Which KLM Flight
 

Looking for some advice from the KLM folks and experts with AMS.

I'll be booking a one way AMS - CPH flight for mid/late July. Currently eyeing a 9:20am departure. I'd like to take the train to AMS from the central station but from what I can see the direct train doesn't begin running till 6am. Given what sounds like a messy AMS and Summer travel, will being at the airport 3ish hours in advance be sufficient? We'll have no checked luggage, do not have status, and will be flying in econ.

Three hours prior is more than sufficient.

Keep an eye on the Schiphol website much closer to the date of travel. If you plug in your flight details, it will give you information regarding how busy it is, and the optimum time to arrive.

https://www.schiphol.nl/en/

See this example for the equivalent flight tomorrow: https://www.schiphol.nl/en/departure...0240126KL1127/

There are earlier trains than 6 am, in fact there is an hourly service throughout the night. If you're looking at the Intercity Direct, then yes, that does not start until 6-ish, but there is no reason to pay the supplement to take the IC Direct, when regular Intercities and Sprinters are just as good and only marginally slower.

As the previous poster pointed out, this is incorrect. There is an hourly service throughout the night, the last one departing 04:46. Regular daytime service then commences at 05:14

AMS these days is pretty decent in terms of queues. I haven't seen anything last half year coming even close to the disasters of Summer 2022. If you have no check-in luggage and have to take the normal security queue, arriving 2 hours in advance is more than enough, probably 1.30 in advance will do. With a 9:20 departure you should have plenty to trains to chose from from Amsterdam Central (20 min train ride). And as Irishguy indicates the Schiphol website gives an indicating of waiting times for security.

By the way; given that you're flying one way, you'll find that easyjet and Norwegian have cheaper prices than KLM for one-way tickets on this route.

There's no supplement between Amsterdam Centraal and Schiphol, it only applies to the stretch from Schiphol to Rotterdam. IC direct is 13 minutes and Sprinters take 18, so indeed there's rarely a point in skipping a train versus grabbing the next one going.

There's no need to worry about Schiphol these days, they had a bad summer in 2022 but there is no great issue now.

Depending on where you are staying, you can also use the Airport Express bus from Amsterdam. Very handy and quick if you are staying around Leidseplein or Museumplein. Bus 397. This bus does not depart from Centraal Station but at night it does run every hour from Amsterdam Centraal Station to Schiphol, under bus number N97. The operator is Connexxion, ticket can be bought online.
Amsterdam Airport Express (connexxion.nl)
I was often at the airport last year and, as some posters already mentioned, we never saw the scenes like in 2022. Flying to Copenhagen means you will only have to pass security, no passport control. So yes, without checked bags 2 - 2 1/2 hrs before departure should be sufficient

Thank you all for the helpful replies!

As for Easyjet and Norwegian, neither offer flight time that jives with our plans (1 departure daily), and we'd still have to pay for a carry on. Also the many daily flights on KLM add a bit of insurance should something happen to the scheduled one.

Three hours would be more than enough. You can also book a time slot closer to the time of your trip

https://www.schiphol.nl/en/page/timeslots/