SmellyHoustonian Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 There is not a lot of business travel between Houston and India. There are a lot of Indians in Houston who travel to India though, but when they fly to visit home, it's a personal trip so usually a cheapest fare Kayak or travel agent ticket is bought rather than full fare business class tickets that United likes to count on for its routes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Part of me is curious what you mean Slick, and the other half is preparing for the worse.I'm Indian and I've done a fair bit of research on India bound flights and business class. The representation is poor and it hampers a lot of flights into becoming defunct or starting from the first place.There is not a lot of business travel between Houston and India. There are a lot of Indians in Houston who travel to India though, but when they fly to visit home, it's a personal trip so usually a cheapest fare Kayak or travel agent ticket is bought rather than full fare business class tickets that United likes to count on for its routesOr a last minute upgrade that Turkish sells and Qatar and emirates occasionally offer as well. Etihad and air India also offer these from other cities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontexasjack Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Any chance we see IAH-VVI (Santa Cruz) when UA transitions their 757's off Trans-Atlantic routes? It should be within the plane's capabilities. I just don't know if the gas industry has the demand to drive the route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 (edited) EVA's Hello Kitty 777's are being promoted... Edited May 13, 2015 by Nate99 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 (edited) Does anyone know if IAH is still trying to evolve to a point where they have a series of parallel, disconnected terminals with underground transport like at Hartsfield? Based on this 2035 plan, it doesn't really seem as if they are headed in that direction. Unless they want to have about 8 or 9 terminals and not get there until 2050. Seems like you would make the eastern prong of the new Terminal D line up with one of the Terminal E prongs. Edited July 11, 2015 by H-Town Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asubrt Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I don't think they're planning on doing that anymore. I read somewhere that they abandoned that plan but I can't remember where I saw it so I can't provide a source unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 (edited) Yeah, that plan for a series of parallel disconnected concourses and central terminal building was from the old master plan. They've been working on a new master plan. I presume the "Terminal Plans Beyond 2035" is from the new Master Plan. Edited August 1, 2017 by Houston19514 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Yeah I don't know what happened to the old master plan either. The originally had a unified look, and probably would have had a unified aesthetic. They were pretty much going off the Heathrow model in London. It would have been an enormous undertaking, but would have given us a true 21st century airport and excellent gateway for the city, but it seems like others have said they simply scrapped it. The current model seems to defer organization and look to the various airlines that control each terminal (are we really surprised by this? This city never takes control of any design process). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Yes 19514, that's where I found the image. It's seems inefficient to have all these separate terminals, especially if you want each one to give a grand impression to visitors. Then again, it's also inefficient to build terminals according to one configuration and then later to partially demolish and alter them to a different configuration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Yes 19514, that's where I found the image. It's seems inefficient to have all these separate terminals, especially if you want each one to give a grand impression to visitors. Then again, it's also inefficient to build terminals according to one configuration and then later to partially demolish and alter them to a different configuration. The latter is literally what London Heathrow did. They were using the model we had where it was just building new terminals as you go along, but the traffic it was getting was so enormous that it couldn't sustain itself under that model and was forced to go to a grand master plan. Its very efficient because if you need another terminal you just building another one next to it. Its uniform and you then don't have to pay for extra design services. I wouldn't be bothered by the current model we have if it was just master planned and each new design tied into the other. Not to mention the design were a little more daring in nature. But then again thats just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I should clarify - when I said "all these separate terminals," I meant each terminal as a self-contained whole like we have now, as opposed to all feeding off of one. I understand the efficiency of the parallel/underground configuration. But the amount of demolition we would have to do to get there is much more than at Heathrow, since they built theirs mostly on vacant area out to the side, while we have that whole central infrastructure we'd have to chop out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I agree with what your are saying. I'm saying its a sacrifice that would be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 You would think they'd at least line up the north and south terminal prongs, just to keep the option open. Makes me wonder if United said, "We'll pitch in for Terminal D, but we're doing it the most efficient way possible, which means it's going to stick out right here. We have concerns about overinvesting in IAH, due to the increased competition in town." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 You would think they'd at least line up the north and south terminal prongs, just to keep the option open. Makes me wonder if United said, "We'll pitch in for Terminal D, but we're doing it the most efficient way possible, which means it's going to stick out right here. We have concerns about overinvesting in IAH, due to the increased competition in town." I don't think United calls the shots at IAH nearly like they used to. The bottom line is that the plan to recreate the airport in the model of Atlanta/Denver (but not very much like Heathrow) would likely not have had the support of any of the airline tenants (because it would have been VERY costly and very disruptive of continuing operations.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToryGattis Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Thanks for this graphic - very interesting. Yes, I have also heard that the parallel terminals plan got scrapped, and I support that and even called for it. Not only would the construction have been extremely disruptive and expensive (raising landing fees and disadvantaging United's hub), it would have created a *single* pick-up and drop-off zone - one of the world's largest bottlenecks. My understanding is that has become a major problem at Atlanta. It's much more efficient for security - just one point instead of spread over multiple terminals - but I don't think the tradeoff is worth it. As it is even with the car traffic spread over multiple terminals there can be substantial backups and bottlenecks - I can't even imagine would it would be like if all of that traffic was combined into a single choke-point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Before we do anything, we need to petition the federal government to give us more customs inspections officers. Today was out of control. I landed from London at 5:01 pm and didn't clear customs until 6:42 pm. Lines were so long and the crowds so disorganized that fights were breaking out because people didn't know where lines began. By the time I got my checked bags, the line wrapped around the carousels along both far walls and there were only 5 people working. People making connections were absolutely frantic and it was hotter than hell in there with the wall-to-wall crowds. I sweated through my polo and likely looked like a drug runner by the time I finally got to the front of the line. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rechlin Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Pay for Global Entry and you can avoid that line. Last time I was on an international flight into IAH (about a month ago), the regular customs line at the baggage claim was very long, but the Global Entry line had nobody in it. Although it took forever for me to get my bag in the first place (I swear, my bag was one of the last to come off the A380), once I had my bag I was out of the airport within a couple minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Pay for Global Entry and you can avoid that line. We shouldn't have to do that. We're already paying for customs, whether we use it on an individual basis or not. Separating out a plutocrat line and giving it first dibs on limited resources just makes us as a city (and country) less accessible for most, including to people who should be treated as guests. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 The guests have it worse. Longer lines, more pointed questions, according to my colleagues from other countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 What makes it so much worse is that I cleared customs at Heathrow in about 15-20 minutes time. Signs were clear. Areas were spacious. There had to have been 100 customs agents working. And it wasn't 85 degrees in the joint. I couldn't help but think how many people were left with a horrible impression of Houston, especially the ones in transit to another destination. It was absolute chaos. The worst I have ever seen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I couldn't help but think how many people were left with a horrible impression of Houston, especially the ones in transit to another destination. It was absolute chaos. The worst I have ever seen it.Yeah.. We had family come into town a month back for my sisters wedding and probably at least half of the bunch were talking about how sprawled IAH was and confusing/hard to get around.. Not the best place to greet visitors into Houston... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 (edited) Yeah.. We had family come into town a month back for my sisters wedding and probably at least half of the bunch were talking about how sprawled IAH was and confusing/hard to get around.. Not the best place to greet visitors into Houston... Seriously? What is so confusing about it for an arriving passenger? Edited July 13, 2015 by Houston19514 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 No, I just made all of that up.To name a few examples off the top of my head..My aunt/uncle from Orlando called IAH the biggest airport they'd ever been to.. My grandparents couldn't find the inter terminal train so they had to flag down a guy with a cart to drive them all the way across the airport to baggage claim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 No, I just made all of that up.To name a few examples off the top of my head..My aunt/uncle from Orlando called IAH the biggest airport they'd ever been to..My grandparents couldn't find the inter terminal train so they had to flag down a guy with a cart to drive them all the way across the airport to baggage claim. Big, yes. You'll find the ten busiest airports in the country tend to be that way. But still not seeing what's so confusing about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 IAH isn't bad. LAX is awful. We came back from New Zealand, and after Customs were dumped onto a sidewalk with not one shred of signage, and no clue as to where to go. IAH may get crowded, but you can at least tell where to go. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 (edited) Sorry, but customs was a joke. With the number of flights to beach resorts, the line yesterday was filled with people who had no clue as to where to go. Many didn't know the difference between US Citizens and US Residents. Additionally, it didn't help that the two ladies I stood in line behind had no idea they were supposed to get a receipt from the self-service kiosks to then take to the Customs agent. Then, in the baggage claim area, the place was so crowded you couldn't tell where the line began to form for exiting the building. A couple of folks traveling to Calgary from Belize asked me where they were supposed to go to make a transfer. I couldn't tell them and there were no signs that I could see and only one poor woman trying to organize everyone. It was so chaotic that I saw two fights break out over line-jumping. Not a good idea to get into a physical altercation inside customs, but hell, I was so annoyed, tired (from a long journey), and hot (it would be nice to turn down the temperature when the place is a wall-to-wall madhouse) that I wanted to punch someone in the face. Edited July 13, 2015 by KinkaidAlum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Miami-based HavanaAir Charters announced it will begin a service each Wednesday from Bush Intercontinental Airport to Havana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 So cool to see the "return" of Eastern! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontexasjack Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I think the north/south long interconnected arms is the way IAH is heading. Going to parallel terminals is cost prohibitive at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 IAH is morphing into a more cohesive version of LAX. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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