Help please...Indirect transfer question.

[kgarrigos]

Hi Everyone

I am going to Orlando on 22nd August and am going via Amsterdam and Detroit, I been reading the boards and have now started to worry about transfer times between flights.....are they long enough.I fly from Manchester to Amsterdam then have a 1 hour 10 min transfer time for flight to Detroit , then from Detroit a transfer time of 1 hour and 40 mins to Orlando , do you think this is long enough to do baggage , security and find next flight ,
It sounds enough time but im not sure now.

 

[scottishgirl87]

Have you booked a through ticket? Ie. you've booked it all in the one rather than booking each leg of your journey yourself? If you've got a through ticket I wouldn't be too worried, if the worst case is you miss one of your transfers it's down to the airline to get you on another flight as soon as possible.

I'm doing GLA-EWR-MCO and have 2 hours in EWR, this was the earliest connecting flight I could get and I choose this as if I miss it there was several other flights (almost every hour) going to MCO after it so the airline would have to try and get me on another one of the flights.

 

[disneyholic family]

Hi Everyone

I am going to Orlando on 22nd August and am going via Amsterdam and Detroit, I been reading the boards and have now started to worry about transfer times between flights.....are they long enough.I fly from Manchester to Amsterdam then have a 1 hour 10 min transfer time for flight to Detroit , then from Detroit a transfer time of 1 hour and 40 mins to Orlando , do you think this is long enough to do baggage , security and find next flight ,
It sounds enough time but im not sure now.

the transfer in amsterdam is no problem......you're not collecting luggage and not going through immigration, just running from one gate to the other to change planes...
i've done this many times with even less than an hour between flights....
you just race across the airport....
i always pull out the schiphol airport map when i'm on the plane and see what gate i'm coming into and where the other plane is leaving from so that i have an idea of where i'm headed...
you can even request that one of those little cars meets you at the gate and drives you through the halls to the other gate if you have trouble moving quickly in airports ...(my mom does this now and she says they're great)....

it's really not a problem in amsterdam...

as for detroit - there you're going to have to go through immigration, pick up your luggage, clear customs, then give your luggage back to the airline (just a few steps from customs), go through security again and then get to your gate....
you should be ok.....and i assume you're flying on one ticket...that is, the airline in detroit knows you're coming from an international flight....and if you miss the flight, the airline will take care of you...
by the way, there are several flights out of detroit to orlando, so even if you miss one, there's usually another one in a few hours....so it's not too critical...

detroit's a pretty easy place to cross into the US....the lines usually aren't that long since not that many international flights enter the US in detroit...

also detroit is a pretty easy airport to navigate....it's one of my favorite US airports....

one screwball thing....pay attention to the baggage carousels that your luggage is arriving on in detroit...every single time i've been on one of the amsterdam/detroit flights, they've unloaded the luggage onto TWO carousels at the same time...they're side by side, but really hard to watch at the same time.....it's insane....so pay attention....if your luggage is being unloaded onto two carousels, split up and watch both at the same time - unless you're one person like me...then you have to stand in the middle and try to watch both at the same time...psycho!! but doable....i've done it oodles of times...

 

[torsie24]

^^^ What they said!

I origianlyl had an 1 hr 15min connection in Detorit for October, and was worried, but heard great things about DTW immigration and was confident I'd have been OK.

Also, there are flights to Orlando from DTW less than every 2 hours, and the terminal looks great! So worse case scenario is you have to do a spot of shopping and get a Taco Bell for a bit.

(Just a note to make sure you;ve checked your times recentely, as my original DTW-MCO flight was brought back and hour adn a half - so my connection became -10 minutes!! I gave them a call and now have a 2hr 40 connection - yay Taco bell for me!)

 

[wayneg]

If your flights have no delays, get off the planes quickly, find your way around the airports easily, have no long lines at Immigration then you will be OK.
Many people like 2 hours minimum when going thru a change with immigration (I do) but it can be done in around 1 hour with no problems.
All down to what happens on the day.

 

[disneyholic family]

just thought of something...

check to see if you can get your boarding pass for the amsterdam flight when you check in for your flight in manchester...and if you can also get it for the detroit flight so much the better...
i suppose now with e-tickets, you'll have all the boarding passes with you in advance anyway...but just in case...

it will be a LOT easier if you already have your boarding pass for the amsterdam leg of your flight...so that all you have to do is race from one gate to the other..

also, make sure you check your luggage all the way through to orlando...
even though you'll be picking it up in detroit to clear customs, you'll give it right back to the airline and it has to already be checked all the way through to orlando to do that...

 

[kgarrigos]

Thanks everyone

I feel much more confident now,i have got an E ticket and will get all my boarding cards in one go i hope . Its a load off my mind now thanks again.

 

[disneyholic family]

Thanks everyone

I feel much more confident now,i have got an E ticket and will get all my boarding cards in one go i hope . Its a load off my mind now thanks again.

as one of the posters wrote, check your flights to make sure they haven't changed the times....they've been playing with their flight schedules, so you need to check to make sure the times of your flights haven't been changed without you being notified...

by the way, in detroit, they have an overhead little monorail train that goes through the terminal (indoors)....
i'm trying to remember where you come into the airport when you're on an international flight, but i can't remember...
but if by chance your orlando flight is at the very end of the terminal, you can take the overhead monorail to get there....
but you don't have to...detroit also has moving walkways all the way to the end......so you don't actually have to 'walk' the entire length of the terminal either..

it's really a good airport....one straight long terminal (for most of the flights...there's another parallel terminal for some of the commuter flights, but probably you won't be on those....i think....probably)..

anyway, it's a nice airport..

schiphol in amsterdam is a bit more difficult...multiple wings going off in every direction....D,E, F....whatever....you can end up having to run the mile to get from one gate to the other....follow the signs...it'll get you there....and remember that you don't cross immigration....so if you find yourself doing that, you're going the wrong way....
you can stop and ask directions if you get lost....