My 13yo daughter and I are taking a trip this summer to Europe...a first for both of us. We are flying open jaw into Budapest, spending 4 days there, then traveling to Serbia for a 2-week ballet intensive. At the end of this intensive, we have decided to fly to London for 2-3 days before catching our return flight to the US which leaves from Amsterdam (used Skymiles from my father and this was the flight plan they came up with to only use 50,000 for each of us round-trip).

My questions (I have several, but I'll confine myself to one or two for this posting): We are going to fly from London to Amsterdam on the same date that we are leaving from Amsterdam to US. We will fly into Amsterdam on the cheapest flight I can find (using cheap air search engines). This will not be the same airline which we fly home to US (NW). How much time do I need to allot for the layover? Will we clear customs and then have to go out and check luggage and clear security again? HELP?????
Kellye
P.S. Thanks!

Hi K,

>We will fly into Amsterdam on the cheapest flight I can find...<

What time is your flight out of AMS.

If your inbound flight is late, you are out of luck.

I agree with Ira. I would strongly recommend spending your last night in Amsterdam so that you don't have to worry about any possible delays etc from London.

Remember that low cost airlines, while great for low cost, have no obligation to provide you with alternate transportation if a flight is cancelled.

And if you miss a flight through your fault, your carrier to the US may not be able to get you home promptly.

I wouldn't chance it either.

&quot;<i>your carrier to the US may not be able to get you home promptly</i>&quot; - It could be even worse than that. If you are on a discounted fare of any sort you might end up having to buy a full fare walk-up ticket on a next available flight.

Definitely fly into A'dam a day ahead. Or, at the very least, <u>many</u> hours before your flight home. But since most US bound flights leave in the morning or early afternoon - that is difficult. I'd just plan on going to Amsterdam the night before.

Well, now that we've heard the usual &quot;kneejerk&quot; responses how about giving us some FACTS as to what time your flight leaves AMS for the US and how early tou THINK you might arrive in AMS from London.

Agreed - How long do you have?

When is your flight from London supposed to land and when does your flight out of AMS leave? Without that info it's hard to give a specific answer. All one can do is point out the dangers of missing a flight that's on a separate ticket.

Our flight to the U.S. leaves Amsterdam at 1:10PM. The earliest we could arrive in Amsterdam that morning is 8:30AM--the latest option for arrival in Amsterdam before our flight is about 11:50 (I know that is out!). If we came in on the 8:30AM flight, that would be 4-1/2 hours--surely that would be enough time. There are other options that I thought might be workable with the latest arrival at 10:50AM. There are 4 or 5 options that morning. I just need to figure out which one to choose.

Does this help more? Thanks!
Kellye

P.S. I don't want to leave London on Monday night because we want to go and see &quot;The Sound of Music&quot; on Monday evening--my daughter loves the movie version and we are looking forward to seeing it on stage.

Sure - 4.5 hours is more than plenty. Your problem is the flights are on different tickets and if the cheap flight into A'dam is cancelled that day, or has mechanical problems, or is delayed you have absolutely no recourse.

Just last month I had a flight out of LGW to Cork - an hour's flight - piece of cake right? Well, if I had had a connection I would have been SOL because we sat on the tarmac at LGW for over an hour because we lost our take off slot and ended up landing more than 90 minutes late.

If your flights were all on the same ticket you'd be OK because they would put you on the next available flight home. But if you book a discount airline and on a separate ticket nobody owes you anything.

probably you will be fine - but it certainly is a gamble.

Kellye
Would it be possible to buy a ticket from London to Amsterdam on the same carier that is taking you to the US.

That way, even if the four plus hours becomes a problem, they will see that you get home. Also, they will transfer luggage for you.

It might be worth a little extra cost to book with the same airline, or a partner airline.

Interesting suggestion about the carrier.... I checked the flight schedule at Northwest's website and all it would quote me were first class fares at $500+ per ticket. I don't know if I called them if it would improve.

I know that nothing is fullproof, but another fairly inexpensive option was to take a British Airways flight instead of a Easy Jet flight. For those of you who travel more frequently...do you think that is more likely to get me there that morning even if there are problems with a particular airplane?

The point is you are simply not protected if you book separate tickets -- budget carrier, &quot;legacy&quot; carriers, or even the same carrier.

You will probably be fine - but if not you'll need to buy a full fare ticket in Amsterdam.

It is always a crap shoot booking a different ticket to make a connection.