You know you should arrive at the airport early and expect lines at security, but passenger traffic can be unpredictable. That uncertainty has made it difficult to estimate how much extra time to allow—except for travelers flying out of Houston. Passengers departing from George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) and William P. Hobby (HOU) airports can now view real-time security checkpoint wait times.
The Houston Airport System, which handles more than 50 million travelers a year, has launched a new tool that tracks Bluetooth signals to measure how long passengers actually take to clear each security checkpoint. By visiting fly2houston.com, travelers can check a “traffic report” showing current wait times and estimate how much time they should allow to get through security.
“We are using technology to enhance the customer experience,” said Lisa Kent, chief information officer for the Houston Airport System. “We’ve equipped all eight checkpoints across the five terminals at Bush Intercontinental and the single checkpoint at Hobby with this online tool.”
The public dashboard gathers anonymized data from Bluetooth signals detected at each checkpoint as passengers move through screening. The system calculates the average processing time at each location and refreshes the dashboard every 15 minutes. Each checkpoint is shown with a color-coded status: green for waits under 10 minutes, yellow for 10–15 minutes, and red for more than 15 minutes. The site also displays numeric wait-time estimates and indicates any checkpoints that are temporarily closed.
In addition to checkpoint waits, the website combines this real-time data with other helpful flight-related information, including departures, arrivals, connection guidance and terminal maps, so travelers can plan more effectively.
The technology powering the system was developed in partnership with Infax, Inc., a Georgia-based company that provides display and computing solutions for aviation, mass transit and courthouse environments.