POE Houston Spanish OK? how long?

[Jacob707 6]

Hi anyone know If its ok if my fiance speaks basically no english (spanish only), and shell be entering in houston alone?....i had her ticket booked with mine but the third party booking agency just canceled her tickets on me , and of course there are no more tickets available on the same flight i will be on ......also, how long it takes to pass customs/immigration?........ My fiancee is flying into houston with a 1 hr 45min layover.... is this enough time? I know from past experience, in Houston in particular it can take almost that long without the extra poe wait....

[Jacob707 6]

to clarify , i booked my flight months ago directly with the airline, then recently after she got her visa, i booked hers on the same flight as my return but through a third party book agency despegar.com, and a few days ago they cancelled her ticket..

[NY_BX 397]

Hi anyone know If its ok if my fiance speaks basically no english (spanish only), and shell be entering in houston alone?....i had her ticket booked with mine but the third party booking agency just canceled her tickets on me , and of course there are no more tickets available on the same flight i will be on ......also, how long it takes to pass customs/immigration?........ My fiancee is flying into houston with a 1 hr 45min layover.... is this enough time? I know from past experience, in Houston in particular it can take almost that long without the extra poe wait....

IAH is an enormous airport. Is that her final destination? If she is clearing immigration/ customs at Houston to then go to another city, 1:45 is not enough. She will miss her flight. Plus, in order for you to be covered you must book layovers of a minimum of 2 hours. So book it 2:30 hours at a minimum. Spanish is ok, she'll be helped by a bilingual officer.

[Jacob707 6]

Yeah thats the time frame i was thinking......shes prepared to have to catch the next flight they can get her on, i just went through the same thing a couple months ago .....its a pain but at least the airlines get you on your way quickly

[NY_BX 397]

Yeah thats the time frame i was thinking......shes prepared to have to catch the next flight they can get her on, i just went through the same thing a couple months ago .....its a pain but at least the airlines get you on your way quickly

But like I said, you must book 2 hours or more between flights. If not, is at their discretion to rebook you on another flight. If they do is simply because they have enough seats available to do that. Imagine if they don't....

[Jacob707 6]

But like I said, you must book 2 hours or more between flights. If not, is at their discretion to rebook you on another flight. If they do is simply because they have enough seats available to do that. Imagine if they don't....

Her flight is with United, 2 months ago i had a similar issue with united where the flight connection in houston was only 45 minutes and i had to go through customs, and i told the united salesman theres no way i would make the flight, he simply said go to the counter after customs they would het me on the next one...... Long story short i got into a bit of an argument with an officer in the secondary security after id waited over an hour for no good reason, so i waited ( detained) 3 more hours , after all that i just went to the counter and said it took awhile in customs and just like the salesman said they put me on the next one no questions asked......

[jaycali 415]

In Houston, finding a Spanish speaking officer should not be a problem.

[himher 634]

We waited in Houston over 2 hours waiting for the visa processing. They are VERY slow

[N M 96]

My POE was almost three years ago, (so things may have changed) but I had a 4 hour layover in Houston and was glad I did. Just getting from the plane to the immigration desk took about an hour (most of that was waiting in line in the immigration hall). Then I spent another 50 minutes or so in the back room waiting to be processed. Then I had to go through customs, go back through security, find my way to the departure gate etc.

For anyone using Houston as a POE, I'd recommend a 3 hour minimum layover.

[Jacob707 6]

Update..... Everything went great she did miss her booked flight but then caught one right after that....... Noone spoke spanish, but it was ok.......thanks

[TBoneTX 45,324]

Update..... Everything went great she did miss her booked flight but then caught one right after that....... Noone spoke spanish, but it was ok.......thanks

Congratulations, si man! However, it's curious that "no one" spoke Spanish. My experience has sometimes been that it's difficult to find an agent who doesn't speak English with a strong Hispanic-country-of-origin accent.

[himher 634]

No kiddin'. As I recall even many of the PA system announcements are english/spanish

Congratulations, si man! However, it's curious that "no one" spoke Spanish. My experience has sometimes been that it's difficult to find an agent who doesn't speak English with a strong Hispanic-country-of-origin accent.

[amyandjorge 76]

I remember being surprised by that in Houston, a lot less Spanish speaking staff than you would think (at least airport staff, not necessarily vendors, janitors, etc). Especially since it is intercontinental.

[EminTX 131]

I just came across this thread. I know it is old, but for anyone else who might be concerned.

In my signature (down below) is a link where you can find the statistics on airport processing times by hour, month, season, or whatever for various POE's.

As far as translation, my then-fiance was talked to in really, REALLY bad Spanish. When Carlos couldn't understand him, this was the sarcastic response: "No pwe-dess hahblahhrr esspanyole???" Carlos responded (in Spanish) with, "Yes, I can, but, you can't." It was very frustrating. It is probably a good idea to practice some basic airport-English before heading over here.

As large of a percentage of natural Spanish-speakers as we have here, not enough are working in higher level professional jobs that lack of translation assistance is a very common problem. I work in a hospital and use my dance-around-the-vocabulary to translate all the time.

[rade2rising 205]

gr8 info on airports time

tfs