Houston to Copenhagen Flights (IAH to CPH): Connections, Flight Time and Arrival Guide

One stop from Houston to Copenhagen, and plenty of ways to make it

As of recent schedules there is no nonstop between Houston and Copenhagen. SAS, Denmark's flag carrier, serves other US cities, and United's European network from Houston does not include Denmark, so the trip is a one-stop. The connections fall into two groups.

Through a European hub, with the long flight first:

• Via Frankfurt or Munich with Lufthansa, which flies nonstop from Houston and has frequent short flights to Copenhagen. United sells the same trips as a Star Alliance partner.
• Via Amsterdam with KLM, nonstop from Houston with a 75 minute hop to Copenhagen at the end.
• Via Paris with Air France, similar in shape.
• Via London Heathrow with British Airways or United, with SAS or British Airways on to Copenhagen.
• Via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, which flies from Houston; the geography adds hours, but the fares are sometimes much lower.

Through a US hub, with the long flight second:

• Via Newark, Chicago or Washington Dulles with United and SAS: SAS flies to Copenhagen from all three, and United's Houston hub connects to each many times a day.
• Via Atlanta or New York JFK with Delta, which flies to Copenhagen seasonally from Atlanta and year-round from New York in recent schedules.

European-hub routings usually mean a shorter overnight leg and a morning connection; US-hub routings give a longer overnight flight and an afternoon arrival in Denmark.

Flight time and distance

The great-circle distance from IAH to CPH is about 5,200 miles (8,350 km). A nonstop would take around 10 hours. With one stop, a realistic total is 12 to 16 hours eastbound. The Houston to Frankfurt or Amsterdam leg takes about 9.5 to 10 hours; from Newark or Chicago to Copenhagen it is 7.5 to 8.5 hours.

Westbound flights take roughly an hour longer in the air because of headwinds, but they leave Europe in the morning or midday and land in Houston the same afternoon or evening, which makes the return a single long day rather than an overnight.

Leaving from George Bush Intercontinental

IAH has five terminals. United uses terminals A, B, C and E, with most of its international departures from E; Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, British Airways and Turkish Airlines depart from Terminal D, the international terminal shared by the foreign carriers. Delta uses Terminal A. The Skyway train connects all terminals behind security, and the Subway walkway connects them before security, so a United domestic leg to a Terminal D departure is workable but takes time.

Evening is the busiest window for Terminal D, when the European departures leave within a couple of hours of each other. Arriving three hours before an international flight is sensible with checked bags. The airport is about 35 km north of downtown; a taxi or ride-hail takes 30 to 45 minutes outside rush hour, and the METRO bus route 102 reaches downtown for travellers with light luggage.

Arriving at Copenhagen Airport and getting into the city

Copenhagen Airport, at Kastrup, has two passenger terminals in use, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, joined by a short indoor walk. Arrivals from the US land as non-Schengen passengers and pass through passport control; if you connected in Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam or Paris you cleared Schengen there and walk straight out in Copenhagen.

The airport is only 8 km from the centre, and the rail connections are among the best of any European airport:

• Metro line M2: from Terminal 3 to Kongens Nytorv and Norreport in the centre in about 15 minutes, running around the clock.
• Regional trains: from the station under Terminal 3 to Copenhagen Central in about 13 minutes, with direct trains over the bridge to Malmo and Lund in Sweden.
• Taxi: 20 to 30 minutes to the centre. Cards are accepted in every Danish taxi.

Buy a ticket covering three zones for the metro or train before you board. The same ticket covers buses within its time limit.

When to fly and when to book

Copenhagen's peak is June to August, when days are long and the city is at its liveliest, and fares from Houston are highest then. Tivoli's Christmas season from mid-November through December brings a second peak, and Danish school holidays in mid-February and mid-October fill flights for a week each.

May and September are the shoulder months: mild weather, open-air cafes still running and noticeably softer fares. November to March, apart from Christmas, is the cheapest time to fly; expect short days, wind and rain rather than deep cold, and a city that still functions perfectly well by bike. Book three to five months ahead for summer, and six to ten weeks ahead for the rest of the year.

Entry requirements and documents

Denmark is in the Schengen Area. As of recent rules, US passport holders can visit for short stays without a visa, with the passport valid for at least three months beyond the date you leave Schengen. The EU's Entry/Exit System now takes fingerprints and a facial photo from most non-EU visitors at their first Schengen border, and the ETIAS travel authorisation has been delayed more than once, so check the official EU travel pages before you fly. Other nationalities should check with the Danish embassy.

A side trip to Malmo is a Schengen internal crossing, though spot checks on the train from Sweden back into Denmark do happen, so carry your passport.

Time zones and jet lag

Copenhagen is seven hours ahead of Houston for most of the year. Both observe daylight saving time on slightly different dates, so the gap is six hours for a few weeks in March and in late October and early November. An overnight eastbound flight lands you in Denmark in the morning or early afternoon on short sleep; stay up until a normal bedtime and most people adjust in two days. The return, landing in Houston in the evening, is easier.

What travellers on this route get wrong

The first mistake is choosing a connection under an hour at Frankfurt or Amsterdam, where passport control plus a long walk can eat it entirely. The second is paying for a taxi from the airport when the metro reaches the centre in a quarter of an hour. The third is assuming Denmark uses the euro; it does not, though cards are accepted almost everywhere and most travellers never touch a Danish banknote.