When my friends tell me their most recent story about getting a rental car from the Houston airport (or any other airport for that matter), I always ask them one question: did you reserve your rental car ahead of time? Nine times out ten, they say no. I just smile and tell them that I hope they learned their lesson about making rental car arrangements before a trip begins (you would be surprised at how many of them have repeated the same mistake multiple times).

If you want to avoid a bad car rental experience at the Houston airport, you need to get your car reserved ahead of time. While it is extremely convenient that you can pick up a rental car directly from the Houston airport, this luxury is actually only convenient if you have a car reserved and ready to go. Otherwise, you will be stuck in line with the other unfortunate people who were too lazy (or simply didn’t know) to get online and make their car rental reservation. Take it from me (and my friends): your car rental experience will be much more pleasant if you take care of it before you arrive at the Houston airport!