Flying into Texas on Saturday, during a hurricane - is this sheer folly?

September 11, 2008 12:57 PM

Flying into Texas on Saturday, during a hurricane - is this sheer folly?

I'm flying from London to Houston (and then directly to Austin) on Saturday. My flight is scheduled to arrive at Houston at 3pm; as far as I can tell, this is when Hurricane Ike hits. Is there any reason why I *shouldn't* reschedule my flight? And if I am going to reschedule, when is the earliest time that would make sense? I'm coming into town for the Austin Game Developer's Conference, from Monday 15th to 17th...

posted by adrianhon to Travel & Transportation around Texas (17 answers total)

Are you flying BA? Those flights are already canceled. I imagine other airlines would be the same - best to call them.
posted by meerkatty at 1:08 PM on September 11, 2008

Call the airline. You most likely will not be able to fly into IAH or HOU.

Menawhile, I'll wave at you from the west side if you do!
posted by chrisfromthelc at 1:12 PM on September 11, 2008

I'm from Houston, and if the flight isn't canceled, I would go ahead and fly.
If you're nervous, you should probably reschedule.
posted by kidbritish at 1:12 PM on September 11, 2008

Definitely reschedule. My Mom was flying into San Antonio on Saturday, and SWA bumped her to Friday for no charge because it's likely Saturday flights to South/East Texas will be canceled (if they haven't already).

According to StormPulse, Ike will be out of the area (mostly) by Sunday morning.
posted by nitsuj at 1:12 PM on September 11, 2008

Ditto the upthread answers. Most airlines have already shut down flights coming into both Hobby and IAH on Friday/Saturday. Call your airline ASAP and see if they can reroute you through another city to get to Austin.
posted by chrisamiller at 1:50 PM on September 11, 2008

As others have said, your flight will probably be canceled if it hasn't already; it's not just the storm weather, but they will have to clear the airport (damage, debris) before it reopens. Dallas is currently projected to be on the edge of the path of the remnants middle of the night Saturday, but air traffic through here is going to be mega-jacked Saturday and Sunday.

You may have to do some crazy re-routing to get into the state by Monday morning. Like, say, Memphis. Or Chicago. I would go ahead and get on the phone and see what the airline thinks and what your options are, because they're going to slim dramatically as everyone else reschedules.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:53 PM on September 11, 2008

Response by poster: Well, IAH will be shut down from noon on Friday to the end of Saturday, so that's my decision made for me. I'm weighing up whether this is worth the hassle... I figure that it will be very difficult to get in on Sunday since I still haven't been able to get through to Continental's line.
posted by adrianhon at 2:10 PM on September 11, 2008

Sunday could be bad too - aftermath...
posted by doorsfan at 2:16 PM on September 11, 2008

Response by poster: Yeah... what do you guys think? It sounds like I would be lucky to get in on Monday morning.
posted by adrianhon at 2:17 PM on September 11, 2008

Hard to say about Sunday, but if Ike does what they seem to think it's going to do, there will be flooding, and difficulty with road travel because of it. Power will likely be out. And Austin will be full of people evacuated from Houston. None of this will be solved by Sunday or Monday. If I were you, I'd cancel this trip.
posted by rtha at 2:23 PM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh, and cancel your hotel room as soon as you can, if you're not going. They're going to need it.
posted by rtha at 2:26 PM on September 11, 2008

Info coming down the vine:

No Southwest flights after 9am (Hobby)...IAH (Bush) closes 2pm tomorrow. Continental reducing flights.

So, yes. Consider your trip severely crippled, if not outright canceled.
posted by chrisfromthelc at 2:56 PM on September 11, 2008

If you have a non-refundable ticket, try to arrange to be able to use it again without paying a fee! Read the fine print before you call.

Sorry about your trip.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 4:02 PM on September 11, 2008

I actually just got off the phone from continental and they were waving their fees to change. I was suppose to be landing Sat afternoon, but I pushed it back into early next week.

The questions I was trying to figure out is if it is a bad hurricane would there be much reason to go - ie electricity, water, etc. I lived through Ivan when it hit P'Cola in 2004 and we were without power for 2 weeks.... just something else to think about if the trip itself would be worth doing.

Personally, as long as I make it to the A&M/Miami game I will still call the vacation a success... well the Ags have to win too
posted by aggienfo at 10:10 PM on September 11, 2008

Response by poster: My flight ended up being rescheduled to arrive on Monday afternoon, so I'm still going. However, I cancelled my hotel booking yesterday (partly to free up a space for people fleeing Houston) so I need to find a place to crash on Monday/Tuesday nights now... :(
posted by adrianhon at 4:54 AM on September 12, 2008

Can you not re-route through DFW? Both AA and BA fly Heathrow-DFW direct.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 4:11 PM on September 12, 2008

So what happened? How was the trip?
posted by rtha at 9:07 AM on September 23, 2008