We will be arriving in Geneva on a flight from the US at 7:40 am and transferring to a 8:50 flight to Munich. In looking at the recent flights, it seems like the first one usually arrives about 20 minutes early. Will we have to go through immigrations and customs in Geneva? Will we have a problem making our second flight?

The Geneva airport terminal is pretty small.

Securiy check is possible but no immigrations/customs at transits.

Meant to add, ... so as long as there is no delay of the first flight, it will be fine.

It is tight but doable if all works out. Is it a through-ticketed flight connection on the same or a partner airline? Then at least the onus is on the airline to accommodate you, if necessary on the next flight if you should miss the connection. If, however, you booked two independent legs on separate tickets, then you have reasons for nail biting.

If all goes according to plan you will have one hour and ten minutes. I would hope any baggage is checked all the way through...you are obsessing over something that probably isn't going to happen

You will enter the Schengen zone at GVA. There will be no passport control at Munich.

I believe you have to go through Immigration in Geneva - and the flight to Munich is domestic.

Geneva airport is small - but I don't know how long the line will be. IMHO you may well make it but no guarantee.

As long as it's a single ticket you're covered - if not - I would look at other options for the ongoing flight.

For flights coming from the USA you will have to go through passport control and security in Geneva before connecting to your flight to Munich. I've changed planes in Geneva a couple of times and it shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes to get to the connecting gate.

You shouldn't have any problems as long as your overseas flight isn't too late. As you noted, these flights often land a few minutes early.

I see you have a 7:40 arrival. I hope that you're not on the United flight from Dulles. They use really old planes on this route.

Yes, we are on the United flight from Dulles. We do have a single ticket for both flights and will check our baggage through to Munich. Thanks for all the helpful information; I'm going to stop stressing about it!

I think these type of stress, if any, comes from taking one of the binary positions: always misses or never misses. None of the assurances would be meaningful once the outcome of your particular flight becomes known.

I think it is more productive to think about what can you do now and on the day if you are not traveling on the flights as planned. This way, you can be more confident against different outcomes over betting on one outcome and stressing over if something else happens.

If there is a known delay several hours before your flight, the airlines "usually" send you a message if you want to be rerouted on different flights from the start to get you closer to the scheduled arrival time at the destination. Having studied alternate routes will give you a guidance on which of the alternatives are more desirable to you than the others. The airlines will try to push what THEY want you to fly.

If the connection becomes tight, there are three possible outcomes: both you and luggage make the connection, you make the connection but not your luggage, and neither you nor the luggage make the connection. Having known these possibilities, you can reconfigure your packing strategies to minimize the pain if you and luggage got separated. This usually can be done at no cost simply by thinking about what you would have liked to have ended up with if you are only left with your carry-on.

Are you thinking of making commitments on the arrival day based on your assumption of taking the 8:50 flight? Does it have to be done this way? If you have first 24 hours after arrival in Munich to be flexible, you would stress less even if you got put on a flight many hours later than your original plan. Many of these delay impact mitigation can be done at no cost if you have thought about them long before your flight.