George Bush Intercontinental Airport – Terminal A

I will not lie… Terminal A is just your average terminal in an airport. Since recent upgrades to all terminals in George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), you have several traveling life lines here. The main life line will be charging stations at many of the gates before your flights.
I struggled on whether this terminal deserved 3 or 4 stars despite this just being a cookie cutter style terminal. My indecision came from one simple fact — Terminal A houses both of my cheap airfare providers. Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines are directly across from each other. They also have a rotation of a few other airlines that you can get decent pricing to places like Canada as well.
All in all, there aren’t an overabundance of eateries here, nor cheap eateries for that matter. The Wi-​Fi signal is strong and free in the place. IF you are looking for discounted fares, you can find that housed here. Besides that, this is just another terminal in IAH.

Worst terminal of all time. Few food options and tiny screens to check flight times. This terminal looks like it’s stuck in the 90s.

Not bad once in the terminal — plenty of food and drink options, and generally adequate seating at the gates.
That being said, an airport of this size has no reason not to provide complete TSA Precheck services. It’s not very helpful to just have ID checked in a Pre Check line, only to have to get in the same eventual baggage screening line as the rest of the crowd. Lame, Bush. Lame.

I don’t know how I’ve managed to avoid IAH in all my years of heavy travel but I’d be just fine never coming through here again. Like other horror show airports (LGA, MCO, LAX) you can expect the following:
*Dirty, smelly, cramped restrooms
*Nowhere near enough seating and what you can find will be filthy as well. I asked my coworker «do you think we can find a seat that doesn’t look like someone’s recently given birth on it?»
*No charging stations
*No real pre-​check in Terminal A. You have to remove your laptop and then get in the line with the leisure travelers, none of whom have ever boarded a plane before and all have liquids, metal implants, giant strollers, belts, jackets and forgotten pocketknives.
*Crappy food options
People of Houston, you deserve better for your «international» airport.

Terminal A is terrible. There’s nothing good to eat — all the restaurants are horrid. TSA Precheck is still so outdated, they make you take your laptop out of the bag. Everything is old and dirty. The only good thing is that most of the staff, whether TSA agents, bartenders, ticketing agents, etc. have been for the most part surprisingly friendly.

IAH is ok. It’s not great. It’s not bad. It’s average. It’s your classic 1960’s feeling airport that looks like a government center. Not a ton of neat windows or architecture.
They’ve never lost my bags. I usually don’t wait tooooo long at the carousels. There’s some cheap parking options nearby. They have a tram to get you from terminal to terminal. Plenty of Über and Taxi options. Security has never taken me over 20 minutes.
One thing I do hate is eating here… There’s really just not a lot of good food options. The good ones are very overpriced, and the others just aren’t great. Plus, you can’t eat unless you’re a passenger and go into the terminals. But these are common airport problems, I guess.
I’m happy to have such a large international HUB nearby, but it’s a pity it’s a relic from olden times.

If you fly Delta and you have to fly into Bush, don’t. Other than relatively easy access to get in return a rental car there is absolutely nothing I like about this airport. But I love Houston and I love Texas!!!
If you have any choice which I didn’t, flying into hobby.

Flying in and out of terminal A was okay at best. I have flown through this airport more times than I can count and perhaps it was through a different terminal here but this was my first time going through their security AND being in Terminal A.
Security was a BEAST and I am TSA pre-​check. They still made me disrobe and take my laptop out. Yes the line was shorter (the other line was hideous and not moving fast) but that was the only benefit to being TSA Precheck. Perhaps this was an anomaly, not sure.
The terminal itself had very little to offer in terms of services (compared to other really big airports like this one) including restaurants.

I certainly can’t be the first to review Terminal A North. Wowsie.
Depending on when you arrive, security could be a breeze or could be f’d.
This terminal has a plethora of incoming and departing flights but has a small city feel along w/​the appointments that go along with it… Sigh. Tad dated, but serves a purpose.
Lots of restrooms however More restaurants, bars n staff needed and a welcomed magazine/​book stand would be appreciated. If you’re looking for something good to eat… Grab BEFORE you get to airport. Lesson learned here.
Taking off now… To good tail winds my friends.

This airport behaves like small airport, but without the friendly demeanor. Not well organized and poor signage. The service employees in the eateries do not care about customer service; it’s as if you are an inconvenience to them. I know TSA is a governmental agency, but the standards and behaviors are varied at every airport, so I will remark about them. They behave, yet again, as if we are the inconvenience and are pretty rude. I will avoid this airline if I can in the future.

Not a fan of this terminal. Almost no choices for anything… eating and just the one Starbucks after security check.

I am so tired of coming to this airport. The service is awful. The employees could care less that you may have a sense of urgency, especially at Chilli’s. We finally opted for the «to go» option, since no one was seating us, the gal at the register was so busy texting, I never got a receipt. Just wrong!
Spirit airlines employees are also rude! Never flying that airline again!
Coming back to United, Terminal C!

Not much there, at all. Limited dining options, dated interior, long lines spilling into one another due to lack of space. Not awful, but not great either.

Crappy terminal with very few eating options. They are opening new places but for the moment I cannot give more than 3stars.
It’s quite small so easy to get around. Free wifi anyway makes the wait tolerable.

The flight in was okay, but flying out was some-​what miserable.
After arriving at the terminal from the rental car shuttle you have to take the stairs/​escalator up to the ticketing/​check in floor. From their its a quick walk over to their security line.
The line was fairly long, but moved quickly as there were about 4 reps checking boarding passes. Once past that, it took another 15 minutes to get through actual security.
There was a TSA Rep belching out the rules of security, but I believe she was doing a disservice instead of actually helping anybody. Between her yells and some first time flyers, it was patience that allowed me to get through the line without losing my shit.
The terminal itself didn’t have too many dining options — yet (it does look like they’re putting a Wendy’s and some other restaurants in there). I can’t stand the fact of eating/​drinking at a Chilis so I made my way down to the bar on the right hand side (Re-​Bar).
Other than that, there was ample sitting space and it was fairly easy to navigate.

You know that feeling when you look at your airline ticket and see the words «TSA PreCheck» and you start with the victory dance. Well, STOP, because Houston Terminal A doesn’t give you a TSA PreCheck special line, like all the other civilized airports in the USA. Instead, you are told to get in the regular line with the look of «you ain’t special» and then once past the first checkpoint, you get handed this 10 inch ruler sized bright laminated card that says «expedite» and told to read the card carefully and do exactly as told. I still had to stand in line, but I didn’t have to take off my shoes or take my baggie with the liquids out of my carry on.
However, I will say that the Starbucks past security is close to the Alaska gate (Texans, y’all got that one right).

This terminal could use a facelift.
The TSA does not acknowledge anyone other than Delta Sky Kings and Queens in its speed line. Everyone else has to wait in the long slow line.
The flooring looks like it has been here since the airport opened.
Not my favorite place to spend two hours.

Terminal A at IAH has become my most recent stomping ground. While the interior layout of it is pretty decent, I have one question:
Why is it that this is THE one terminal at IAH that shuffles cars at the private car pick up area out before they even stop? I literally have to flag down my ride each and every time as they are driving by – and there are NO OTHER CARS IN THE PICK UP AREA — as the attendants are telling them to «DRIVE AROUND AND COME BACK.»
WTF? I had to nearly run after my husband on a recent return (after a 5-​hour delay which didn’t put me in the best marathon shape) before the YO YO attendant was telling him to «Move on!» There were no other cars in the pick up area!
Get with the program, guys! If you’re going to charge people to sit in the cell phone lot, at least give them a break when they come to pick up passengers that have genuinely just walked out the door!

The Good: Roomy, free WiFi and plenty of restrooms with adequate meal choices for its size.
The Bad: Poor air conditioning makes this terminal to uncomfortable during prolonged waiting for departing flights.
Bottom line: Body odor and non-​circulating warm air brings this rating down to the Big 2.

although this terminal is always busy, and this Terminal is only for domestic flights, this terminal does a great job moving all the people to their destination quick and easy. There are plenty of shops to do last minute shopping and convenient restaurants. The security check goes by fast and there is barley any problems.