Wanna get away?

Houston airport logs one of the worst flight delay records in America

Passengers at this airport collectively waited more than 300 years for their departing flight in 2018.

Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images

If your upcoming travel plans include a flight out of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, you might want to charge your electronics and bring a book to read. A new study from personal finance website FinanceBuzz comparing departure delays at the 25 busiest airports in the country ranks IAH among the worst.

IAH lands on the list at No. 17, averaging 72 minutes grounded and a collective passenger wait time of 393 years in 2018, according to the study. Overall, 18 percent of IAH flights were either delayed or canceled last year.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), the only other Texas airport in the study, has worse wait times, ranking the third most time-delayed airport in the country, with 67-minute delays on average and passengers collectively spending 872 years waiting there to depart in 2018. Twenty four percent of its departing flights were either delayed or canceled last year.

So why all the delays? At IAH, most of the time (40 percent, to be exact) there's a National Aviation System delay. The other reasons include aircrafts arriving late (27 percent), air carrier delay (20 percent), arriving aircraft canceled or delayed (8 percent), and weather (4 percent). National Aviation System delays refer to issues such as "non-extreme weather conditions, airport operations, heavy traffic volume, and air traffic control," while carrier delays are described as being "due to circumstances within the airline's control," according to the study.

At DFW, aircrafts arriving late are the biggest culprit at 34 percent, followed by National Aviation System delays (29 percent), air carrier delays (21 percent), aircrafts being canceled or diverted (12 percent), and weather (4 percent).

FinanceBuzz collected its data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which defines a delayed flight as one arriving or departing at least 15 minutes past schedule.

The absolute worst airport for departure delays is Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), with passengers collectively grounded for 1,133 years in 2018, FinanceBuz says. Tampa International Airport (TPA) sits at the bottom of the list with the least time delayed (264 years collectively).

Giving Back

13 Houston-area museums offer free admission to military families this summer

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston James Turrell light tunnel

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The MFAH is part of the part of the program offering free admission.

Over a dozen Houston-area museums are honoring active duty military personnel and their families with free admission through the Blue Star Museums initiative, now through September 4, 2023.

Established by the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the U.S. Department of Defense, the Blue Star Museums program annually provides military families free access to 2,000 museums nationwide throughout the summer. The program begins yearly on Armed Forces Day in May and ends on Labor Day.

Free admission is extended to personnel currently serving in the U.S Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard (including those in the Reserve), and all National Guardsman. Members of the U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps and NOAA Commissioned Corps are also included in the program.

Those who qualify can use their military ID to bring up to five family members - including relatives of those currently deployed. More information about qualifications can be found here.

There is no limit on the number of participating museums that qualifying families may visit. Admission for non-active military veterans, however, is not included.

According to the National Endowment for the Arts website, the initiative was created to help "improve the quality of life for active duty military families" with a specific focus on children. The site states 2 million have had a parent deployed since 2001.

"Blue Star Museums was created to show support for military families who have faced multiple deployments and the challenges of reintegration," the organizers say. "This program offers these families a chance to visit museums this summer when many will have limited resources and limited time to be together."

In Houston, participating institutions include well-known art, science, and history museums, as well as smaller museums outside the city limits. Here's a look at all the museums in the area that are participating in the Blue Star Museums initiative this year.

In Houston:

In Katy:

In La Porte: