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Manchester to Houston via Amsterdam (and back) October 2008

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  • Manchester to Houston via Amsterdam (and back) October 2008

    Finally managed my one and probably only trip into the US last year. Spent 4 days in Houston for a friend's wedding which was just short of a fortnight after hurricane Ike demolished Galveston and made a mess of the city of Houston itself.

    The trip threw up a couple of big surprises for me...things that I can only assume were due in part to Ike causing problems at IAH, I would like to think that is the reason for it, anyway as what happened flies in the face of what I was expecting. Anyway, more on that in a bit.

    I decided to fly with KLM with a changeover at Schipol rather that try and change planes over in the US as had heard all sorts of horror stories about the time wasted in immigration queues and missed flights.

    The flight from Manchester to Schipol was uneventful, the plane was a well turned out 737-800 and we left on time, landing just slightly ahead of time at Schipol.

    Since I only had cabin luggage I chose the flights with a tight connection and that worked very well and was soon at the gate for the flight to Houston. Boarded on time, the plane was City of Vancouver, a 747-400 Combi. Again the flight was very uneventful, meals were very good as was the service on board the plane. I was able to get seat 18A so spent most of the flight watching out the window.

    As we approached Houston it became very evident that the city and Galveston had been severely damaged, what you see in the media really does not prepare you for seeing it for real. It was quite sobering to see just how bad parts of the city and outlying areas had been hit.

    Landed at the airport and quickly to the gate, again damage was evident, some of the airbridges looked worse for wear and windows in the terminal building were still boarded up.

    Went through to passport control, no problems, just a cursory look at my passport and a stamp added to the collection - I had already done ESTA and printed it off, so showed the immigration officer that and he just waved me through without another word. Wandered into the baggage reclaim but as I did not have any hold baggage I went to walk straight through and out the door where my friends were meeting me. Had to tell several people that I did not have any hold baggage, all could not understand why I did not have any hold baggage and tbh it got a little wearing after a while. Eventually got out of the airport and was met by my friends.

    Going home.....now this is where things did not live upto expectation at all, in regards to the airport security.

    I went to the airport with the bride's parents since they were returning their hire car and were flying back to Pennsylvania. We all piled onto the shuttle bus and I got off at the international departures terminal, they stayed on the bus to the Continental one.

    I had checked in online at the hotel so walked in the door, through the gate to the departure lounges, up the escalator and to the gate where my flight was leaving from.

    I was NOT scanned, my passport was NOT checked, my bag was NOT x-rayed tween entering the building and getting onto the plane. Like I said at the start, I can only assume it was something to do with the hurricane damage, I don't know.

    Anyway, the same plane, City of Vancouver, was waiting at the gate having just arrived. Everyone boarded on time and we left the gate on time, I had seat 18A again. There was a queue of about a dozen other planes, during our wait, the pilot came onto the PA and told us that immediately after take off we would be making a 'hard turn to the left' for 'operational reasons'.

    It was eventually our turn to go and as promised we certainly did do a left turn....I was watching out the window as normal and ended up looking almost (it seemed) vertically down the wing and into someone's swimming pool below. I estimate we were tween 500-1000ft up at this point. A few passengers around me gripped the seat arms a bit hard.

    Once we got back into straight & level, the rest of the flight was smooth & very comfortable without any incident. We landed on time in Schipol.

    The last leg of the trip was by 737-800 which left about 45 minutes late but made up the time in the air. As before, the plane was well presented and the flight was very enjoyable.

    Overall all 4 flights were very good, no complaints about the food, drink or service on board and very punctual & efficient.

    Hopefully those from the Houston area or those who use Houston on a regular basis can clarify if the security is normally so laid back and if 747's are normally requested to do such tight turns on take off, please?
    2005 - LBA-LHR-MAD-SCL (BMI/Iberia A319/A340)
    2006 - EZE-MAD-LHR-LBA (BMI/Iberia A319/A340)
    2007 - MAN-MBJ (Monarch B767)
    2008 - MAN-CDG-HKG/HKG-CDG-MAN (Air France B777)
    2008 - MAN-AMS-IAH/IAH-AMS-MAN (KLM B747 combi)

    30/31 Mar 2010 - MAN-AMS-SIN (KLM B737/B777)
    06 May 2010 - GOA-LGW-MAN (British Airways A320)

  • #2
    Hello,

    Good flight review! No, Houston security normally isn't very lax, on the contrary, it's quite stringent. The lax security you saw that day was probably due to the hurricane situation affecting the area. Just a question did you pass through a vacant security area and then onto the KLM jet or did you not even encounter a security area on the way to the departure lounge? I bet this is going to be a difficult question, but do you remember what exactly KLM gave you in their meals? In addition, do you have any photos of your journey that you could post?

    Regards,

    Rohan

    Comment


    • #3
      nice report. I love flying thru IAH
      Airlines: XT,KL,SN,ACA,DL,AF,TV,SN,OS,LX,WA,NW,FI,US,AW,CO,OH,OO,9W,AA,AE,FL,B6

      Aircraft:AT4,B763,B734,A321,B743,FRJ,B763ER,B772,A343,B733,F70,MD80,AR8,A319,CRJ,F50,D10,D95,A333,B752,B762,ERD,B764,CR9,B77W,AB6,ATR,B717,E190

      Airports: ANR,AMS,ATL,BRU,ATH,JFK,LGA,GSP,CDG,FCO,EWR,FAO,VIE,ZRH,MEM,DTW,KEF,PHL,CLT,IAH,MIA,JAX

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by rohank4284 View Post
        Hello,

        Good flight review! No, Houston security normally isn't very lax, on the contrary, it's quite stringent. The lax security you saw that day was probably due to the hurricane situation affecting the area. Just a question did you pass through a vacant security area and then onto the KLM jet or did you not even encounter a security area on the way to the departure lounge? I bet this is going to be a difficult question, but do you remember what exactly KLM gave you in their meals? In addition, do you have any photos of your journey that you could post?

        Regards,

        Rohan
        When I got off the shuttle bus outside the terminal I just went through the main door into the check in area which I bypassed since I had checked in at the hotel, went through another doorway, up an escalator and into the departure lounge area to my gate and sat til my gate opened for boarding and walked onto the plane after swapping the paper boarding pass printed at the hotel with the card version normally required. I was not stopped or seen by anyone in security at all from the curb to the seat on the plane.

        I have to have low cholesterol meals so they were different to the normal ones. The shorthauls were snacks and on the longhauls I had 2 meals each way (coming home was an overnight flight).

        Only the one photo (the others failed to come out as I wanted)...on the way back home, looking out over the wing as the sun went down...
        2005 - LBA-LHR-MAD-SCL (BMI/Iberia A319/A340)
        2006 - EZE-MAD-LHR-LBA (BMI/Iberia A319/A340)
        2007 - MAN-MBJ (Monarch B767)
        2008 - MAN-CDG-HKG/HKG-CDG-MAN (Air France B777)
        2008 - MAN-AMS-IAH/IAH-AMS-MAN (KLM B747 combi)

        30/31 Mar 2010 - MAN-AMS-SIN (KLM B737/B777)
        06 May 2010 - GOA-LGW-MAN (British Airways A320)

        Comment

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