Trasnferring Internationally at IAH
I arrived in on a connecting flight from Monterrey, Mexico, you can view that review here: https://flight-report.com/en/report/71873/united-express-yv6245-monterrey-mty-houston-iah/
Because Houston was my first point of entry into the United States, I had to clear customs and re-clear security before catching my connecting flight.
Right now, IAH is going through major construction. At the time of this report, the only terminal that United allows you to check in from is Terminal C, so things can be quite busy at IAH.
I arrived in at Terminal E, which is where customs is located. I could’ve re-cleared security just after the Customs checkpoint at E, but they do not have pre-check. And since I travel with two laptops and an iPad for work, I definitely didn’t want to have to go through security, taking all of my items out.
You can go to Terminal C and use Precheck there. I took the underground subway to Terminal C and went through Precheck there. Again, IAH Terminal C is amazing madhouse right now with all of the congestion. So, plan ahead.
Boarding, Cabin, and Seat:
It took about 20 minutes for me to clear security and I headed to my gate which was back in Terminal E. I arrived at the gate, gate E10, at 8:45, about 10 minutes before the scheduled board time of 8:55. Though, when I arrived at the gates, they made an announcement that we were waiting on the pilots to come in, and that we would likely not board until 9:15.
I could’ve headed to the United Club at E, but honestly, by the time I got there and found a seat, It would’ve been time for me to go back to the gate, so I decided against it.
While I was waiting- a woman approached the gate agents and I ordinarily don’t eavesdrop on conversations but this one went something like this:
Her: “I lost my passport.”
The gate agent: “You lost your passport?”
Her: “Yes, I cannot find my passport.”
The gate agent: “Did you go through security here or come in off of a connecting flight?”
Her: “Yes I started here.”
The gate agent: “I really think you should go back to the security checkpoint that you came from, and see if you can find it because we cannot let you board without a passport.”
Her: “No.”
The gate agent: “I’m sorry?”
Her: “You can still let me on the flight.”
The agent: “No ma’am, we cannot let you board the flight unless you have your passport.”
Her: “Okay, so what happens if I can’t find my passport?”
The agent: “We would have to remove you from the flight and rebook you, Assuming we can find your passport before the next flight. Did you check a bag?” (meanwhile, he’s calling the security checkpoints and lost and found to see if they have it)
Her: “Yes”
The agent: “Okay, can I have your boarding pass and your bag tag?”
Her: “I don’t have those either.”
The agent: “Ma’am, please retrace every single step you took to find your passport and your travel documents. It is very important”
Her: “I just don’t understand why you can’t put me on the flight.”
It kind of went on from there…. Eventually someone on the gate area found her passport and brought it to her.
Boarding began at 9:17, beginning with pre boarding. I pre boarded with about 20 other 1Ks.
The economy plus cabin on United’s 737 MAX 8 is arranged in a 3-3 configuration.
I found my seat, 10F, window seat on the right side of the aircraft, located three rows back. I noticed something- there is no row 9. It goes 7, 8, 10. So originally I was counting rows and I sat in 12. Then the IFE screens came on and it said “11F” and I moved up. Anyone know why row 9 is missing?
The seat features 33 inches of pitch, 3 inches of recline, and 17.8 inches of width. The seat also has two windows, an individual air vent and reading light.
The second window offered great views of the wing and engine.
The 737 MAX 8s are all equipped with United’s latest iFE screens which have lots of in flight entertainment options so you won’t get bored! They also have Bluetooth connectivity, but I prefer not to use it, and just plug in.
Departure:
At 9:56, the captain came on to let us know that we would have a flight of of 3 hours and 18 minutes and we’d have some turbulence off and on throughout the flight.
At 9:59, about 25 minutes past our scheduled departure time, the safety video started.
We pushed back at 10:10, 35 minutes past our originally scheduled departure time.
At 10:29, we lined up on runway 15L.
At 10:36, we reached 10,000 feet, meaning we were well on our way to San Jose.
Cruise
We encountered some rough air on the climb out and for the first portion of our cruise, so the flight attendants couldn’t begin their in flight service for a bit.
At 12:15, the captain came on to announce that he was turning off the fasten seat belt sign.
The flight attendants immediately jumped into the aisle to start their service.
As a 1K member, I receive a free snack box and alcoholic drink in economy. I wanted the tapas box, but they hadn’t catered those. So I went with the takeoff box and a gin and tonic.
At 12:50, the seatbelt sign came back on and we hit some more turbulence.
Descent and Arrival
At 1:15, the captain came on to announce that he’d be turning off the fasten seatbelt sign for the next 5 minutes before we began our descent.
And sure enough, at 1:22, the captain came back on to tell us to return to our seats and prepare for landing.
On our final approach, we got some great views!
We touched down on runway 07 at 1:46 pm.
We had a literal 30 second taxi to the gate and parked at gate A4 at 1:47.
