Flight connections, timings and all that

Asked on Snowheads, so I thought I'd ask on here too.

Thinking of booking next year's holiday. Direct flights to Trondheim from the UK get in at late o'clock so looking at other options. One is flying from CWL to Schipol and then from Schipol to Trondheim. There's "only" 1hr 45mins between arrival of first flight and departure of second flight, with the second flight leaving from a different terminal. I have no idea whether 1h 45 mins is a sensible gap or whether it is too short (I've always used direct flights before). The following flight out of Schipol for Trondheim is about 8 hours later..... Any input gratefully received.

Dobby, I faced a similar situation, when I returned from Colorado, and then made an end of season trip to Niederau. The flight to Munich landed late. Stay at Munich airport? Train to Kufstein, stay over then train to Worgl, next day? I ended up hiring a car, arriving late in Niederau, but they left the cellar door unlocked.

That flight, plus my January Niederau flight, were both early. However, our February Geneva return and our March Denver return flights were both significantly delayed. No big issue with the Geneva flight, we just got to bed late. But it was 3 hours late.

The Denver take off was also delayed by 2 hours. Fortunately, we had sufficient buffer time at Heathrow to absorb this.

The point of relating the season flights, is that delays will happen, and they are out of your control.

My suggestion would be that should you choose the linked flights, that you book them as a single booking. In the event of delay, the outcome does not add cost. However, I suggest that you focus on how to work with the single flight.

Hi Dobby. If you recall we did the 2 stop flights thing when we travelled this February. Worked a treat.

We flew from Humberside at 10.40am which arrived at Schipol at 12.40 local time. Flight to Trondheim was 2.25pm so about 1h 45 mins in-between. This was plenty of time for a quick bite to eat.

Coming back we had 1 hr 20 mins in-between flights. Again ok.

We have flown to Oslo previously via Schipol and only had about 50 mins to transfer. That was pretty tight and we pretty much walked straight to the gate and on to the bus to the plane.

I hear what Dave is saying about delays but presumably you are booking through KLM ( as we would). KLM are therefore responsible for all of the flights. In my opinion the two stop strategy is hugely preferable to a long drive to a London airport and then the very late arrival in the resort.

We've flown from Humberside 4 or 5 times now. Every flight has been bang on time and it's a breath of fresh air compared to the larger airports. We arrive about 1hr 15 mins before the outgoing flight. The parking is right outside the terminal. It's a max 20 minute drive from our house.

I'm guessing the set up at Cardiff must be similar?

In fact we're off to Amsterdam for a cheeky 5 day trip in June!

Dobby, any more info required let me know by PM or email.

Thanks, Dave Mac and BB.

Ideally, I'd go for direct flights at a sensible time, but we do not have this option. The direct flights depart from LGW which is miles from home and arrive late at night (2330), the drive to resort (2 hours on ice) at midnight is not the most pleasant experience and the return flight gets us into LGW fairly late, too. We could get the bus to resort instead of driving, but we like having a car.

I am minded to go for the connection option - both are KLM flights which would be booked on the same ticket. The first flight leaves early doors from CWL, so the first flight is unlikely to be late (unless it gets foggy). The flight from an airport which is literally half an hour down the road is also very attractive (even though it is more expensive).

Hi Dobby,

1hr 45min is enough time to visit Amsterdam and still make the next flight.

Is a very well designed airport, essentially one giant terminal (far superior to anything UK has to offer). Given your description of "different terminal" just means you are likely going through a security check again as you are leaving the EU.