William P. Hobby Airport

[DNAguy]

I haven't heard that being the plan, but it would be interesting if they did. I think it may been known as Hobby International from the time it was renamed for former Gov. Hobby from the old name of Houston International in 1967, until Intercontinental opened in 1969.

 

Today would be the day to do the re-name and go.....

 

 

[nativehoustonion]

Good question.  A friend of mine that works for United said they are looking at all aspects from the top to the call centers.  They are closing Honolulu and Detroit call centers.  So they must transfer to Houston or Chicago call centers or work from home.  He said they are also looking the Leader of each hub airport due to delayed flights.  Upper management is not saying anything now.  Oscar Munoz said via memo to employees that he will do so firing, who?  Who knows since he is in hospital.  They will release the earnings tomorrow.  Wall Street projects $4.45 per diluted share but they still need a valid leader to run the company. 

[Trae]

Can Munoz convince the board move the HQ or operational HQ back to Houston?

[nativehoustonion]

Very good question since IAH is the largest hub.  Remember Chicago paid United $40 million to move there.  It is very expensive to live with all their taxes.  If the state and the city offered a package they could move into 609 Main!  It would be called United Continental Tower.  

[ArchFan]

As a Houston native and booster, I would love it if they moved the HQ to Houston.  However, if the execs at United are to be good stewards for the company, they need to make rational decisions based on long-term planning, but also recognizing mid- and short-term issues.  

 

In the meantime, as a long-time customer (of Continental), I am pretty disappointed in the post-merger company.  I hope that they can find a way to re-instill the level of customer loyalty that I and many others used to have.  

[nativehoustonion]

As a Houston native and booster, I would love it if they moved the HQ to Houston.  However, if the execs at United are to be good stewards for the company, they need to make rational decisions based on long-term planning, but also recognizing mid- and short-term issues.  

 

In the meantime, as a long-time customer (of Continental), I am pretty disappointed in the post-merger company.  I hope that they can find a way to re-instill the level of customer loyalty that I and many others used to have.  

 

You are so correct.  But the marriage did not happen Continental would behind the other AA, DL, WN and lose the IAH hub.  If you don't like it that the way it is.  United is building a new terminal and is committed to Houston.

[nativehoustonion]

flying to CUN this week WN has 2 flights but United has 7 from IAH.  And also EWR, IAD, ORD, LAX, SFO, LAX. 

[Houston19514]

Good question.  A friend of mine that works for United said they are looking at all aspects from the top to the call centers.  They are closing Honolulu and Detroit call centers.  So they must transfer to Houston or Chicago call centers or work from home.  He said they are also looking the Leader of each hub airport due to delayed flights.  Upper management is not saying anything now.  Oscar Munoz said via memo to employees that he will do so firing, who?  Who knows since he is in hospital.  They will release the earnings tomorrow.  Wall Street projects $4.45 per diluted share but they still need a valid leader to run the company. 

 

So, when you said, and I quote, "The CEO fired a lot of upper management." (referring to Munoz), you were... lying?

[Houston19514]

flying to CUN this week WN has 2 flights but United has 7 from IAH.  And also EWR, IAD, ORD, LAX, SFO, LAX. 

 

Please stop posting lies.  United does NOT have 7 daily flights from IAH to CUN.

[nativehoustonion]

If you are smart look it up.

 

IAH CUN UA

737am 737-900ER

902am 737-900ER

1041am 737-900ER

1146am 737-900ER

111pm 737-900ER

201pm 737-900ER

358pm 737-900ER

553pm &37-900ER

 

WN Southwest

845am old 737-700

3pm old 737-700

[nativehoustonion]

Why do you post members and call them liars.  Go to united.com

[skwatra]

I'm pretty smart.

 

United has 5 direct flights to Cancun on Monday-Friday, 8 on Saturday and 6 on Sunday.

Southwest has 2 direct flights to Cancun most days. Given they just started this service, I assume they may expand it depending on traffic.

[nativehoustonion]

I like the fly2houston.com website. 

[nativehoustonion]

Had to fly Southwest (WN) very impressed with Hobby Airport.  They should rename Hobby International Airport.  I don't like the boarding process and their flights are always late.  It is good they give you free drinks when they are late.  This month 56% of their flights are one time.  United is at 71% with 5,000 flights a day.  The flight attendants were irritating one whistles through the flight.  Then they ask you to move for a free drink so a family can sit together.  I love United if my flight is delayed they send a text on the APP with my new flights.  

[skwatra]

On 10/20/2015 at 9:21 PM, mollusk said:

 

Nobody in Texas can serve alcohol before 7 AM, noon on Sunday (tiny sips of Catholic communion wine excepted).

 

Restaurants can serve alcohol from 10am to noon on Sunday in conjunction with food. Also sporting venues, fairs, festivals and wineries can serve before noon.

 

I believe I have gotten alcohol before 7am on a weekday at the United Lounge, but I didn't pay for it. The law states "sale/service of alcohol" so i assume free alcohol is not allowed either.

 

Per TABC:

ON-PREMISE LICENSE OR PERMIT (E.G. BAR OR RESTAURANT)

• Monday-Friday: 7am-midnight
• Saturday: 7am-1am (Sunday morning)
• Sunday: Noon to midnight. (10am-noon only in conjunction with the service of food)
• If the establishment is in a city or county legal for late hours, and they have a late hours permit, they can sell alcohol for on-premise consumption until 2am any night of the week.

[Houston19514]

George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport will be the first airports in the world with the turn-by-turn wayfinding technology that doesn’t require downloading a separate app to smart devices

[(Otto Mation)]

elnina999 has added a photo to the pool:

View the full article

[BhutcA]

That's William P Hobby Airport! A terminal train line is added! That'll be grateful to passengers! 

[BhutcA]

To be like Atlanta, Georgia's Jackson-Hartsfield Airport. 

 

A terminal train line must be added! That'll be greatful for passengers! I've already rode the terminal train in the Hartsfield! 

[cspwal]

Hobby is much smaller than ATL - the walking distance from gate 1 to gate 30 is only .48 miles, with two stretches that have moving sidewalks.  Hobby could probably use more moving sidewalks, but I think a intra-terminal train would be overkill.

[JLWM8609]

On 4/4/2020 at 3:52 PM, BhutcA said:

To be like Atlanta, Georgia's Jackson-Hartsfield Airport. 

 

A terminal train line must be added! That'll be greatful for passengers! I've already rode the terminal train in the Hartsfield! 

[Houston19514]

Houston Airport System has established their Domestic Redevelopment Program, which includes elements at both Bush and Hobby Airports. Full costs not yet established, but will be more than $1 Billion.

George Bush Intercontinental

• Modernization and expansion of Terminal A.
• New Outbound Baggage System (construction already 50% complete on this element). Removes the inline detection equipment from the lobby.
• Remove the helixes that serve the parking above the terminal.  Build bridges from the A/B Parking garage to access this parking.  Removal of the helixes allows for the expansion of the arrivals and departures roadways.
• Capacity expansion and update of electrical systems (This element is already 95% complete.)
• North concourse of Terminal A will be extended to the north, adding 4 new gates. The A3 icehouse where Southwest has 3 positions will be replaced with with permanent full concourse with an additional 2 gates.
• South concourse will be expanded to the South, adding 3 gates and to the west adding one additional gate.
• Total addition of ten new gates to Terminal A
• Terminal A central processor will also be expanded to the west for a new consolidated security screening area and that will allow for more ticket counter space where the current passageways to security are located.  Two additional baggage claim belts added. Central processor updated and remodeled,
• New east pier to be added to Terminal D to allow for 6 additional narrow body gates.  Three airlines (Spirit, WestJet, and Air Canada) will move from Terminal A to Terminal D.  
• Total addition of 16 gates to IAH.
• (All airlines are on board with the plan.)

Hobby Airport

• Seven new (international capable) gates to be added to Hobby.  6 of the 7 will be for Southwest.  Seventh gate will be available to other airlines
• Airport System has been talking to at least 4 international airlines about establishment of service at Hobby. (When they speak of international service at Hobby, it is and always will be limited to Canada, Mexico, Central America, northern tier of South America and the Caribbean.  Runways are not long enough to do service to other areas of the world).

Current baggage claims will be expanded and three additional baggage claim belts will be added.

http://www.houstontx.gov/council/committees/econdev/20211117/has-drp.pdf

Edited November 17, 2021 by Houston19514

[HoustonBoy]

WOW this is great for both airports and the timeline seems perfectly aligned to take advantage of post-pandemic passenger traffic. Exciting stuff. We'll essentially have a completely new IAH as compared to ten years ago. I wonder what the future - 2030s and beyond - holds for IAH as it seems that the airport is maxing out its available space for additional gates. Where does the airport expand after this? 

[Clementine]

On 11/18/2021 at 4:43 PM, HoustonBoy said:

WOW this is great for both airports and the timeline seems perfectly aligned to take advantage of post-pandemic passenger traffic. Exciting stuff. We'll essentially have a completely new IAH as compared to ten years ago. I wonder what the future - 2030s and beyond - holds for IAH as it seems that the airport is maxing out its available space for additional gates. Where does the airport expand after this? 

HAS actually tries to answer this in their Master Plan. In the short-term, their answer is to just keep adding "piers" that jut out from the terminals. The most likely end result will basically be a continuous ring of terminals with piers surrounding the inner roadways--even on the west side. In the very long term, they have several ideas about what could be done:

1) Restructure A and B into one large terminal-concourse building/complex of buildings--it could be another linear thing, but they also looked at some "satellite" concourses (think Dulles)

2) Build a whole new, full-sized terminal complex to the east of the existing complex

https://www.fly2houston.com/biz/about/master-plans

Chapter 5 and 6 have some really deep reading and good maps/diagrams of their potential expansions (p.52-end in Chapter 5; the beginning of the chapter discusses where to put a new runway).

[Houston19514]

City Council moved the Hobby International concourse expansion along, allocating money to allow Southwest Airlines to begin planning and design efforts, to prepare a project definition manual for the expansion, and to begin construction planning efforts. The parties expect to return to City Council by the end of 2022 to appropriate additional funds for construction.

[X.R.]

Have been flying out of Hobby lately and its honestly much better than it was even 5 years ago. Good amount of store fronts, decent food options, and my god is their Clear/TSA Pre lines efficient. From parking to gate, it was 16 mins. I'm sort of proud of where Hobby is right now, its a fine airport that can really get people in and out. Only complaint is the baggage area that is from 1950, and the lack of efficiency there [its a bit slow] stands out when compared to the rest of the airport. 

We did IAH early this year, and it was miserable. Construction pains is an issue, and understandable, but getting through their security line seemed like much more of a hassle. Plus, it just feels...sterile. 

[Texasota]

Hobby is always a great experience for me, but I can't agree on the food options. Gotta break that Pappas monopoly. 

[cspwal]

54 minutes ago, Texasota said:

Hobby is always a great experience for me, but I can't agree on the food options. Gotta break that Pappas monopoly. 

there’s a huge variety of food at hobby:

- Pappa BBQ

- Pappasito’s

-Papadeaux

- Pappas Burger

- Pappasitos togo 

[editor]

I used Hobby last month for the first time in 20 years.  So much has improved, even the parking.  Except that the red/green tally signs were wrong.  They all read "0" except for one row which read "1374" spaces.  Still, I was very impressed.

Security was mostly efficient, but could use an upgrade.  The line got so backed up going through the stop-and-frisk booth that TSA opened up the regular magnetometers and just let people stream through to relieve the pressure.  Not ideal, from a security perspective.

I went through two airports recently that really had their stuff together.  One had an interesting automated bin sanitation and redistribution system that massively cut down on the clog that forms when people are loading their worldly goods into the X-ray bins.  (Probably not actually x-rays anymore, something fancier.)

I'd say Hobby's biggest problem is the same one that Metro has: Wayfinding.  The design language is not unified, which makes it hard to seek out official information.  There aren't enough signs.  And some of the signs are wrong — arrows pointing in different directions.  But I noticed that a lot of them, even the men's room signs, were digital, so at least they can be easily upgraded. 

[samagon]

every time I see this thread pop up, I am reminded of the uncyclopedia article on Houston, specifically for airports:

https://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/Houston

Houston is home to more than 36 airports of various sizes, however the two most used are the George H.W. “Don’t Confuse Me With My Son” Bush INTERGALACTIC Airport, and William P. “Don’t Confuse Me With His Son Either” Hobby Airport. China Airlines does not currently fly to either airport; therefore the safety record for both is actually pretty good.