Houston POE questions

[Hccaldwe 12]

We finally have visa in hand and will be flying out on Tues. The POE is Houston and we only have a little more than 3hrs to get through customs. I know the visitor line isn't so bad but its the extra waiting room I'm worried about. Its apparently its a bunch of waiting from the reviews and mainly non-immigrant visas. Can it be expedited if you have a connection?

No we can't take a later connection. Its the only plane.

We land in Houston at 4pm.

[p-ana 933]

We finally have visa in hand and will be flying out on Tues. The POE is Houston and we only have a little more than 3hrs to get through customs. I know the visitor line isn't so bad but its the extra waiting room I'm worried about. Its apparently its a bunch of waiting from the reviews and mainly non-immigrant visas. Can it be expedited if you have a connection?

No we can't take a later connection. Its the only plane.

We land in Houston at 4pm.

You can try and let the immigration officers know what's the time for your layover. But it will take as long as they need it to take.

[TBoneTX 45,273]

A lot depends on how many other international arrivals are landing beforehand and simultaneously.

[Hccaldwe 12]

You can try and let the immigration officers know what's the time for your layover. But it will take as long as they need it to take.

That's the problem the process itself takes maybe 10min. Everything else is waiting for something to happen. Hopefully someone that has gone through recently can tell me if anything has changed. I also hoping our plane is full of US citizens.

[Hccaldwe 12]

A lot depends on how many other international arrivals are landing beforehand and simultaneously.

I have been on that too. The busiest time of the airport is 11 to 2-3ish. We are on the tailend which should be good.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

If you booked everything on one itinerary and you miss your connecting flight, the airline should book you on to the next available flight free of charge. I don't know if they'd put you up for the night but they will get you to your destination.

[JFH 12,190]

If you booked everything on one itinerary and you miss your connecting flight, the airline should book you on to the next available flight free of charge. I don't know if they'd put you up for the night but they will get you to your destination.

Yes, they would put you up in a hotel for the night if no available connection at all that day. Often it is cheaper to put the passengers on a flight with another carrier or to an alternative airport nearby (say, within 30 miles and provide a taxi) than to accommodate them overnight. Such a situation (having to accommodate passengers with missed connections through no fault of their own) is called "distress" and is very expensive as you also have to provide food vouchers and transportation from the airport to the hotel and back again. So they will always look at alternative carriers first.

17 years (and counting) working for an airline and I've had to deal with this many times... and it happened to me with United when a medical emergency forced the flight from Europe to land in Canada to get a passenger off which caused me to miss my onward connection to Seattle and ended up overnight in a hotel in New York.

[Hccaldwe 12]

Yes, they would put you up in a hotel for the night if no available connection at all that day. Often it is cheaper to put the passengers on a flight with another carrier or to an alternative airport nearby (say, within 30 miles and provide a taxi) than to accommodate them overnight. Such a situation (having to accommodate passengers with missed connections through no fault of their own) is called "distress" and is very expensive as you also have to provide food vouchers and transportation from the airport to the hotel and back again. So they will always look at alternative carriers first.

17 years (and counting) working for an airline and I've had to deal with this many times... and it happened to me with United when a medical emergency forced the flight from Europe to land in Canada to get a passenger off which caused me to miss my onward connection to Seattle and ended up overnight in a hotel in New York.

I know this. I'm a frequent traveler. I know how it works if we miss it and there is nothing available. The issue is we are losing a day with her family, a rental car day and a resort night. Family she won't see until next year next time. So this is why I'm hoping to not miss the flight. So we lose a lot more if we don't make it.