Originally Posted by babarhashmi1

I’ll be arriving from New York to Amsterdam early morning on KLM (I’m a US citizen). However, I will need to self-transfer as my next flight is to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. I have purchased two separate tickets and will need to pick up luggage from baggage claim.

1) My question is, I only have 5 hours in between the two flights (from the time I land into AMS from JFK to the time my flight to IST departs). Is this sufficient time to clear immigration, pick-up baggage, clear customs, re-check my bags for the next flight and get my boarding pass for the next flight and re-clear passport control?

2) On the return leg, it’s the exact same situation as above (i.e., I will be arriving from IST into AMS on Turkish Airlines and then self-transferring onto a KLM flight for JFK). My total connection time available on the return leg is even less, it’s only 3 hours. Do you think I’ll be able to make it with checked bags that would need to be picked up and re-checked (as well as the fact that I’d have to go through passport control twice)?