kanne

I am flying from the US through Amsterdam en route to Geneva. I fly from the US on Delta and fly KLM to Geneva. These airline tickets were booked separate from each other. I believe I have to clear customs in Amsterdam. Will three hours be enough time if my flight arrives reasonably close to on time? Will I clear customs again in Geneva since Switzerland is not in the EU?

And one more question, my husband will be on similar flights the previous day, however his tickets WERE purchased together. Will customs be any different for him because of this? He only has 2 hours between flights.

Thank you!

greg

With your routes, both of you, customs is at Geneve and it is just a formality if you have nothing to declare. That is you just walk through "nothing to declare" entry. The passport control takes place at AMS followed by carry-on check. These two processes can vary, but last two trips this has been less than 20min. I am comfortable down to 1hr layover at AMS for Delta to KLM transfer. Last two layovers at AMS from the US were 35min off the Delta plane to the KLM to Zurich waiting lobby in 35min (mostly because the KLM gate was at the very tip of the C concourse) and another one was 30min to AF waiting lobby to Paris. He would likely to have a boring 90min wait at the KLM departure gate.

I think the difference between the two tickets is that you are not protected from Delta delay causing you to miss your KLM flight. Neither Delta nor KLM is responsible to provide you with a US to Geneve flight. Delta was only responsible for US to AMS and KLM was responsible for AMS to GVA. In case of your husband's ticket, KLM or Delta or whoever issued the entire passage is responsible for providing him with US to GVA flight. The carrier is responsible for fixing the missed connection.

I think even you can have your luggage checked all the way to GVA since Delta and KLM are code share partners with luggage transfer agreement. Also I presume Delta can issue KLM AMS-GVA boarding pass at the same time you get you Delta boarding pass. If not, you have enough time to get a boarding pass at AMS. If you can travel with carry-on alone, you don't have to worry about any chance of not being able to check you luggage straight to your destination. Perhaps your husband can carry some of your luggage. What you want to avoid is having to retrieve luggage and then having to do check-in with luggage using general AMS counter.

xyz123

Two things.....you should be okay but why did you purchase the tickets separately....DL and KLM are indeed code share partners and booking connecting flights with both of them via AMS should be very routine. As a matter of fact, have you looked closely. depending on your US gateway, you might actually be flying KLM to Amsterdam as Delta and KLM/Air France do a lot of code sharing.

Switzerland, despite the fact it is not part of the eu, has joined to the best of my knowledge the Schengen agreement and therefore no immigration formalities are equired on flights from the Netherlands to Switzerland. As noted, customs is usually just a case of following the signs nothing to dec;are/

kanne

Thank you both so much for your detailed replies. My tickets were booked separately because the main leg to Amsterdam was a frequent flier ticket using Alaska miles, plus at the time we were not sure if we would be staying in Amsterdam a few days or flying immediately on to Geneva. My flight to AMS is operated by Delta. My flight to Geneva is operated by KLM.

I understand that for my ticket KLM does not have an obligation to me if I arrive late on Delta. Hopefully the three hour window is enough of a cushion.

Great suggestion about having my husband take any checked baggage! I may not have thought of that easy way to simplify things on my own. It appears that we each have an allowance of one free checked bag each on both the Delta & KLM flights so that should cover us.

Thanks again!

Dukey1

3 hours at Schiphol is PLENTY of time in that VERY efficient airport.

hetismij2

Your husband's bag wil be checked through - he will just go through the separate passport control and security area to enter the Schengen area of Schiphol without reclaiming his bags. He can then go to his gate.

If your bags can't be checked through then you will need to go through passport control, baggage reclaim and customs then you go to departures, where, assuming you have already checked in online and have a boarding pass, you check your bag in - you can do that at one of the self serve machines with KLM, head to the Schengen section of the airport where you will first go through security, but no longer need to go through passport control. You will need to show you have a passport though.
If you haven't checked in online for that leg then go to a machine in departures and check in before going to a self serve machine to check your bags. Plenty of ground staff there to help and advise you.