Coming back from Australia on Qantas to LA, we had several hours to catch our AA flight to SFO. No problem!

But Qantas was a good hour late and we had to go through customs and then from the international to the domestic terminal with several security checks. And my husband was not very agile. Fortunately we had only carry-ons so avoided the wait for luggage. We wheelchaired my husband, piling everything atop him and charged out at the dead run, the wheehchair attendant bypassing the usual security for the diplomatic/crew exit; ran with me from one terminal to another, again crashed through security to our gate. They were just closing as we arrived but our number had come up for the extra-go-through-the-baggage check. Bless them, AA people held up the flight until we could stagger aboard. I'm not much of a tipper but that attendant got a twenty from me!

However, another time in Chicago, we missed our flight to SFO as we were last to collect our checked luggage and thus at the end of the customs line, etc, etc. We ended up on the midnight express. And both flight were AA. That was the lst time I ever checked luggage!

I'm sure you'll have better luck with KLM, particularly since you are discussing it with them ahead of time.

Good luck with the trip/trek!

Jo, in Sunnyvale, CA