hello there, i have to transfer at schiphol on the 23rd of dec flying manchester to bucharest, i have found a lot of information about this online but not info on exactly what i will have to do when i get there, when i get to schiphol where exactly do i go?
do i have to go to one of their machines to print off a boarding pass? or do i go straight to security checks?
has anybody done it before and could they give me a bit of a talk through exactly what i need to do and where i need to go when i get there?
i only have 55 minutes to transfer so im really worried!
=can i use their priority lanes for short connections??
im willing to run and run and run as soon as i get off that plane, i just need to be sure of where to go!!!
any help always very much apprechiated
thanks
james

Have you even flown before?

You check in from Manchester. You get both boarding passes. Including the one for Bucharest which will have the boarding gate already . At AMS, you check to see which gate you're supposed to go to and you go to that respective gate. You DO NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH IMMIGRATION / CUSTOMS as you're transferring from international to international flights.

55 mins is fine for AMS.

Welcome to Flyertalk , anyway. Do come back and tell us how it went...

It's unlikely that the gate for Bucharest will be printed on the boarding pass when issued at Manchester - but you can easily check which gate your next flight departs from when you arrive at Schiphol by checking the departure monitors, or if you are a nervous flyer and need reassurance, by queueing up at one of the "Transfer" desks when you arrive (head in the general direction of baggage reclaim until you get to a concourse where you will find departure monitors and/or transfer desks - but don't, obviously, follow the signs all the way to baggage reclaim or exit. Stay airside. Don't pass passport control.)

But don't worry - Schiphol is well signposted and it is one of the easiest large airports to navigate and find your way around.

Or, more correctly, as you're transferring from non-Schengen to non-Schengen, you will not have to go through customs or immigration. (Though Romania may become a full Schengen member next year). You will have another security check at the gate, prior to boarding the flight to Bucharest.

Just a reminder that you'll be leaving from Terminal 3 at Manchester (your booking confirmation might say Terminal 2, depending on when you booked, but KLM are moving to Terminal 3 on December 12th).

As others have said above, it should be a very straightforward connection in Amsterdam and you should have plenty of time. Enjoy your trip.

Indeed, there's another security check before boarding to OTP. Plenty of time for the transfer, maybe even time for a coffee. The departure wing is really simple to know, after you land from MAN, it depends though if you fly KL or RO. RO usually leaves from D, 40 something.... if that helps.
Cheers.

You don't need to go off air-side to pass passport control as you can still stay air-side all the way by passing passport control from Schengen to non-Schengen, but I guess one would be turned away by staff checking the BP's right?

Have only passed once or twice in my flying career (what I can remember) as most of my intercontinental flight have been out of CDG...

Thanks for telling me what I already know.

Having told the OP to follow the signs for baggage reclaim, I wanted to make sure by whatever fluke he didn't actually go all the way through to baggage reclaim.

Flights to OTP use the high number D gates (D fortysomething or fiftysomething).

As others have said, the chances are you'll be doing a D-gate to D-gate transfer. I guess you'll be on the 'early' mornign flights (dep. AMS 09:20?), so you probably won't appreciate Murphy's Irish Bar (in the D-gate zone itself - useful if you're a smoker) () but there are quite a few shops and snack bars around.

55 mins is plenty of time! But, even if your inbound is late, and you land on the Polderbaan (the far-western runway, which is a 15-20 minute taxi to the gate/stand), and you arrive at the bus gate (D6, I believe, which will be the case if your flight is operated by KLM Cityhopper), and there's some sort of commotion preventing you from getting your onward flight ... Don't Panic!

... IIRC, there's at least one more KLM flight to Bucharest later on and at least one daily Tarom flight ... KLM will move you to one of these for free (and, maybe, even give you some compensation vouchers) if you miss your connexion!

Bon Voyage!

-- Henry

Was just posted above..

You didn't read the whole sentence did you as you choose to only quote parts of it?

1. Yes, you might know but lots of others don't including the OP
2. It was to clarify that passport control doesn't necessary mean an exit from air-side.
3. It ended in a question which would have been nice to have answered.

hello all, im so pleased and just want to take the time to thank you guys for your help, i have flown a couple of times before but never changed, and reading on the internet i have heard many horror stories involving people having less than an hour to transfer between flights, now im not sure why this is
i have read about this Schengen countries but before this had never heard of it?
i thought we were in the EU and that was it! i dont understand why there is another sub group which seems to make so much difference!
anway so, basically the most important thing is
dont go to baggage reclaim, dont go to passport control?, just find either a transfer desk or one of those ATM computer type things to find out which gate to go to?
KLM said they would give me a boarding pass for both flights at manchester and yes im flying early in the morning from manchester at 5.55
also im told im flying from terminal 3 manchester is this right??
thanks again for your help i cant tell you how much it means as im trying to get back to my wife in time for christmas to see my wife who is over in romania with family at the moment!
james

alsooooo, sorry to be very stupid again but i have had this message in my emails

We remind you that you will be able to check-in online on airfrance.co.uk from 30 hours before your departure, choose your seat and print your boarding card.
At the same time you can also buy extra legroom or additional baggage allowance.

does this mean i dont need to go to the checkin desk in manchester??
i think i would prefer to get the real boarding pass from the real check in desk and also get the boarding pass for AMS TO romania, can somebody explain this online check in for me
thanks again very much
james

Hi James,

You can (optionally, only if you want) select a seat online 30 hours before departure. You can (Also optionally) directly print your boarding pass. However in any case you can still go to the check-in desk at the airport to receive a 'real' boarding pass and check-in luggage if you wish.

The advantage of checking in online is that you can choose a seat before all the good ones are taken. But, you don't have to if you don't want

I can't think of any possible scenario where the OP would have attempted to cross into the Schengen part of Schiphol, as you suggested. Hence I fail to see the relevance of your query, particularly when I stated that the OP should not attempt to clear passport control.