It never hurts to ask one more time ( and a Schengen observation)

You will go through immigration (passport control) in Dusseldorf and if your suitcase was checked all the way to Florence then through customs in Florence.

Thanks for the clarification Ilja.

proof that it never hurts to ask....

Hope you made it.

It just all depends on who you ask and how helpful they feel like being at the time. Glad it worked out for you.

Good morning from Italy.

FWIW We made our connection in Dusseldorf with 1/2h to spare. If you are traveling on a connecting flight at that convienient airport, the signage is good, they have 2 transfer desks at strategic locations where you can ask questions, there is immigration/passport control (2 officers for just a handful of people) just for those making connecting flights and going from the international terminal C to the connecting terminal B for our domestic flight was a fairly quick walk. We even had time to buy a coffee and relax for a few minutes.

Interesting -- I have a kind-of similar issue with our upcoming flights on Norwegian. We are flying to Berlin, and the return tickets we originally booked had a 6-hour layover in London. I really wanted to spend some time in London again, so I called to inquire about changing our flight to leave Berlin a couple of days earlier and fly out of London on the previously-booked date.

The first time I called, the agent told me that he'd be able to make the change but that would be final with no further changes possible. For whatever reason, my husband didn't want to change the ticket right there and then, so I told the rep I would call later to make the change. Once I finally talked the husband into the whole London stayover thing, I called the airline again to change the ticket. This time, another agent told me that actually they cannot cancel one leg of the return flight and advised me to book another ticket from Berlin to London and then book our originally booked return flight in London. Just call them a couple of days in advance to let them know...

I thought that was fine at the time, and we did book another Berlin-London flight (also through Norwegian). Thinking on it now, I'm getting kind of worried, because I'd been under the impression that if you fail to show up for one leg of a flight, they usually cancel the rest. You guys think I should call the airline again before we leave the U.S.? Or do as the agent said and call them a couple of days before the flight to let them know we won't be on the first leg?

I think you should call them ASAP and see if they will join your newly purchased Berlin to London ticket with the second leg of your London to Seattle ticket that you want to keep. This IS tricky because your new ticket starts earlier than the part of the ticket that you don't want to use. They might allow this if they have provisions for an extended "layover" in London that meets the number of days you are hoping to have. They also might just link them because the new ticket is also in the same direction/airports and your names remain the same on all documents. See if they can join the two record locator numbers into one record even though they are on different dates.

Ultimately if you wait until a few days before your original travel date and are told no again, you have 2 choices. 1.) use your original Berlin to London to Seattle ticket and skip the nice stay over London on this trip (and try to forgive your husband) OR 2.) Use the ticket you just bought, Berlin to London and book yet another ticket on Norwegian for London to Seattle. Pretty costly IMHO for a little extra time in London. There will be other good Norwegian priced flights to London for you in the future.