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Transferring in Amsterdam, concerned about layover time

Hello Travel Experts -

I’m looking into flights for a visit next September. The flight home I’m considering is on Delta and the routing is DBV-AMS-ATL. All on one ticket with Delta. The layover in AMS is only 1 hour 15 minutes, which seems a little tight and I think we have to go through passport control because we are leaving the EU?. We would pay extra to get a seat up front for the flight from DBV to AMS so we can get off the plane quickly.

Is this doable or should I keep looking for other flights?

Thank you.

Posted by
303 posts

It is doable. That’s what our connection was going from FCO (Rome) to AMS to SEA in October, 2023 on KLM-Delta. EU exit passport control was via the E-gates.

Posted by
21221 posts

If your flight is severely delayed on the DBV>AMS leg, you will have to wait until the following day, but KLM should pay for that if the delay is their fault. But 1 hour and 15 minutes is a legal connection time, and should be doable.

Posted by
248 posts

We also had tight connection Atl/Amsterdam/Basel (1 hour 45 minutes). It was very easy and only took 30 minutes from gate to gate going through immigration on the way. As long as flight is on time you should have plenty of time.

Posted by
8338 posts

We flew home from Athens making a 50 minute connection at Schiphol. We had asked our travel agent about the short time frame and they said it should not be a problem.

Well, they told us wrong. We had to make a long, long hike to another terminal to catch the flight to Atlanta. It didn't bother my wife who rides a folding portable scooter, but it got to me as I was towing two carryon rolling bags.

I'm not saying you cannot make the flight. But I hope you can walk very fast. In our case, there were no backup flights from AMS to ATL.

An option is that if you miss the flight, catch the first flight the next day. The Schiphol Van der Valk airport hotel is maybe the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in and they have a free shuttle to the airport terminal.

Posted by
8179 posts

Realistically it is likely that a flight scheduled to leave in September 2025 is going to have a schedule change between now and then.

Posted by
20470 posts

If the thought of arriving a lot later messes with you, then find a better connection. If you can deal witha 1 in 10 chance of the delay, then choose it.