Amterdam/Schiphol Airport Transit

[ChattTenn]

We are checking for a return air from Rome to Atlanta in October/November.

• A non-stop flight is about $350+ more than a KLM with a connection through Schiphol.  With KLM cheaper price, it has only 1 hour 30 min for the connection.
• Our concern, will we have enough time to transfer from one plane to another?.  Per schedule it should be at the airport around 2PM, years ago, at Schiphol we only went through a passport control.

Will this be a doable schedule?.

 

Thank you for your input.

[VMax1700]

Should be ok.  Recommended transfer time for an International flight is 50 mins.

If you don't make the flight then it will be up to KLM to get you on the next available flight, provided that the booking is on one ticket (PNR).

Also, Rome to Amsterdam is within the Schengen zone, so that will reduce delay.  KLM will have staff at the arriving plane to guide you to the next flight.

[Globaliser]

5 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Recommended transfer time for an International flight is 50 mins.

 

Where do you see this "recommended"?

 

For many international-international connections at Amsterdam, 50 minutes is the official Minimum Connection Time. The applicable MCT for any connection is a hard limit. There's nothing "recommended" about it. You either satisfy it, or you don't. If you don't, then the connection is illegal and cannot be booked.

 

If a connection is right at the MCT, then the best that can be said is that most passengers would make the connection, most days, but each passenger will have a significant chance of misconnecting. In those circumstances, it could be foolish for anyone to given a recommendation of booking a connection right at the MCT unless the passenger is fully aware of the risks involved and decides to take them. Hence my curiosity as to where you see 50 minutes being "recommended".

 

In another place, people sometimes talk about what's a sensible connection time. That's usually a figure significantly above the MCT.

 

5 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Also, Rome to Amsterdam is within the Schengen zone, so that will reduce delay.

 

I'm not sure why this would make much difference. It does mean that the OP has to clear outbound immigration before flying on to the US. If flying from Ireland or the UK (both non-Schengen) to Amsterdam and connecting there to the US, there would be no need to clear outbound immigration at Amsterdam. That feature of a non-Schengen --> non-Schengen connection would have the potential to reduce delay.

[VMax1700]

i should have used the word 'standard' as shown below.  However, in my defence, as OP is flying KLM and the KLM website states that 50 mins is 'standard transfer time' then KLM are recommending it.

 

Transferring at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

When you check in for the first flight of your trip, you will receive the following documents:

• A boarding pass for your first flight
• A boarding pass for your connecting flight
• A folder containing information about transferring at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

  

The standard transfer time at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to a flight within Europe is 40 minutes and 50 minutes for an intercontinental flight.

If you are travelling to/from Schengen and non-Schengen countries, you should count on having to go through additional security and passport checks. These can substantially extend the time it takes to complete your transfer procedure.

 

source: https://www.klm.com/travel/us_en/prepare_for_travel/at_the_airport/connections/index.htm#p2

[Globaliser]

46 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

However, in my defence, as OP is flying KLM and the KLM website states that 50 mins is 'standard transfer time' then KLM are recommending it.

 

No doubt different people will read from that what they want to, but that's fine so long as nobody wrongly thinks that 50 minutes is anything other than the standard setting for the absolute minimum permissible time between flights of this kind.

[ChattTenn]

Thank you all for the input.  The schedule probably will work if there won't be a delay from Rome.

 

ChattTenn

[gfkcruiser]

Done it and no problems.  At AMS be sure to go through security interview before you arrive at gate or at do it gate prior to getting in line to board flight to US.  You need a sticker on your passport to show you have done this.

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, ChattTenn said:

The schedule probably will work if there won't be a delay from Rome.

 

With 90 minutes, you've got very little risk if your first flight arrives without a delay.

 

It's always the possibility of such a delay that's the number one uncertainty.

[Ine]

1 hour ago, gfkcruiser said:

Done it and no problems.  At AMS be sure to go through security interview before you arrive at gate or at do it gate prior to getting in line to board flight to US.  You need a sticker on your passport to show you have done this.

That interview is not when you fly KLM, it is when flying Delta. So important to  check which is the operating airline, since KLM also has Delta flightnumbers, and Delta uses KLM flightnumers.

[ChattTenn]

19 hours ago, Ine said:

That interview is not when you fly KLM, it is when flying Delta. So important to  check which is the operating airline, since KLM also has Delta flightnumbers, and Delta uses KLM flightnumers.

The tickets will be with Delta but KLM will be the operating airline for the entire trip FCO-AMS-ATL.  Will it mean that we will not have to go through with the interview?.  Will we have to go through the passport control/security since the last flight will be to Atlanta (USA)?.

Several years ago, we did ATL-AMS-VCE with KLM, we had to go through a passport security and the agent stamped on passport.

Just hope there will be an agent at the gate to tell us what to do.  

 

Thanks all for all the information.

 

ChattTenn

[Ine]

1 hour ago, ChattTenn said:

The tickets will be with Delta but KLM will be the operating airline for the entire trip FCO-AMS-ATL.  Will it mean that we will not have to go through with the interview?.  Will we have to go through the passport control/security since the last flight will be to Atlanta (USA)?.

Several years ago, we did ATL-AMS-VCE with KLM, we had to go through a passport security and the agent stamped on passport.

Just hope there will be an agent at the gate to tell us what to do.  

 

Thanks all for all the information.

 

ChattTenn

Indeed no interview when KLM is operating the flight.