We're going to valencia with the kids in October from Sheffield. Looking at flights with a 13, 11 and 7 year old.
Direct flights on the way back to manchester seem to have stopped so we're looking at something from stansted with a change in schipol with KLM and KLM City Hopper.
Both being KLM will our luggage & passports need rechecking? And if so, does 1hr15mins give us enough time?
Normally that would be loads of time. From memory you stay airside and just have to get between gates. There might be a need to go through a security/passport check but it's not the main one so very quick.
Everything would be checked through.
If it is one ticket then KLM would be confident you'd make the flight. That said it says allow 90 minutes on the Schiphol website...
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Yes in my experience.
If you book flights separately baggage won't automatically go through you'll have collect and check in again. Passport control will depend if you need to transfer between domestic and international areas. We've done it, nearly had to leave bags, it was stressful. No baggage or check through would be fine though.
I can't speak for the passport check, but, I made it from train to plane there (KLM) in 35 minutes including security. The queue guy took one look at my abject panic as I dashed towards the queue and let me skip the line.
So, you know, just look desperate.
Also, if you miss it you can always remember that deadmau5 missed a flight by seconds and then it crashed...so you might be better of for having missed it 😉
If it’s a single ticket and KLM will put you on a later flight if you are delayed then yes. If the risk is with you then I’d say no.
I asked a similar question a few ago when we were travelling Norwich-Schipol-Munich & back. It all worked perfectly BUT we only had hand luggage.
My most recent (last 3 months) transfers through Schiphol have both been quick and easy, one was 16 minutes from seatbelts off to arriving at the next gate.
The only real issue is passport control. If you are early and it is busy you will barely move, as those on a tight transfer time get moved to the front of the queue.
It worked ok for me last April from Belfast to Stavanger via Schiphol, I was sceptical but my main concern was if the first leg was late arriving. Recently coming back with BA from Zurich to Belfast via Heathrow my inbound flight was late, when I asked at Connections they said they have 35 min minimum for transferring, I was less than that so they just put me on the next flight, no problems but again flying just with hand luggage. Good luck 👍
Nearly went totally wrong for me going from Kristiansand => schipol => heathrow.
Was late leaving KRS cos there was a queue for the de-icing machine, then there was a strong headwind that made it slow going to AMS, then there was some snafu that meant we had to use a gate that was a) miles away from the runway (long taxi time), b) miles away from the terminal (long bus ride from the plane), c) miles from one gate to the other, with a passport thing in the middle
Both flights were with KLM and they were super on it. They moved me to the front of the KRS => AMS plane just before landing and had told the gate for AMS => LHR that i'd be late. I still had to run like mad and be obnoxious at the internal passport thing (i just brazenly skipped the queue and leveled with the police guy who was sound*). I got to the gate ~3 min before scheduled take off. KLM team were great and had an ice cold bottle of water read to hand to me and were also waiting near the gate and told me I could stop running now 😍.
Obviously my bags didnt make it (25kgs of tripods and arctic clothing!) so they got delivered the next day.
Anyway, lesson learned for me, id far rather a 2-2.5 hour layover and chill with a coffee than do all that bollocks again.
* edit: yes there was a thing where i was supposed to be able to skip the queue but it was about 10pm, there was only one queue and nobody (other than the police in the booths) was working there
I think that might be a bit close. A lot of the smaller city hopper planes are a bus ride away from the terminal at Schiphol.
Ryanair fly castellon to Manchester. Just up the coast and only 25 quid in sep, Oct not showing avails yet. I d get a taxi or train to castellon.
Going from UK-Netherlands-Spain, you enter Schengen area at Amsterdam, so it is a 'full' passport immigration with biosecurity taken, but it is between parts of the terminal. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-entryexit-system 1 hr 15 is tight. But if you miss the connection because of a flight delay or delays in the airport then you'll be put on the next KLM flight. That all assumes one through ticket. Separate tickets with bags, absolutely not.
You can use google flights with the map to search for 'Spain' and then direct 'no stops' flights to find alternatives. I would generally prefer a train ride / car rental to a connecting flight on short hauls.
You can use google flights with the map to search for 'Spain' and then direct 'no stops' flights to find alternatives. I would generally prefer a train ride / car rental to a connecting flight on short hauls.
That's what I do, looking for the best combination with fewer stops, ideally one flight and then onwards by train, if possible, rather than two or more flights. But that's me travelling on my own, not with family in tow.
We nearly didn't make it with that because of the passport queues in spite of getting to jump the queue. If all 4 of us hadn't been happy to run we'd have missed the flight. Plane door shut right behind us and there had been people trying to make the same connection who didn't.
Schipol used to be a brilliant connection, but wary now.
doable if hand luggage only and your first flight isn't delayed. Memories of coming back from Madrid on a delayed KLM flight, feeling my connection slip away but thinking it was worth a try as it was from the same terminal. Unfortunately tho a floor down which meant a 10 min sprint in a suit and thru security...
Is it not easier to just add the hour and a quarter on to your UK journey and get a direct flight from LHR (or LTN) rather than messing around in Schipol?
I don’t have recent experience of connecting flights there, but the queues at Schipol have been quite astonishingly long, the last couple of times I’ve flown from there.
Years ago I did Glasgow Schiphol Tokyo with 90 minutes. It seemed ok til the Glasgow takeoff was delayed over an hour and a half. Incredibly the pilot must have max beaned it across the north sea with a tail wind, we landed with maybe 15 minutes spare and ran like ****. We had no idea if our skis were going to make it til they appeared in Tokyo and we couldn't believe it, frankly.
So if you are booked through on KLM, probably. If not, then I'd be praying everything was on time.
But I'd be nervous
Go via Alicante instead. then it's an easy 2 hour ish train to Valencia.
Source: Just did this as no direct flights.
Immigration queues at Schipol have been pretty terrible recently - the non-EU immigration queue is 20-30 mins most of the recent times that I've been through there.
However - Schipol have just switched over to a new passport control system where you do your biometric checks at a set of machines in the main terminal concourse, then go through automated passport scanners in the immigration hall. Then someone stamps your passport after that. There were no queues at all last week when I went through, but both LHR and Schipol were very very quiet - possibly because of the troubles in Iran meaning there were no flights in/out of the big hubs in the Middle East.
I would say 1hr15 is pretty tight, personally. Bear in mind that boarding is usually 30 mins before departure, and doors close approx 15 mins after that, so you are down to an hour. Schipol is also a pretty big airport so you could easily spend 20 mins walking to/from the gates.
I would look for a set of flights that give you more time between...
I've have spent loads of time at Schiphol. Is 1.15 enough? - in theory. I have made connections in under an hour but sometimes you luggage may not. It's a vast airport so check which gates you are going from as the walk with kids will take longer.
As others have said , passport control getting into Schiphol was always a challenge. But that shouldn't affect you (just read the above, last time I went was pre Brexit - so it will do). That changes my answer to allow 1.45 at least ....
As others have said , passport control getting into Schiphol was always a challenge. But that shouldn't affect you
Coming from the UK you are going from non-Shengen to the Shengen area, so you will have to go through passport control...