Flight Cancellations at Houston Airports Complicate Rush Leading Into Long July 4 Holiday Weekend
Jun. 30—Alistair Bremmer, 23, showed up at Bush Intercontinental Airport ready to spend more time slogging along, but instead — relatively-speaking — she flew through.
"We were flying out from 9 a.m. last time," she said, as she prepared for a Friday evening flight back to North Beach, S.C. "It took an hour and thirty minutes just to get to the front and then another 30 minutes to get our bags checked and go through security."
On Friday, despite a chaotic week leading into the busiest travel period of the July 4 holiday, most travelers hustled rather than having to make other plans. Still, airlines and other officials urged fliers to plan ahead so their trips do not fizzle out.
Friday is expected to be the top travel day for the holiday, according to Bush Airport officials, with an estimated 155,000 people packing into the terminals. More than 46,000 people are expected to fly through Hobby Airport. Combined, an analysis provided by the airport predicted travel for the six-day holiday period, starting Thursday, will be 13 percent greater than 2022 demand and 5 percent larger than 2019, prior to the COVID pandemic.
"Texans are booking bucket list trips in record numbers," said AAA Texas General Manager Galen Grillo, in a summary of travel expectations sent last week.
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Complications from weather and airline staffing, however, have many of those trips off to a bumpy start. By 1 p.m. Friday, airlines — mostly United Airlines — had canceled 47 flights at Bush, according to FlightAware. Hobby had only two cancellations.
The terminal woes started Tuesday, when 138 flights were canceled at Bush Airport, with all but 18 canceled by United, which is the largest user of the airport. Complications sent many stranded fliers to social media to release steam.
In some cases, delays happened on the front end of trips, leaving people in Houston waiting on connecting flights. Coming via United from Cincinnati on Friday, Harri Sinjah, 30, said he sat on the tarmac on the way.
"The pilot didn't show for a while so we had to wait in the plane," Sinjah said.
In a statement, United officials remained optimistic the situations were being corrected.
"We are ready for the busy holiday travel weekend," the company's representatives said in an email. "Our reliability continues to improve, with far fewer cancellations today compared to previous days. Storms in Denver, Chicago and the East Coast will continue to be a challenge, but most of today's cancellations were made in advance to give customers time to adjust."
Merely getting into Houston's busiest airport, meanwhile, was complicated by tight parking. At points over the past few days, Bush Airport's main garages have been at capacity, and long lines are inevitable to and from dropoffs and pickups as the airports undergoes $1.3 billion in terminal upgrades.
Outside the airport, officials expect highway travel to increase Friday but peak Saturday when many people head out for long weekends, returning late Tuesday and Wednesday. AAA predicts 3.2 million Texans will drive 50 or more miles from home for the July 4 holiday.
No matter the method of travel, people traveling to and from Houston faced slow-going and hot times. Neither, however, seemed to faze Eduardo Mendoza, 24, flying in from Monterrey, Mexico. His flight was delayed three hours, but apart from that he "no issues."
"In Monterrey, it's hotter, so I was not surprised by this heat wave," Mendoza said. "Over there its 110 degrees. Compared to that, it's cold here."
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