IAH Terminal C South security wait times: what to expect
From October 12 to November 9 we logged 71,548 security checkpoint readings at IAH Terminal C South. The standard lane averaged 9 minutes. 69% of standard-lane readings were 10 minutes or less, and none were over half an hour.
That is 2 minutes longer than the IAH average of 7 minutes.
When the line is longest
The standard line at Terminal C South is longest around 8 AM, when it has averaged 15 minutes, and shortest around midnight, at 5 minutes. By day of the week, Sunday has been the heaviest (11 minutes on average) and Tuesday the lightest (7 minutes).
| Time of day | Standard |
|---|---|
| Early morning (4–8 AM) | 11 min |
| Morning (8 AM–noon) | 13 min |
| Midday (noon–4 PM) | 12 min |
| Evening (4–8 PM) | 10 min |
| Night (8 PM–4 AM) | 5 min |
Average wait across the last 28 days. A dash means the lane is usually closed then.
PreCheck at Terminal C South
The feed for Terminal C South does not report a separate TSA PreCheck line, so the figures above cover the standard lane only.
How early to arrive
To plan your arrival, use the worst hour rather than the average: at Terminal C South that is 15 minutes in the standard lane around 8 AM. Allow that on top of your airline's check-in and bag-drop deadlines, and more on Sundays and holiday weekends. The live board above shows what the line is doing right now, and the chart projects the next 12 hours.
Other terminals at IAH
| Terminal | Standard avg | PreCheck avg | Busiest hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal A North | 5 min | 6 min | 5 AM |
| Terminal A South | 7 min | — | 5 AM |
| Terminal D | 6 min | — | 8 AM |
| Terminal E | 8 min | 6 min | 6 AM |
Where these numbers come from
Each airport publishes its own checkpoint wait estimates. This site reads them every minute and keeps every reading. Closed lanes are left out of the averages, and times are local to the airport. The averages above cover the last 28 days and are recalculated every hour. The posted wait is the airport's estimate, not a timed measurement, so treat it as a guide.
The full archive is free to download as an open dataset, and the about page explains who runs the site and why.