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Schipol Amsterdam transfers.

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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 02:40 AM
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Schipol Amsterdam transfers.

I am flying from Manchester to Buenos Aires ( EZE) in November on KLM. I booked on the KLM website.
The transfer time in AMS is 1h10 mins. I am uneasy about this . Sometimes KLM flights land in Schipol from MAN on a very distant runway and take a long time to taxi to the gate.I have also been booked on a KLM flight from MAN to AMS in the past which was cancelled ( in Winter) because of the weather. That is even before we have a bus transfer to the terminal. We are restricting our luggage to carry on .
I've been on the website and have been told that if I miss my connection ( on a through ticket) they will rebook me on the next flight. They can't tell me the routing and every other flight which was on offer when I booked takes about double the time.
I am nervous about this as we are due to meet my (adult) daughter in B.A. who is travelling alone from LHR. We are booked in an apartment in San Telmo.
She is not bothered - and by dint of some searching , found her direct B.A. flight for £200 less than ours after we booked! Whilst we wish we'd waited- there we are!
I also cannot tell whether we have to do passport control in Schipol as the video on transfer says that if you arrive from outside Schengen ( except the UK) and fly to a non- Schengen country you do not have to go through passport control. However it doesn't say what happens if you arrive from the U.K. in these circumstances.
Can anyone help please?
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 03:22 AM
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As far as I can tell KLM flights from Manchester land at D gates and the BA flight leaves from E, which means you just walk to you gate on arrival, assuming you have your boarding passes.
The runway used depends on the weather, but they always bear in mind the length of time to get from the far runway to the terminal, arrival time on a timetable is time at the gate, so you should have plenty of time.
There is nothing to be done about bad weather cancelling flights. Your daughter could just as easily be affected at LHR as you an Manchester or Schiphol.

I assume your previous trips to Schiphol were not on KLM but EasyJet or similar -they are put on a far pier and that does involve a lot of walking, and sometimes bus transfers. KLM normally does not.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 03:36 AM
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Thank you for your response. Our daughter has a direct flight from Heathrow to Buenos Aires on British Airways.
Our previous flights into AMS on the distant runway were on KLM but I must admit it was some time ago and maybe things have changed.
This information is exactly the sort of knowledge I was looking for.
Do you happen to know whether KLM offer a bidding process for Business Class upgrades about a month before departure? We have come across this on both Etihad and Finnair recently and wonder if it might be on offer?
Many thanks indeed
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 04:37 AM
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Why not just switch to an earlier flight to AMS so you have more time on the ground in case of delays along the way.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 04:42 AM
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Its a no-change ticket or otherwise I would have. It is a lesson in questioning the connection times when you book even though you are booking with the airline itself.
I was wondering whether to approach them ( despite the no-change provision ) and point out that a failure in connection will almost certainly mean a much much later arrival time. It is not as if we are connecting for example to Paris where I presume there would be many options. Anyone have any view on this?
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 05:40 AM
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I fly KLM regularly and transfer thru AMS on each occasion. I do have to go through passport control at AMS and I do agree with you, that sometimes the plane lands at a distant runway and it takes an absolute age to get to the gate.

Also, KLM does bus the passengers from the plane to the terminal but that seems to only happen on the KLM Cityhopper flight that I take in/out of AMS. It does not happen on the LHRAMS flights, at least not IME. It might not happen on the MANAMS flight. I don't get emails asking if I want to upgrade to business class but I do get emails asking if I want to book a better seat. Nevertheless, I would not worry about the connection time, KLM would not allow it to be booked if there was little chance of making it. I've done many short connections on KLM to the Dutch carribean and it was all fine.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 06:05 AM
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As I said, the runway has nothing to do with where the flight originates, it depends entirely on the wind and weather which of the several runways is used. It does take a while to taxi in from the Polderbaan, but the arrival time in the timetable is the time at the gate.
KLM obviously consider it a legal transfer and will do everything they can to ensure you get your onward flight should you be delayed.
The weather is the big unknown in it all and obviously could cause a problem, but as I said it could just as easily cause a problem for your daughter at LHR.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 08:23 AM
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Let us be perfectly CLEAR:

YOU are the one who knew when you booked these flights what the "connection times" would be and you went ahead and booked them

there is no way an airline is going to change a flight because you are NOW worried about a connection time which the airline has clearly advertised, and marketed, as being reasonable.

They will say you are worried for no reason and from what I can tell, you ARE. You have absolutely no idea upon which runway the arriving flight will land; you have no idea whether or not it will land on time; you are assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that your departing flight will even leave on time.

I suggest you plan with your daughter some sort of mechanism to link, wait, meet whatever IF you are late.

Nobody here can HELP you with this.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 08:38 AM
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If you tried a just a little bit harder, you could be really unpleasant and unsympathetic, FFS.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016 | 08:52 AM
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Short connections can be unnerving....I had about 70 min in London last week.
( made it only because of the fast track line )
Good luck !
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Old Aug 7th, 2016 | 06:00 AM
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Yes I also had a short connection in Arlanda last week - 1h5mins which was actually only 25 mins as our flight in from Finland was late- but we made it.
Thank you
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Old Aug 7th, 2016 | 06:20 AM
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You should be able to download a plan of the airport showing you the location of your departure gate and the time it takes to get there from whatever part of the airport you land at and the route to take,

You can ask the plane steward/ess to assist you as well; if things are tight they may let you off the plane first.
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