Originally Posted by stephem
How have the on-time arrivals (or I should say delays) been for the return MXP-YYZ this summer? The flight is supposed to arrive at 2pm, we are connecting to NW on a 4:30pm flight, although there is also a later 6-ish flight that NW says has room if we miss the first one. with a 2.5 hour cushion I expect we should make the 4:30pm flight, or am I mistaken about that? Any anecdotal evidence of actual arrival times of the MXP flight would be appreciated...
I would STRONGLY recommend just changing your flight to the later one. Even that one is not a guaranteed thing with a late MXP flight. I have connected on KLM AMS-YYZ-MSP with 2.5 hours at YYZ, and BARELY made it even before this week's new security rules.
You need to exit the plane, get your bag (if it comes--KLM lost mine, and based on reports here, it would be completely unsurprising if AZ lost yours!), and go to check in for the NW flight upstairs--and THEN you will be facing a quite -long US immigration line.
It's not terrible, as all the lines move quickly, but it's just that there are many hoops to jump through. If everything goes well, you could make the 2.5 hour connection, but barely. With the extra cushion, you won't be in such a big hurry.