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I have a flight with a short transfer time (45 min) in AMS coming up - both flights on KLM, one booking. As the trip is UK to Germany, I figured I will have to go through passport control in Amsterdam. KLM's "Easy transfer video" (found on this site) mentions a "short connection lane" that can be used if the flight is listed on the information monitor above that lane (at 1:43min).

My question is: Does anyone know how long before the scheduled departure time a flight will appear on said screen? I'm asking because being a German citizen, in my experience the actual inspection time is negligible compared to the waiting time and there might be some point in time when waiting a bit for the flight to appear on the short connection list is faster than immediately queuing at the regular lane.

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    I can not find up to date official information. But I would not hang about to get the shorter lines. Select the line nearest the special fast lane and if your flight comes up while waiting, switch lines if it seems better. It is very well possible that you will be through the check before your flight is up for the fast line.
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Jun 29, 2016 at 17:41
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    I used the short connection line, flight from Schengen to outside, 55 minutes transfer time, I arrived at the queue, my flight was there already on monitor, I passed through a thick group of people, ask Security to let me in short lane, she checked my boarding pass, checked screen over head, and let me in. 2 minutes from then on only for immigration.
    – DavChana
    Commented Jun 29, 2016 at 20:39
  • KLM has excellent customer service, both by phone and social media. I suggest you ask them, as this can differ per flight and gate.
    – Summer
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 7:29
  • I've tweeted them, here's hoping for a quick response.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 14:18

2 Answers 2

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According to this image on flickr:

enter image description here

The short connection lane opens 35 minutes before departure. However, I suspect this is tweaked somewhat depending on passenger load in other lanes.

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So, the official response from KLM wasn't as ideal as we hoped, but I tweeted them and got this.

My question:

The Short Connection Lane (mentioned on your easy transfer video) - how many minutes before a flight does it appear in that lane? Thks!

Their response:

The short connection lane is available at Schiphol between Schengen and non-Schengen. There is a check point with a screen.

On this screen, the flight numbers and sometimes the classes that can use the lane are mentioned.

The number of minutes will depend on the transfer procedure.

I responded:

Thanks for looking into it. So there's no fixed number of minutes at which point a flight appears on the screen?

Eg all flights with 35 min transfer are valid, or all flights with 45 min ...

Their response:

We cannot inform you of that, it just depends if your flight number is included with the other flights. We hope this clarifies.

So long story short, it basically just depends on their decision at the time, it appears.

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    That is indeed not ideal at all. As a last general tip, if you are at schiphol, don't hesitate to ask airport staff (preferably klm staff in this case) for help on this matter. If you think you are going to be late or need anything done, ask for help. You could even ask one of the flight attendants in the plane before landing.
    – Summer
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 14:27

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