Layovers for International Flights

For going, international flights departing from the US typically leave from the same terminal as domestic flights (except for some weird cities like SF) and so you need allow only 1.5 hours or so. On the way back, allow 2 in Minneapolis to deal with customs (which can get bogged up, it may take you 15 minutes, it may take you 45 minutes, there's no way to tell).

When leaving the US your passport and everything should be checked when you leave Jamestown. Even though you are going through Minneapolis, your first leg of your flight is considered International, that is why you use your passport. When I went through Dallas I had to change terminals but I never came out of the secure area.

On the way back, I am not sure how it will work for Florence to Amsterdam. I know that when I went form Rome to Milan and then on to Frankfurt I had to pick up my own bag and recheck in. Make sure you have enough time in Minneapolis. You will have to get your bags, go through imigration and customs, take your bags to the rechecking area and then go back through security. I just barely made my flight and I had about 1 hour and 45mins between my inbound international and my domestic home.

I have a couple of questions..

1. did you book this as a through fare on the same airline or a codeshare airline?

or did you book this as a point to point fare
meaning from Jamestown to MSP and then a SEPERATE ticket from MSP to AMS?

this is important on how long you allow and whether your baggage is checked through.

For international flights it is a 2-3 hour check in.

Perhaps you will have to change terminals...

I will take my wierd SFO airport any day...

like my nonstop routings much better than changing through SEA, ORD, or down to SFO if you fly out of PDX internationally

Greetings from a fellow North Dakotan!

Have you already booked Minneapolis-Amsterdam and Florence-Amsterdam-Minneapolis? And if so, are you trying to decide what time to fly from Jamestown to Minneapolis? Or do you want to book everything on one ticket and let Northwest worry about connection times in both directions?

Did you check to see if you can get better connection times by leaving from Fargo rather than Jamestown?

I always connect when flying internationally. Mine is Madison through Chicago and vice versa on the return. The airlines will let you book a fairly tight connection, but personally, I'm not comfortable with anything less than two hours. And sometimes I go earlier and catch the earlier flight on stand-by. But that's because I know O'Hare and I know Madison so I plan for that. On the return, I know that European flights can be late for a variety of reasons, so I don't want to be connecting to the last flight of the day. The last thing I want to do after a transatlantic flight is a bus ride or to rent a car to get home! So, see what the airlines recommend and then consider your own comfort leve.

Of course, if possible you should book with one airline or stay within one of the groups such as Star Alliance.

Pam

My tight conection in Dallas was done by the airlines. I thought it would be ok and didn't give it another thought until I was waiting for my extra bag. (hubby's in the military and I was bringing some things home for him) If I didn't have a checked bag I would have been ok with a hour and 45 mins. I don't ever want to run like that again through the airport.

There was another flight the airlines was trying to book me on that only had an hour between flights. Needless to say, I know better now.