65 minute layover in Amsterdam -- too risky?

[Karkies25]

We are flying from the Portland, OR to ATHENS via Amsterdam and have a 65 minute connection time in Amsterdam.

 

Is this enough time to get through customs and to our next flight on to Athens?

 

If it matters, we arrive at 11am and depart at 12:05pm.

 

Thanks for your input.

[donaldsc]

I have not done it but 65 minutes would scare me to death. Any slight delay would mean that you miss your plane. Also, what if you make the plane but your luggage does not?

 

DON

[ab0si]

You will need to go through passport control, but not customs unless you are changing airlines and the two airlines to not have a baggage agreement. If you need to pick-up your luggage and recheck it with your second carrier, you are pushing the envelope to the breaking point even if you are on-time. Passport control seldom takes a long time at this airport (but, of course, anything is possible on a specific day). If you land on or nearly on-time, you will have no problem making it to your flight to Athens if you do not need to recheck your luggage.

 

Bear in mine that Schiphol does not have the best record with luggage.

 

Since you said you arrive at AMS at 11, I assume you are on NW 60 from Boston. In the past 3 months, this flight arrived on time (<=15 minutes late) or early 85% of the time, 8% of the time it arrived slightly late (so you might or might not have made the flight.. ditto your luggage) and the remaining times you would definitely have missed your connection.

 

I assume you are flying in the day before your cruise (or earlier?). If not, you are truly an optimist. <grin>

 

Paul

[Ine]

I assume you will arrive on the new nonstop NW flight out of Portland.

In Amsterdam you have to go through passportcontrol, your luggage should be labeled to Athens, you donot have to care about that.

In the unlikely case you should miss your connection, KLM or NW will take care of you for the next flight. There are a few flight per day, so donot worry too much.

[Karkies25]

Yes, we are on the new non-stop from Portland (PDX). Hopefully they will iron out all the issues with this new route before our flight on 5/17. We arrive on NW and depart on KLM so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I heard that there is a special line at passport control in AMS for short connections. Received this tip from flyertalk message boards. Any truth to this?

 

We arrive 5/18 and our cruise (Pacific Princess) sails 5/20 10pm. Plenty of time to get lost/delayed/detoured/etc which makes travelling a fun adventure! :)

 

Thanks again!

[fti]

The main reason I try to plan a 2-3 hour layover in Amsterdam en route from the USA are to take a shower and put on a change of clothes. Most people don't think about jet lag until they arrive at their destination. I am thinking about it a day before I leave. Also, if there is an airport in Europe that is a nice one for a longer layover, Amsterdam is it.

 

John

[Ine]

Yes, we are on the new non-stop from Portland (PDX). Hopefully they will iron out all the issues with this new route before our flight on 5/17. We arrive on NW and depart on KLM so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I heard that there is a special line at passport control in AMS for short connections. Received this tip from flyertalk message boards. Any truth to this?

 

We arrive 5/18 and our cruise (Pacific Princess) sails 5/20 10pm. Plenty of time to get lost/delayed/detoured/etc which makes travelling a fun adventure! :)

 

Thanks again!

 

I donot know if there is a special control for short connections. Since I live here I never transfer here..

Once you disembark the plane look at the monitors what your next Pier and gate is, enroute you will see pasportcontrol.

The website also gives a lot of information:

http://schiphol.nl/

Have a nice cruise.

[Karkies25]

I will take a look at the website and get acquainted with the map/etc of the airport.

 

Happy Travels

[readboat]

We will be arriving in Amsterdam in May on Northwest. We also have a one hour fifteen minute lay over. This must not be to unusual. I think we can make it.

[hybrn8]

Did it come from NW directly or via a booking service? If the former, I wouldn't be too concerned. If the latter, I would investigate the legal connections for flights. I don't think those booking services take that very critical piece of information into account - every airport is different and it varies within airports by carrier as well as destination, in or outbound. Worth checking out. It seems pretty tight to me and, while I have been through Schipol countless times, I have never done it as a transfer. I would therefore bring the matter of a tight connection to the attention of the purser/lead flight attendant and ask them to radio the gate personnel to get you expedited.

[ab0si]

While your bags will be checked through, you might or might not get a boarding pass in Portland for the KLM flight to Athens. Sometimes, the KLM intra-Europe boarding pass prints out for me when I check in on-line. Sometimes not. Sometimes when it does not, an agent at my home airport (MSP), can print it out for me. Sometimes not. No one has even been able to explain to me either why I can get or why I can not. (FWIW, I fly Business Class when going overseas ... From what I have heard, those flying Economy seldom get a boarding pass.. that is just rumor, though.

 

If you do not have a boarding pass, you are supposed to go to one of the Transfer Desks in the terminal (they are in the gate section). Sometimes the lines here can be long (wrong time of day, several cancelled or delayed flights, etc.)

 

If running very late, go directly to the gate without stopping at a transfer desk. Also, as there are several transfer desks in each wing of the terminal, usually the first one you get to will be the most crowded .. it sometimes helps to walk/run to the next one down the line.

 

I have never had a serious delay at passport control. Im sure it happens, but I've been through Schiphol at least 30 times and have never had that particular problem.

 

Paul

[whale-watcher]

Yes, we are on the new non-stop from Portland (PDX). Hopefully they will iron out all the issues with this new route before our flight on 5/17. We arrive on NW and depart on KLM so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I heard that there is a special line at passport control in AMS for short connections. Received this tip from flyertalk message boards. Any truth to this?

 

We arrive 5/18 and our cruise (Pacific Princess) sails 5/20 10pm. Plenty of time to get lost/delayed/detoured/etc which makes travelling a fun adventure! :)

 

Thanks again!

We can confirm that YES, there is a special line for pax with short connection times at AMS passport control...we have used it!;) Take good care of the Pacific Princess...we are sailing on her in June.

[Ine]

<<<If you do not have a boarding pass, you are supposed to go to one of the Transfer Desks in the terminal (they are in the gate section). Sometimes the lines here can be long (wrong time of day, several cancelled or delayed flights, etc.)

>>>

 

I know that there are now also machines near the transferdesk where you can print you boardingcards.

[Jimsgirl]

I would NOT risk it . I try to build in at least 2+ hours any time I have to change.

 

On a Cunard trip my plane from Fort Myers left 2 hours late, so I missed the connection at Atlanta (so did a number of other passengers.) Do NOT assume that the airline or the cruise line (if you booked the flight through them ) will help you.

 

The airline did not want to know, said the ticket was nontransferable, and that I would need to buy another ticket for the next plane, which would have meant going out of the security area and coming back.

 

Even after convincing them that since the airline was the one at fault and they should take responsibility, I had to go on standby , I did get on the next plane, getting to London that much later.

My luggge never made it, it (with a whole batch of others) was still on the tarmac in Atlanta, it would have to wait until the next day for a plane! Not only that but the Cunard rep who was supposed to meet me also failed to do so.

 

I know many passengers assume that the airline or the cruise line will assist you if the "miss" is not your fault, but that is simply not so. You are on your own.

[readboat]

My flight is with North West. I just went to the website and checked times and it is a 1hour 5 min lay over. They have other flights that day with the same wait time. I would think if they plan it that way it can be done or they will see that we get to the next plane on time.

If not, we wait for the next plane. We are flying in two days early.

[Karkies25]

Thanks Readboat, I agree.

 

We will risk it and hope for the best. We have two full days to get delayed prior to our ship's departure.

[Globaliser]

On a Cunard trip my plane from Fort Myers left 2 hours late, so I missed the connection at Atlanta (so did a number of other passengers.) Do NOT assume that the airline or the cruise line (if you booked the flight through them ) will help you.

 

The airline did not want to know, said the ticket was nontransferable, and that I would need to buy another ticket for the next plane, which would have meant going out of the security area and coming back.

Did you have two separate tickets? If so, then technically they may well have been correct.

 

But if you had a single ticket covering both halves of the connection, then the airline is contractually obliged to re-accommodate you as and when they can. So you shouldn't have had this attitude, even if you would have had the same result.

 

When through-tickets are more expensive than buying two separate tickets, protection is one of the things that you're paying for.

[Globaliser]

We have two full days to get delayed prior to our ship's departure.

If so, you have no worries. Take the 65 minute connection, because it's very likely to be all OK.

[FlyerTalker]

On a Cunard trip

If you bought the air through Cunard, there's the answer.

[Karkies25]

We bought the tickets on NWA.com (northwest's website)...so I am pretty sure they will take care of any delays/rebookings/etc if needed.

 

They are one ticket as well.

 

Happy Travels!