Miscellaneous Forum

I'm flying to Belgium at Christmas to see my brother and sister-in-law. Because I am excited I'm checking out flights online to get a general idea of the prices. I am looking on a particular carriers website (a carrier I prefer to fly with) and they must be really stupid. I have a layover in Detroit which is fine then I fly into Amsterdam for a connecting flight into Brussels. The layover in Amsterdam is just 55 minutes. Who in their right mind thinks that somebody coming from the US can make it through customs and get on their flight ON TIME in 55 minutes? I'm sure it can be done, yes. But I did this same flight last year and let me tell you. It took 55 minutes just standing in line at customs!!!

I'm annoyed. This really isn't a question, more of a general comment.

If you're flying into Amsterdam, you might also like to take a train to Brussels from Schiphol Airport.

In the UK you don't need to go through customs in such an instance, merely follow the flight connections signs. If you are using a different carrier for the last leg then you may can check-in online.

That should be right. Once within the EU, you shouldn't have to have a long wait at customs for Amsterdam to Brussels.

Supposing you will be traveling in transit there will be not a problem at all.
The Dutch are in this respect of punctuality as good as the Germans.

Hello,
I can understand you very well. I donät fly so much but I always insist on having some two hours at least between the flughts. If there is more time, no problem as it will always take time to find the right gate and right place to check in.
Once I was really lucky to have a lot of times between flights: in MAdrid the luggage belt got broken and all luggage was cleared by hand to the planes. I was sitting inside the plane to see my own bag to come inside the same plane. After that I was fine; I was going to have my luggage with me and not in MAdrid.
Even though I lost two maps (copies of old maps of Madrid, nothing much at all but still..and a poster of a painting from one art museum. The poster didn't even belong to me).
But I was able to make my connecting flight to Finland from London with no problems at all.
regards,Soili

>>>>>>>>>Supposing you will be traveling in transit there will be not a problem at all. The Dutch are in this respect of punctuality as good as the Germans.<<<<<


This is usually so, but have you flown out of the US lately? Hours long delays are now routine and don't even think about being on time at a holiday period.
I second the earlier sugesstion to take the train. The platform is downstairs from the arrivals hall at Schiphol and the train will have you there in efficient comfort in no time.

Taking the train from Amsterdam to Brussels is a pretty good idea. My brother told me to look at flights just into Amsterdam and if I can save a lot of money he'll just come pick me up. I'll figure it out. I know when I went the last time it took over an hour just standing in line at customs so that's why I was a bit worried.

Oh, I hate when they do that! And if your original flight is 15 minutes late (either leaving or docking at arrival), you're completely screwed. Expedia loves to assume people can make connections given 20 minutes. ...And if the person is lucky and fast enough to actually do it, there's a 75% chance their suitcase wasn't fast enough.

We flew from Toronto to Paris with Air France .
We had one hour and 15 minutes to transfer to Malaga .
We never even came close to making ,we will NEVER accept that short of a connection again .
We even asked for special assistance to make it go faster but we still did not make it .
They got us there but with a 5 hour delay .

Hansi

When I book my flights, I always make sure my US layover is around three hours - this is not even customs, this is just making the US connection I need to get to Europe. I want to make sure if there are any issues with my flight I still have time to catch the next one.

Looking at the good part, isn't it great you are used to making reservations and noticed the connection time? I know people who book, then panic!

Yes we learned a lesson.

We got there just fine with no extra cost ,just a hassle two more stops and 5 hour longer then expected .

Hansi