Happy day to all!

My wife and I will be flying KLM to Madrid via Schipol Airport/Amsterdam. Anyone with experience connecting out of this LARGE aerodrome? It gets better, we have one hour to make our Mardid flight. Looking for a website with a diagram of Schipol. Thanks folks.

turbokid

This is simple enough. Go to http://www.schiphol.nl/ , click on the union jack for english, click on transfers, click on maps.

Amsterdam is one of the airports were I would feel comfortable with a one hour transfer. But I have not been there, nor transferred there post-9/11.

Best wishes,

Rex

I have had a few transfers there including one to Madrid, all went very smoothly ! Very well organised airport. One hour should be fine.

Hi

Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) is a pretty nice airport. The whole airport is located in one terminal so transferring is pretty eaqsy. Just remember that you sometimes have to go through passport control when you move from one part of the terminal to another and sometimes there can be lines. Good luck.

Regards
Gard
www.gardkarlsen.com

Yeah I would also feel rather confident about a 1 hour transfer there. But as has been said since this is a single-terminal airport it is HUGE..so expect to walk fast for some time
And if something bad should happen everyone there speaks excellent english and was friendly last time I was there...

Cobos

I thought we had our boarding passes & seat assignments but after we hiked from the far end of the D-Pier to the far end of the F-Pier we were told that we had to return to the Transfer Desk in the main Concourse to get new ones.

The map Ron told you about tells how many minutes it should take from point to point but we move slowly so take those estimates with a grain of salt. If your bags are checked through, you should be able to make it in an hour barring unforeseen circumstances.

I have used Schiphol many times and it is a very efficient and attractive airport. Ironically, last year we chose Schiphol as a transfer point over Heathrow (which I try to avoid whenever possible), and the baggage system broke down, leaving most of our connecting flight without baggage. We did get our the next day. This, however, was a very untypical experience.

If your baggage has been checked through (as it should be), a one hour transfer should not be a problem.

We used to live in MSP, a Northwest hub and so often flew KLM, a Northwest partner. Still do. I had read of luggage problems (overloaded system) but have never experienced any and like the others above have always found our way around Schipol without problems. You should be fine. The only bad thing is you won't get a chance to see the city. With any layover of 5 hours or more, you can easily hop a fast train into the city, see a few sights and still return without problems to board your connecting flight. All that and wonderful shopping, makes Schipol one of the best airports in the world IMO.

I missed a connection at Schiphol a few years ago because I got stuck in a long line going through Customs. They put me on a later plane, no problem, but told me that I should have jumped to the head of the line because I was trying to make a connection. Since it is not in my nature to just cut in front of dozens of people ahead of me, I wonder if there is an etiquette to jumping the line when you're truly in a hurry to meet a plane. Any suggestions?

Just ask politely if you can go first since you might miss your flight otherwise. I have never seen anyone object to this, and I have often flown from Schiphol. As everyone said, it's a very easy airport to get around.
And by the way, KLM has just sacked a dozen or so luggage handlers, because they were smuggling drugs, so your luggage should be just fine now!

My only reservation is the sheer size of the place. I've made transfers in less time there, but I've wished for an electric scooter, to do it

I suppose the genius of Schiphol lies in the fact that someone above thinks it is all located "in one building" when, in fact, it is in several.
Why are you worried about something you have absolutely no effective control over now that you've bought and paid for the tickets...and noone else's experiences, good or bad, are really accurate predictors of what will happen to you on the day you fly. If you DO get delayed there will at least be plenty to occupy your time if you wish.
Have a pleasant trip.

I'm not sure what JonJon means when he says that Schiphol is in several buildings. The gates are organized into several different "wings" (A-F, as I recall), but they are all under one roof, unlike for example, Heathrow or Charles DeGaulle. So you won't need to transfer between buildings.

Unless things have changed with the recent renovation, one odd thing about Schiphol is that you often (always?) go through the metal detector and carry-on scanner at the individual gate. The last time I copnnected there, about 18 months ago, my arriving flight was late. The monitor showed that my departing flight was boarding. I ran through the terminal, sure that I'd miss the connection, but when I reached the gate the line for security was still slowly moving through, so I ended up actually having to wait. It gave me a chance to catch my breath.

As somebody mentioned, a while back there were problems with baggage transfers there (and mine was delayed twice), but that's supposed to have been remedied.

Agreed. Schiphol is in one building, albeit a very big one. And if your flight leaves its point of origin on time you'll almost certainly arrive in Amsterdam early (the winds blow in that direction, giving the plane a little extra speed). An hour ought to be fine. I did the reverse connection Madrid-Amsterdam-Detroit last year with about an hour and it worked out fine. (They were boarding when I got to the Detroit-bound gate, tho).

turbokid,

Ditto on the info about Schipol being a big place but all under one roof. We have almost always had to go thru passpost control even when passing from one "wing" to anther which can be a big delay. When we felt we were having to cut it too close we did the "Excuse me, pardon me, I'm sorry" thing to get up to the front of the line and nobody seemed to object. Again, then we ran all the way to the gate and arrived with way more than enough time in spite of them repeating "Final call for Boarding for flght to Madrid" several times.

Maria