Sheena Williams and her 3-year-old daughter Renee arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport four hours early for separate flights to New York on Wednesday. Williams almost canceled the flights — too much money, too much hassle — but the promise of seeing her family was worth a minor inconvenience, she said.
“We’re in a custody situation so her dad is coming to get her and they’re going to get on a flight to New York at 10, and she’s going to spend Thanksgiving with him,” Williams said. “My flight is at noon, a separate flight to New York, to see my family.”
Williams, like many Americans, had been watching the federal government shutdown closely to determine whether it was a good idea to try to brave an already busy airport on a holiday when staffing might be limited.
“I wasn’t too worried that the flight would be canceled, just that they would be delayed and we’d have to spend all day in the airport,” she said. “I prepared myself for delays and long lines.”
The long lines, delays and flight cancellations that plagued IAH during the 43-day government shutdown appeared to be a thing of the past as employees returned to work on November 12 and those who had been working for free started getting paychecks.
But then came the busiest travel season of the year: Thanksgiving.
Kendall Sonnier and Drew Young were awake well before the sun came up on Wednesday and drove from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Bush Airport for a flight to Denver. They got to the ticketing counter so early they weren’t allowed to check in, so they got some snacks and got comfortable in the lobby area of Terminal A.
“We assumed it was going to be chaotic,” Young said. “It’s really not that bad. Better safe than sorry. They won’t let us check in until three hours before our flight so we have to wait, but it’s OK. We were worried and weren’t sure how it was going to be with the government shutdown.”
Sonnier echoed a sentiment many Thanksgiving travelers were saying: “We weren’t going to cancel but we were concerned that the airline might cancel.”
Travelers have been told to arrive early in the coming days as an estimated 2.1 million people are expected to travel through Houston’s airports from November 20 through Monday, December 1. They’re also advised to reserve parking or a rideshare service ahead of time.
An Uber driver named Luis said Wednesday he’d made dozens of trips to the airport this week and three before 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
“It’s not too bad right now but by this afternoon, it’ll be a zoo,” he said.
At Bush Airport, security checkpoints at Terminals A, C and E are open. The checkpoint at Terminal D remains closed until further notice, and a construction project, slated for completion in late 2026, has temporarily closed Terminal B.
Luis said the airport appears to be operating efficiently and preparing for hundreds of thousands of international travelers to Houston for the FIFA World Cup in June and July.
“That’s going to be huge money for the city,” he said. “People from all over the world will be here, and they’ll be ready to spend money.”
William P. Hobby Airport, expected to see about 500,000 travelers over Thanksgiving, has been operating at a “normal level” with its one security checkpoint, TSA and airport officials reported.
Houston Airport System, which manages IAH and Hobby, have advised that more people will be checking bags and more people will be screened during the holidays than on a normal business day, so travelers are being told to“pack your patience.” An online guide to stress-free holiday travel offers information about parking, flights, nursing options when traveling with young children and restrictions on food items that can be taken on a plane.
Retired couple Rochelle Bos and Brian Borgford were at IAH on Wednesday planning to head back to their home in Calgary, Canada, after visiting their daughter and her family in Houston. Borgford also made a jaunt to Boston to see his grandson play in a hockey tournament. The couple said they’d had no issues with delays or cancellations.
“It concerned us, what was going on [with the government shutdown] but it seemed to have stopped before our trip,” Borgford said. “When I booked it, I didn’t even give it a second thought that it was close to Thanksgiving because our Thanksgiving is earlier.”
Bos and Borgford held true to the stereotype that Canadians are the nicest people in the world. They didn’t have much to say about the American government being halted for six weeks.
“We weren’t directly affected by it but we were glad when it all ended and things turned back to normal,” Borgford said. “Everyone in Canada has an opinion about it and it’s probably not positive, but we don’t spend a lot of time harping on it.”
At the Terminal A ticketing area on Wednesday, airline employees and TSA agents were cheerful and cracking jokes with travelers to lighten the mood. It’s quite a difference from a couple of weeks ago when uncertainty prevailed and many airport employees didn’t know when or if they’d be paid.
More than 900,000 federal workers across the country were furloughed during the longest government shutdown in history. Economists estimated that the halt in services, which occurred while Congress was attempting to negotiate the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, cost the country $11 billion.
TSA spokesman David Fitz said last week that staffing levels were still normalizing but praised those who worked for over a month without a paycheck. Houston TSA agents were given $10,000 bonus checks from U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem last week. Among the recipients was 20-year TSA employee Reiko Walker.
“I knew when the shutdown began that I was going to go as long as I could,” Walker said in a statement. “I needed to come to work and bear a larger burden for my teammates who weren’t able to make it to work. I wanted to do what I could to help when I knew I was needed the most.”
Some Houston travelers reported waiting an average of four hours for their planes to take off on November 3, but the issue was quickly corrected and people ended up arriving several hours early for flights that left on time.
International travelers reported that, during the shutdown, the regular bank of paperless global entry check-in kiosks — which use facial biometrics to verify identity — were unavailable at IAH and instead travelers were directed to a smaller set of check-in kiosks. An airport spokesman said Tuesday that the kiosks were operational and had been in use throughout the shutdown.
Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for Houston Airports, said last week that 15 additional Houston police officers were hired to assist with traffic control at IAH during Thanksgiving, and the new Terminal E ticketing lobby would “deliver smoother, more efficient holiday travel.”
The busiest day for Houston airports, and likely across the country, will be Sunday, November 30, Szczesniak said, pointing out that “everyone comes back that day.”
Williams is planning to come back to Houston on Saturday to prepare for the work week and do laundry. She said she’s hoping the airport experience will be a smooth one.
“So far it hasn’t been too bad,” she said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”