IAH to Hobby Airport Transfer

About 30 miles, and typically 40 to 60 minutes. Houston's two airports sit on opposite sides of the city, Bush Intercontinental roughly 23 miles north of downtown, Hobby about 11 miles southeast, so the journey between them crosses the whole metropolitan area. At peak it takes materially longer, and there is no version of this trip that avoids Houston traffic entirely.

More than the drive time, and considerably more than a map suggests. Allow the 40 to 60 minutes of road time, plus checked bags if you have them, plus check-in and security at the departure airport, plus a real buffer. As a working rule, three hours between landing at one and departing from the other is comfortable; two is tight; less than that is a gamble you probably should not take.

Then you have no protection at all, and this is the single most important thing to understand about this journey. If the flights are on one ticket, the airline is responsible for getting you there and will rebook you if something goes wrong. On separate tickets, which is common, because the two airports serve different carriers, a delay on the first leg simply means you miss the second and buy a new one. Build the buffer accordingly.

Bush Intercontinental is Houston's larger airport and its international gateway, with five terminals and the majority of long-haul and connecting traffic. Hobby is smaller, closer to the city, heavily domestic, and a single linear concourse you can walk end to end quickly. The practical consequence for a connection is that getting from kerb to gate takes longer at Bush Intercontinental than at Hobby, so allow more if that is your departure end.

It depends entirely on the hour. I-45 runs directly between the two through the centre of the city and is the shortest route on paper. Beltway 8 and the Sam Houston Tollway go around the eastern side and frequently beat it at peak by enough to matter. Tolls are inside your quoted rate, so the decision is made on time rather than cost, and your chauffeur makes it en route rather than at booking.

On an ordinary afternoon with a generous buffer, a rideshare is cheaper and perfectly adequate. Where a booked vehicle earns its place is when the connection is tight, when the flights are on separate tickets, when you are travelling as a group with luggage, or when you land at an hour where rideshare availability is unpredictable. The difference is that a booked vehicle is already assigned and already tracking your flight, it is not being matched when you walk out.

Yes, automatically, from the moment your booking is confirmed. If your arrival is delayed the pickup moves with it and there is no charge for the wait. On a cross-city connection this matters more than on an ordinary airport run, because a delay is exactly the moment you least want to be renegotiating ground transport.

Tell us as soon as you know, and we will be straight with you about whether the drive still works. Because we track the flight we will often see it first. If there is a realistic chance of making your departure we will go and take the fastest available route. If there is not, we will say so rather than drive you thirty miles across Houston to a closed gate.

Quoted flat and all-inclusive before you book, the journey, all tolls including Beltway 8 and the Sam Houston Tollway where we use them, both airports' ground transportation fees, and your included wait time. Priced per vehicle rather than per person, which matters if there are several of you. Gratuity is stated explicitly on every quote.

There is no free inter-terminal shuttle of the kind you find inside a single airport, Bush Intercontinental and Hobby are separate facilities thirty miles apart, not two terminals of the same one. Shared shuttle services and rideshare both operate the route, and they are cheaper than a private vehicle. They are also slower and less predictable, which is the trade-off when your onward flight will not wait.

Yes. With meet-and-greet your chauffeur waits inside at baggage claim with a name sign and helps with bags. On a connection this is usually worth it, you are unfamiliar with at least one of these airports, you are watching the clock, and the few minutes spent finding a kerbside pickup are the ones you have least of. Kerbside is available if you prefer and know the airport.

All five, A, B, C, D and E. Give us your airline and flight number rather than a terminal, because assignments change and the terminal on a booking made months ago is not always where you land. International arrivals clear at Terminals D and E.

Yes. For a group arriving on one flight we hold the vehicle and release it once everyone is through rather than departing with whoever comes out first, which matters particularly on international arrivals, where a group rarely clears customs together. Multiple vehicles are coordinated from a single point of contact.

That is a different booking and often a better use of the time. If you have five or six hours between flights, an as-directed booking gets you into the city and back with the vehicle held for the block, dinner downtown, a meeting, or somewhere to work that is not an airport. Tell us your departure time and we will build the return around it.

Yes, and Hobby to Bush Intercontinental is slightly the more common of the two. It is the same journey, quoted the same way, with the same flight tracking. Southwest's operation at Hobby generates a steady stream of passengers connecting onward from Bush Intercontinental.

Yes, and it is worth doing if you are coming back through Houston. Booking both locks the rates and guarantees the vehicle for the return, which on a connection is worth more than the small saving.

Executive sedans for one to three passengers with two to three cases, luxury SUVs for four to six, and executive Sprinter vans for seven to fourteen. Give us bag count as well as passenger count, connecting passengers frequently have more luggage than a local airport run, because everything is with you rather than at a hotel.

Yes. Every chauffeur operating on our behalf is commercially licensed, background-checked and drug-tested, and carries commercial liability insurance appropriate to airport ground transportation. Vehicles run on a scheduled maintenance and inspection programme.

Twenty-four hours is comfortable for a sedan. Book further ahead for groups, for early-morning connections, and during major Houston conventions and cruise-turnaround weekends when vehicle availability tightens across the whole market. If your connection is genuinely tight, book early and tell us so when you do.

No. Flights are sold between the two Houston airports, and for a thirty-mile journey across one city they make very little sense once you count check-in, security, boarding and the transfer at both ends. The drive is almost always faster door to door and considerably less trouble.