Schiphol today

[Larainerenee]

After hearing horror stories about lengthy waits at AMS, we were pleasantly surprised to be through security, arriving at 8:45, (with Delta Sky Priority), in under an hour. 

[Ashland]

11 hours ago, Larainerenee said:

After hearing horror stories about lengthy waits at AMS, we were pleasantly surprised to be through security, arriving at 8:45, (with Delta Sky Priority), in under an hour. 

You were very lucky....Sounds like things have improved since our trip but you just never know and that goes for any airport....anywhere.

[prish]

I think timing also makes a difference. We were through in less than 40 minutes last month, some others from our cruise took 3-4 hours later that morning. 

[samplecd02]

I was just through Schiphol yesterday afternoon and it was around an half hour thru security but I was also Sky Priority. I could see the lines for the non-Sky Priority and I would say that they were at least a couple hours long.

Edited September 12, 2022 by samplecd02

[Ine]

I just read in todays (Monday) newspaper that this morning it was chaos again at Schiphol. Passengers who were there 4 hours before their flight seem to have missed it.  So you just never know.

[VMax1700]

We were there Sunday too, but our flight was 9.40pm.  It eventually departed an hour late because the pilot kept delaying so that passengers could make it to the flight. (It was the final rotation of the day for that aircraft)  Pax were arriving to the plane in various states of distress including tears.  Eventually they had to offload some luggage as the passengers did not arrive.

Stories of two and a half to three hours for security.

[Ine]

Yesterday the CEO of Schiphol (at last) announced his resignation. So hopefully soon there will be a person who knows how to deal with security staff, working hours,  contracts etc so the airport will work as good as before!

[Dutch_Travelgirl]

I’m sorry, but I don’t think that the CEO resigning is a quick fix for the problems at Schiphol. The search for a new CEO will take time and energy away from solving the current issues. In reaction to the news about his resignation I heard someone say on the news “hij had moeten optreden in plaats van aftreden”. This sentence loses some of its power when translated but it means that he should have acted (to solve the issues) instead of resigning. Another commentator said that his resignation is only helpful in the short term, if he now applies for a job in bagage handling or security. My newspaper wrote about this resignation under the heading “another vacancy to fill at Schiphol”. 
 

So I’m afraid the issues at Schiphol won’t disappear overnight. There will be good days with enough staff to handle all flights, but there will also still be days on which passengers really need to arrive at the airport 4 hours before departure. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Dutch_Travelgirl

[clarku]

We have a connecting flight in AMS in a few weeks, on our BOS to BCN route, to board the Oceania Riviera, and are very concerned if we, and our bags, will be making it through.  We’re planning on packing a carryon each with absolute necessities and then 1 checked bag with our extras…..ugh

[Dutch_Travelgirl]

There are not many complaints from transfer passengers, so I wouldn’t worry. The main issues impact those who are departing from Schiphol and have to stand in huge lines for check in and/or bag drop and security.

[VMax1700]

11 hours ago, Dutch_Travelgirl said:

passengers really need to arrive at the airport 4 hours before departure. 

This is where it needs 'joined up thinking'.  Arriving 4 hours is ok, but if the checkin desks are not open or do not accept bags until 2/2.5 hours before departure, then problems will continue.

If we could have check in 4 hours before our flight and proceeded 'airside' then we would have spent money in the shops, however we and many others had to pass them by.

[clarku]

10 hours ago, Dutch_Travelgirl said:

There are not many complaints from transfer passengers, so I wouldn’t worry. The main issues impact those who are departing from Schiphol and have to stand in huge lines for check in and/or bag drop and security.

Thanks for the advice. Worst case if checked bag goes missing, we’ll be repeating outfits every other day.  We Americans pack too much anyway.   OTH, could turn into a plus if we’re forced to do a Euro shopping spree! 😎

[Maria63]

FWIW, for those who are flying out of Amsterdam but have the option to rearrange their schedule:

 

We had planned to fly from Amsterdam to Rome on the 15th to embark on a cruise from Civitavecchia the same day (yes, I know...). We couldn't risk missing our flight, so we opted to instead take an early morning direct train from Amsterdam to Brussels airport and fly out from there. It worked smoothly both with the train and the flight. Brussels was functioning normally with no exessive queing, and you can also buy fast-track through security for ca 10euros/pp for a day.

[SUESEABE]

Looks like Shiphol is still chaotic:

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/09/21/schiphol-queues-airport-slammed-for-flight-cancellations-and-four-hour-delays-as-lines-bui

[Globaliser]

On 9/16/2022 at 9:34 AM, Dutch_Travelgirl said:

I’m sorry, but I don’t think that the CEO resigning is a quick fix for the problems at Schiphol.

 

This is only a temporary remedy, but it may be a bit more effective: https://www.businesstravelnewseurope.com/Air-Travel/Schiphol-tightens-passenger-cap-due-to-understaffing

[mauimary]

We experienced this mess in July when flying from AMS to Barcelona.  We spent 3.5 hrs in the line for security.   So glad we made the decision to travel from the USA with only carryon luggage as well as a backpack each.  Not exactly fun but with very careful planning and yes it can be done we managed a two week land trip and a nine day cruise.  
 

Now what we are wondering is this still as big of a mess when flying internationally  back to the USA vs flying within Europe?   We have tickets to return  to the US from AMS a week before Christmas!!  
 

 Intra Europe was a disaster and we are still trying to recover the costs of a canceled flight. 

[Ine]

7 hours ago, mauimary said:

We experienced this mess in July when flying from AMS to Barcelona.  We spent 3.5 hrs in the line for security.   So glad we made the decision to travel from the USA with only carryon luggage as well as a backpack each.  Not exactly fun but with very careful planning and yes it can be done we managed a two week land trip and a nine day cruise.  
 

Now what we are wondering is this still as big of a mess when flying internationally  back to the USA vs flying within Europe?   We have tickets to return  to the US from AMS a week before Christmas!!  
 

 Intra Europe was a disaster and we are still trying to recover the costs of a canceled flight. 

Unfortunately the mess is still around. Schiphol airport is now demanding airlines to cut down (!!) on their number of flights. It can be different of course the time of month, day and which airline. Indeed flying to the US instead of Europe makes a little difference and also if flying  Business or economy class.  The problem is not that much checking in, but the lines at security, 

Next week I will be flying intra Europe and I keep my fingers crossed. 

The dutch government is stock holder but it seems not willing to do much about it!

[FreestyleNovice]

Schiphol is hit or miss at the moment, we just walked through on a late August morning and a week later when returning it was a zoo at departures.

 

With summer peak season over next up is fall (last week of Oct roughly) and Christmas..

[robin13]

Just went through Schiphol yesterday morning where it took me 90 minutes to go from check-in to my gate.  I got there at 7am for a 10:55am flight as I didn't want to miss my flight back to the US.  I have to say I think the issue with the long lines has to do with no instructions anywhere telling people what to do.  I had checked in online and didn't know that I needed to use their check-in machine as well.  Then you had to move to another line to check your luggage which is totally automated.  There were instructions on that but most people didn't understand them.  There was one employee there going back and forth trying to help people.  After that you then go through passport control and then through security.  I'm glad I went 4 hours early as I think if I went any time after 8am it would have been bad.

[mauimary]

9 minutes ago, robin13 said:

Just went through Schiphol yesterday morning where it took me 90 minutes to go from check-in to my gate.  I got there at 7am for a 10:55am flight as I didn't want to miss my flight back to the US.  I have to say I think the issue with the long lines has to do with no instructions anywhere telling people what to do.  I had checked in online and didn't know that I needed to use their check-in machine as well.  Then you had to move to another line to check your luggage which is totally automated.  There were instructions on that but most people didn't understand them.  There was one employee there going back and forth trying to help people.  After that you then go through passport control and then through security.  I'm glad I went 4 hours early as I think if I went any time after 8am it would have been bad.

Robin thank you for reporting back.  Sounds much better than our fiasco in July.  Hoping like you say back to the US is less complicated than flying within Europe. We did not have to check luggage and we couldn’t enter the que for security prior to four hrs!  The whole ordeal was exhausting. 

We are repeating this process in mid Dec and have no status other than comfort plus on Delta tickets.  We did learn flying back to the US from Barcelona that we needed the other check in machine as well.  Hoping we have the same experience you did. 

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, mauimary said:

Hoping like you say back to the US is less complicated than flying within Europe.

 

I'm not quite sure why this would be? AIUI, the main bottleneck for passengers is a lack of security screeners. As there's now centralised security at Schiphol, that's going to affect everyone in the queue regardless of their destination.

 

Although I understand that you can game the system a bit by using a different checkpoint that's less backed-up and then get yourself around the terminal airside.

[mauimary]

3 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

I'm not quite sure why this would be? AIUI, the main bottleneck for passengers is a lack of security screeners. As there's now centralised security at Schiphol, that's going to affect everyone in the queue regardless of their destination.

 

Although I understand that you can game the system a bit by using a different checkpoint that's less backed-up and then get yourself around the terminal airside.

I hear you saying that there is only one Secrurity Scanner and that is used for the entire airport both for flights within Europe and for those flights that are headed to destinations beyond Europe.  We were under the impression everyone in our super long que was headed for destinations with Europe.  

[Globaliser]

9 hours ago, mauimary said:

I hear you saying that there is only one Secrurity Scanner and that is used for the entire airport both for flights within Europe and for those flights that are headed to destinations beyond Europe.  We were under the impression everyone in our super long que was headed for destinations with Europe.

 

There are several security checkpoints, but they are not organised according to destination. Their location means that they may tend to see different mixes of passengers, but that's just because of the relationship between check-in desk allocation, gate allocation (especially the dual-purpose Schengen/non-Schengen gates) and natural passenger flow, and sometimes just due to the time of day (because long-haul flights are not evenly spread across the day). AIUI, you can in theory pretty much clear security at any checkpoint, and then work your way around to the correct area for your departure gate, whatever your destination. The time taken to clear security at any individual checkpoint can vary from day to day or even hour to hour, depending on staffing levels. There are plenty of horror stories about people flying directly to non-European destinations who have had to wait in security queues for several hours. As FreestyleNovice says, it's all a bit hit-and-miss at the moment.

[SomewhereGirl]

Why one of Europe's top airports has become a 'crazy mess' | CNN Travel

 

I can't imagine standing in line for hours.  That seems crazy.  I was nervous about departing LHR last month and I zipped right through with no waiting at all.  Hopefully AMS will figure out their issues.

[cunn9004]

We will disembark the ship and go straight to the airport.  We have no airline status other than DH being lifetime Silver on Delta but I think our Comfort Plus seats come with some priority?.   We have a 1:00 pm flight - should I be nervous?  We might do "walk off" with our luggage if it would help but that is difficult.  I will arrange transportation ahead of time.  Advise please.