Flying to Houston on a budget
Houston is a major hub served by 2 airports in United States. Across the city's airports, around 23 airlines operate roughly 322 documented route pairings, connecting Houston to approximately 43 direct destinations worldwide. For budget travellers, having multiple airports in one city is usually good news. Secondary airports tend to host the lowest-cost carriers and the cheapest fares, but the trade-off is a slower (and sometimes pricier) ground transfer to the city centre.
The cheapest combination of base fare plus ground transport almost never lives at the same airport. As a rule of thumb, fly into the most-served airport when you have luggage, late arrival times, or a fixed work meeting. Fly into the cheapest secondary airport when you are travelling light, have flexible plans, and are arriving mid-day with the buses still running. We break down the airports below in order of route volume, so you can quickly see which carriers and destinations each one specialises in.
Airports serving Houston
George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport (IAH)
United States · 243 routes · 25 destinations
William P Hobby Airport (HOU)
United States · 79 routes · 25 destinations
Tips for landing in Houston cheap
- Compare airports before booking. The headline-cheapest fare into the secondary airport is sometimes wiped out by a EUR 20+ ground transfer to the city centre.
- Check the last public-transport time. Late arrivals can force a pricey taxi if you miss the bus or train; verify against the inbound landing time, not the scheduled.
- Pre-book ground transport for arrival. A pre-paid bus ticket bought online is usually the cheapest predictable option; airport-counter taxi rates can run two to three times the metered fare.
- If you have multiple airports, fly in and out of different ones. Use Google Flights' multi-city search to capture the cheapest combination of one-ways across two airports.
- Watch for currency exchange traps. The airport bureaux are the worst place to change money; withdraw from a major-bank ATM in arrivals instead.
Top destinations from Houston
| Code | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| ATL | Atlanta | United States |
| LAX | Los Angeles | United States |
| MSY | New Orleans | United States |
| CLT | Charlotte | United States |
| DFW | Dallas-Fort Worth | United States |
| PHX | Phoenix | United States |
| DEN | Denver | United States |
| LHR | London | United Kingdom |
| ORD | Chicago | United States |
| MEX | Mexico City | Mexico |
| AMS | Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| DOH | Doha | Qatar |
| MIA | Miami | United States |
| PHL | Philadelphia | United States |
| CDG | Paris | France |
| SEA | Seattle | United States |
| SAL | San Salvador | El Salvador |
| DTW | Detroit | United States |
| MSP | Minneapolis | United States |
| YEG | Edmonton | Canada |
Airlines flying from Houston
American Airlines (AA)
United States
United Airlines (UA)
United States
Delta Air Lines (DL)
United States
US Airways (US)
United States
Air China (CA)
China
Southwest Airlines (WN)
United States · Budget
Air France (AF)
France
Lufthansa Cargo (LH)
Germany
Alitalia (AZ)
Italy · Budget
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL)
Netherlands
AirTran Airways (FL)
United States
Air Canada (AC)
Canada
Turkish Airlines (TK)
Turkey
British Airways (BA)
United Kingdom
Alaska Airlines (AS)
ALASKA · Budget
AeroMéxico (AM)
Mexico
JetBlue Airways (B6)
United States · Budget
Finnair (AY)
Finland