KHOU or other Houston airports

iamtheari

iamtheari

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There's a chance I'll need to bring a patient to the Texas Medical Center. It looks like Hobby is the closest airport. But I don't know what ground transport is like in Houston these days. I was only there once, commercial, and had a friend pick me up from the big airport. Are there any better options? Anything to be aware of?
 
I use Uber in any city these days. Even from airports since covid drove my favorite taxi out of business.
 
I work right by there. Yes hobby is closest. Yes uber is available. If the patient is ambulatory that would probably be my first choice. Public transportation is not preferred.

Sugarland would be a decent alternative but probably a bit farther.
 
I was going to mention Sugarland as an alternative, since it's easier to get in and out of than HOU. SWA schedules are pretty busy again, now. Uber & Lyft are easy to get in Houston. There's a lot of them parked and waiting in the hold lot next to HOU every day. Rental cars are mostly available nowadays, too.
 
Any trouble getting Uber/Lyft to Sugarland? I know it's not out in the boonies but I have had some experience where I was trying to get to an airport within Uber/Lyft territory and no driver wanted the trip.

Does SWA have some lulls or are they busy 24/7?
 
If it’s like any other big city, I’m sure the Uber/Lyft price delta will be enough to justify landing at the closer airport even if fees are higher. Also, are you just doing it on your own or through Angel Flight? Because I wanna say some places waive fees for those.
 
KaiGywer said:
If it’s like any other big city, I’m sure the Uber/Lyft price delta will be enough to justify landing at the closer airport even if fees are higher. Also, are you just doing it on your own or through Angel Flight? Because I wanna say some places waive fees for those.
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Just on my own. I won't even wear my Angel Flight badge. :)
 
Signature waives fees for Angel Flights. Houston and Hobby controllers are great.
 
iamtheari said:
Anything to be aware of?
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Well, hotels are at a premium due to the hurricane. For some reason, Houston seems to love cutting off catalytic convertors especially on out of state plates (there's an article up yesterday of hurricane evacuees complaining of their vehicles getting ripped off).
 
Hobby's good. If you do a rental car make sure to call the agency after you return it at the FBO because sometimes the communication between FBO and rent car agency is not great.

Good folks at Hobby. My destination was on the west side so I more frequently used Sugarland, but always found Hobby accommodating when I flew there instead.
 
The difference in ground transport time to the Medical Center ain’t much, so I’d tend to favor Sugar Land, for the easy in/out in the plane. Hobby can be a challenge, vectors vectors vectors.

Also, Public Service Announcement: Sugar Land is two words, and pronounced “Sugar Land,” not “shoogerlin.”
 
Uber from KHOU to Medcenter is less than $25 bucks and the closest…Hobby is still GA friendly…Ellington also close and no scheduled commercial traffic and might be cheaper on handling fees that over comes the five extra min in an Uber
 
SCCutler said:
The difference in ground transport time to the Medical Center ain’t much, so I’d tend to favor Sugar Land, for the easy in/out in the plane. Hobby can be a challenge, vectors vectors vectors.

Also, Public Service Announcement: Sugar Land is two words, and pronounced “Sugar Land,” not “shoogerlin.”
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Sorry Spike - I should know better after all that time I lived in Texas and as many times as I flew over that prison.



Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.
 
There is also Pearland Regional (KLVJ) if you want a relaxed no tower field. It's due south of Houston proper. Its roughly the same distance from the medical center as Sugar Land (like 4 mile more)

http://www.flypearland.com/

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If your friend is going to Texas Medical Center then KHOU definitely the most convenient to fly into. Don't let anyone talk you out of flying in there - yes it is a large Class B airport but it is VERY GA "friendly". It is by far the most convenient to downtown Houston. You can get Uber, Lyft, rent a car, or probably even get a crew car to get to the hospital. Lots of ground options.
 
Using Sugar Land requires travel on US 59 to reach downtown, and the traffic is always heavy and slow. Hobby is the best choice IMO.
 
jrollf said:
There is also Pearland Regional (KLVJ) if you want a relaxed no tower field. It's due south of Houston proper. Its roughly the same distance from the medical center as Sugar Land (like 4 mile more)

http://www.flypearland.com/

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Pearland doesn’t come close. HOU, EFD, and SGR all have excellent FBO facilities, runways, and ATC services. Pearland has none of those.


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@iamtheari did you end up doing the trip. Very possible I'll be bringing an Angel Flight into Houston next week, pending weather. My organization defaults to using Ellington (and maybe the patient has a reason for that too) but I think I would prefer Hobby (HOU).
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
@iamtheari did you end up doing the trip. Very possible I'll be bringing an Angel Flight into Houston next week, pending weather. My organization defaults to using Ellington (and maybe the patient has a reason for that too) but I think I would prefer Hobby (HOU).
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I ended up not making the trip. I hope you have a good trip and can post a PIREP here after your trip to help in case I do make the trip in the future (it's an ongoing treatment situation) or someone else finds this thread.
 
For your patient transportation, contact Houston Ground Angels. https://groundangels.org/ Same concept as Angel Flight. My son drives for them. (He has an IR but doesn't meet the 250 hr minimum yet to fly for AF, so does this instead. Lives/works in medical center.) Hobby, Sugarland, and Ellington are all routine rendezvous points for him.
 
iamtheari said:
I ended up not making the trip. I hope you have a good trip and can post a PIREP here after your trip to help in case I do make the trip in the future (it's an ongoing treatment situation) or someone else finds this thread.
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I ended up using Hobby. Parked at Signature because they waive all fees for Angel Flights. Hobby was surprisingly not as busy as I expected. I was #2 for landing and then #3 for takeoff heading out. I got both a STAR and a DP but they vectored me off both to save some time. I think the CMF callsign gets you some perks that way.

I would do Hobby again.
 
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