Originally Posted by
kjnangre
The same flight number most definitely does not mean that DL will hold the 2nd plane. Actually, it offers you no benefits whatsoever. It does mean that you get fewer miles (DL will calculate the distance from your origin to AMS, rather than the sum of the distances of your 2 flights).
Yes you are entitled to a free change.
I also would not want a 46min connection to an international flight. I would take the early morning flight.
You don't mention where your origin is (I'm guessing based on the flight times that it's on the West Coast). In which case, consider switching to SEA-AMS, SLC-AMS, LAX-AMS, SFO-AMS etc to avoid the 4-hour connection.
The full route is PHX-MSP-AMS-TXL. We paid $180/pp more for this routing to get to Berlin as early as possible (compared to a 19:42 MSP-AMS leg). That's the one I'd be afraid an IIROPS would result in and I know I'd never see our $360 again.
If I move to 07:30 we have a 3.25hr connection in MSP; I guess in my agitation I did the math wrong. I checked alternatives and we can't do much better than that (2.5hr if we go PHX-JFK-CDG-TXL, or 3hr if we go PHX-ATL-CDG-TXL, both of these on Air France).
So thank you for your help. I will call them to get moved to the earlier flight to Minneapolis.