’ll just be a matter of taking the inter-terminal train over to Terminal E. You won’t even have to go through any security checkpoints. Have a good trip!
Paige
Hi I am flying from Orlando to Brisbane (Australia) with Air New Zealand the whole way. I will fly domestically from Orlando to Houston and have one hour and 5 minutes to make my connecting international flight to Auckland (New Zealand). Will this be enough time and how do you know the terminals you will have before booking? Also do they move my luggage for me from my domestic to internation plane or do I have to collect and recheck in?
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Paige! 1:05 will be plenty of time to make that connection in Houston. I assume that you’re flying United from MCO to IAH, so in that case, yes – your bags will transfer automatically.
The nice thing about the Houston airport is that you can move between all terminals without going through any security checkpoints by using the inter-terminal train. It doesn’t take long to get from one end of the airport to the other that way, so you’ll be fine. Have a good trip!
Nancy Holmes
We are flying United from SFO to Houston, arrive at 10:44 am. At 11:55 am, flying United to Liberia Costa Rica. There are 6 of us, two 70 year old’s, a 6 and 10 year old and their parents. Will we make our Costa Rica flight with an hour layover? Thank you.
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Nancy! You won’t have any issues IMHO. United uses terminal C, D, and E at IAH, and it doesn’t take long to walk between all of them. There will be no security checks along the way.
Coach
Hi, we have a flight to IAH in a couple weeks connecting to go on to MZT. We arrive at 8:46, and depart to MZT at 10:03. According to what I see online the on-time performance is not great for the first leg, and the average arrival time is about 12 minutes late. This leaves us roughly an hour from arrival to departure on an International flight. All this is on United Airlines. I’m assuming we will fly out of a different terminal. We’ll have no checked bags, only carry-ons. We are also flying First Class if that matters (guess we’ll get off the plane faster upon arrival. Do you think this is enough time realistically? It appears there is only one flight to MZT per day and we are concerned we’ll lose a day of vacation due to the short connection. Thanks!
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Coach! You’ll make it for sure (even if your inbound flight is a little late). Going from a domestic to international flight is super easy (and fast) at IAH when flying United. Yes, you might have to change terminals, but it’ll take 10 minutes tops to walk from the far end of the United gates to the other. There will be no security checks to go through, so all you’ll have to do is walk from one plane to the next. Have great trip!
James
Hi – great read – thanks – can you park at terminal A-B parking garage, go thru security at terminal B, then leg it to terminal C? Every time I enter at terminal C, the line for security is out the door. I am looking for ways to minimize this pain. I will be carry on only. If I am flying (to Newark) – do I have to enter at C???Thanks
Scott (SANspotter)
Hey James – yeah, it doesn’t matter where you enter. All terminals are accessible behind any of the security checkpoints, so picking the one with the shortest line is the right move.
Eric
Hi, thanks for the article. I will be flying to Japan via a connecting flight arriving from Toronto at IAH. My United flight from Toronto to Houston arrives at 8:45am at Terminal C and my United flight for Narita leaves at 10:20am from Terminal E. Is that enough time to connect between the two flights? This is my first time doing a connecting flight, so a bit worried. Also, would I need to go through passport control at IAH before going to terminal E? Thanks for the help in advance.
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Eric! That’ll be plenty of time. You can walk between Terminal C and E without having to go through any security (or passport) checkpoints, so it shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to get from one gate to the next.
Have a good time in Japan!
Birgitta
Hi. We are travelling from Auckland NZ via Houston to Orlando, with a really tight change of terminal and airline in Houston. Arriving with Air NZ at terminal D at 16.25, and then connecting on to a United flight in terminal C at 18.09. I think the connecting bag drop deadline is 16.54, which literally gives us half an hour to get through Customs & drop the bag off for our next flight. Plus changing terminals! Do you reckon we can make it? Beezy in NZ
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Birgitta – it’s definitely possible, but you’re going to need every part of the process to go smoothly (without any issues).
The good news is that there a lot of flights every day between Houston and Orlando, so it won’t be the end of the world if you miss your original connection. If that happens, you’ll automatically be rebooked on another flight. You can keep tabs on that automated rebooking via either the Air New Zealand or United app.
The best thing to do is hope for the best but plan for the worst. You’ll probably make it…but be prepared for hiccups along the way. Good luck!
Lee
Looking for some feedback and assurance. We have a flight back from Cancun, Mexico to Toronto, Canada, with a 1.5 layover at IAH. My understanding is, we would need to clear customs/immigration at IAH, but won’t need to pick up our checked baggage since it’s a complete UA ticket. Thanks in advance!
Scott (SANspotter)
Hi Lee – you’re 50% correct. Yes, you will need to go through customs and immigration upon arrival at IAH. However, you will need to retrieve your luggage before going through customs.
An hour and a half will be tight. You’ll very likely make your connection, but you’re going to have to hustle!
Warren
One memorably unpleasant international-to-domestic transfer was at IAH. I left myself a very comfortable 3.5 hours, I had no checked bags to wait on, and my arriving flight was right on time. However immigration and security took 3 hours and 5 minutes, so it was a stressful jog to the departure gate. I did — barely — make the flight, and to be fair that’s the longest international-to-domestic transfer I’ve had at IAH or anywhere. But now you know why I allow 4 hours at IAH.
And thank you Scott for this and all the articles in your layover time series. Keep ’em coming!
Scott (SANspotter)
That had to suck! Yes, I’ve had a few comfortably long layovers turn into total stress fests due to long lines at customs and immigration. It can happen anywhere / anytime unfortunately.
Glad you’re enjoying the series Warren!
Remi
Hey Scott, thank you for the article.
I have 2 questions.
1. I will travel from San Jose, Costa Rica to Toronto Canada. I will have a 1 hour and 40 minute lay over in IAH. Will this be enough?
2. I bought the full ticket with Air Canada. Will my luggage go directly to Toronto or wil I have to re check them?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Scott (SANspotter)
You’re very welcome Remi! An hour and 40 minutes is going to be a little tight, but you’ll most likely be fine as long as you hustle. Note that you will have to retrieve your luggage before going through customs (it’s a requirement for everyone entering the US – even those making international connections).
Worst case scenario, you’ll be okay if you miss your flight. There are a lot of ways to get between Houston and Toronto on any given day, and you’ll automatically be rebooked. Good luck!