incaroads

I have a flight on Turkish (booked with UA miles) leaving IAH at 8:55pm on a Saturday in August. My current plan is to take a positioning flight on Southwest from PDX to HOU, which lands at 2pm. That's a 7-hour buffer. Will take Uber from HOU to IAH. Some people have suggested I use UA for my positioning flight, since I'd have a little more leverage over the whole itinerary if anything goes wrong. Not sure how true that is. I'm looking at the WN flight because of timing and affordability, mainly. But there are other options. I haven't done a positioning fight for an int'l departure before, so I welcome additional thoughts/advice.

nutwpinut

I haven't done this route, but I have done positioning before. If there are multiple options in case of cancellations or delays, not a big problem. Most of the time it hasn't mattered, but one time...

I had one ticket SAT-MEM-LGA. Spent 3 days in MEM for work. I had a separate ticket JFK-???-NRT-SAN-DFW-SAT. All on AA.com w/AA numbers. The MEM-LGA was the last flight of the night. Bad weather cancelled it. I called AA and got changed to MEM-DFW and the other ticket to DFW-NRT-SAN-DFW-SAT. Since it was all on AA I was able to do that, but if the first ticket was on any other airline, I would not have been able to do it.

daninstl

I don't think it will matter much. I guess maybe if your checking bags, maybe United "might" check them through but I doubt it. You'll have plenty of time to change airports unless.....you have a big delay on the inbound. Being August you shouldn't have big weather problems unless there is a Hurricane or something like that which would be rare of course. I recently had an AF flight out of IAH and used United to position to IAH which was fine. Ended up being delayed and only had about 40 minutes but I didn't have to change airports. Traffic can be bad in Houston but on a weekend it should help.

FirstInFlight

That is plenty of time. If everything is on time you have more than enough time to stop for BBQ or Tex-Mex on the way. The only risk is that Southwest has a total meltdown. I see that as unlikely. With 7 hours I would worry about how to pass the time.

incaroads

Thanks--that's pretty much how I'm looking at it. If WN cancels all of its flights, I still have options for getting from PDX to HOU/IAH. If my WN flight lands on time, my current plan is to take Uber to downtown, eat some good food, and then take a bus to IAH (looks like there's an express bus that only makes a handful of stops). I will very much enjoy the transition from a Houston city bus to Turkish Airlines business class!

FlyingHoustonian

The old Metro non-stop express bus from downtown to IAH no longer runs. The 102 bus runs to IAH after about an hour and 20 minutes of stops via, Greenspoint IIRC.

As you and others have noted, take UBER to the museum district or mid-town and eat then take one up to IAH. More than enough time even with slight delays.

Houston has nice weather 7-8 months out of the year IMO, August is not one of those months in Texas so outdoor stuff likes visiting Hermann park might not be advisable but you can still have a nice connection and not have to park at the airport lounges for 4-5 hours.

aztimm

I was in Houston last week and indirectly mentioned this to a few people; I didn't give any names and didn't mention the specific website.

Once people got over the idea of going somewhere for an airfare deal, they offered these suggestions:
* Check rental car rates at HOU. Might be cheaper to just rent one-way and drive.
* Everyone recommends Star Pizza. I haven't been for years, but everyone recommends eating there.
* Find an area to do a nice drive through town. Since it will be warm and uncomfortable outside, this could be a nice way to see town. There are some, "old money," areas with beautiful old houses.
* If you've never been to one, check out Central Market.


I did a MR from IAH 2 years ago; BA had a deal to JNB. I was living in AZ at the time, and couldn't make it work from PHX. So I booked from IAH and found a US (became AA) flight for about $150. I did have a bit of a layover in both directions, but everything was at IAH, so I never left the airport.

EmailKid

A little late to the party, but as someone who's done this ... OK, in reverse.

And I thought I was the only to do public bus to a Biz class seat

DFW now has light rail, but back then it was #408 that took over an hour and then parking shuttle to terminal.

Took the bus in reverse recently on the weekend IIRC and it was about an hour to get downtown, and yes it goes via Greenspoint. In fact, it turns and goes NORTH for a few blocks Had lots of time, and fare is $1.25, bus not crowded at all at 7 a.m. ^

No, wasn't my first positioning flight

Oh, the nonstop I did was on SuperShuttle - we did the carpool lane and blew by traffic, but that was way back before Uber. Then again it's been a while since I lived in Galveston.

And while UA is now better with being on time, they still have some horrible delays. Yes, I speak from experience

Bonehead

AKA "Gunspoint". Be careful.

I would head to Rice Village and chow down there. Lots of options in a walkable area.