Amsterdam queues

[Mojo]

Amsterdam airport has been quite notorious for queues this year with the airport setting out marquees on the forecourt and themselves setting a target of 4 hours, but even then there have been reports of people missing flights!

This has even been the case into September with the ending of a summer bonus apparently leading to the repeat of issues, with the boss of the airport resigning.

Does anyone know whether these long queues affect transit passengers, or is it mainly for customers starting their flights there?

 

[Mike395]

If transiting there's no security controls at all - if transiting between non-Schengen (e.g. UK) and Schengen then you'll need to clear immigration, but this usually has queues of under 15 minutes in my experience. (Top tip - if you're arriving at Schiphol without hold baggage and entering Amsterdam, it can be quicker to clear immigration as a transit passenger then exit from the Schengen part of the terminal!)

Coming back to the UK from a non-EU country via Schiphol is more complex as to whether you'll run into a security queue - it depends whether the Dutch trust the security arrangements in your origin country, but even then I believe there's a separate security hall so you'll avoid the longest queues. (Most, but not all, common tourist destinations are trusted)

 

[Mojo]

Thanks. Last time I was there they still had security at the gates rather than in a central area! Wonder whether their queues would be better or worse if they still did security checks at the gates?

It’s interesting quite how bad the queues are there - there are pics online of people queuing up what looks like the approach road! What exactly about AMS makes it hard for them, even places like Heathrow never found it so bad?

It’s even more interesting about how they boast about their Cat scanners meaning you don’t have to remove liquids or laptops from your bags, I’d have thought this would help even more; when I was at Gatwick the other week the man at the end of the queue was warning people to remove any liquids, laptops and anything that may look iffy from their bags as there would be a 45 Minute wait to get your bags back. Whilst looking at the queue of trays waiting for a manual search it was quite long I suspect the 45 Minute warning was just an exaggeration to get people to double check, it was clear all these bags requiring a second screening was delaying the queue.

 

[takno]

I queued there for 3 hours earlier in the month. Only got the flight because it was delayed by a plane fault. The queue literally went out towsrds some of the gates and back, through a queuing system in the terminal, out into a tent, and then onwards a bit, all the way down the approach road and back, round a bit more outside, through the check-in hall, and then took up every square inch of the actual queuing area upstairs. This was on the closing day of a massive conference in addition to any bonuses etc ending.

At the end of the day it's just not worth the risk - get Eurostar or the ferry instead, or connect elsewhere, or go somewhere nicer instead

 

[Mojo]

Wow, that’s quite bad, and people have the cheek to claim UK airports are bad!

It isn’t until next summer, and the flight price with KLM (only connecting at AMS on outbound as its Air France on the return) is way better than the alternatives.

The connection is overnight, so I was planning on seeing how things look nearer the time and consider booking the Yotel which is airside, although I’d rather not, as it’s £300 a night compared to less than £100 for normal airport hotels.

 

[rg177]

Next month i have a flight from there at around 10pm- I'm assuming later at night it won't be quite as catastrophically bad?

 

[takno]

Next month i have a flight from there at around 10pm- I'm assuming later at night it won't be quite as catastrophically bad?

Check the airport's advice on the day. The queue built throughout the day when I was there, and was still getting longer at 6, so people were missing flights at 8. Maybe it eases off by 10, but who knows?

 

[joncombe]

I made a connection there earlier in the year. The queue there was about 50 mins but they had a screen above the queue showing flights departing within 40 minutes or so and if you could show a boarding pass for one of those flights you were taken to the front of the queue. Staff were walking the queue regularly.

 

[takno]

I made a connection there earlier in the year. The queue there was about 50 mins but they had a screen above the queue showing flights departing within 40 minutes or so and if you could show a boarding pass for one of those flights you were taken to the front of the queue. Staff were walking the queue regularly.

I guess once the queue runs down the stairs all that goes out of the window. There were a number of people jumping the queue, but they were sometimes getting a fairly hostile reception.

In general though it does sound like most days are more like you describe than my experience now. As I said, they were very clear on the airport website from early on that that particular day was going to be a nightmare, so best to just check what they say on the day

 

[penguin8967]

Had an easyjet flight from Amsterdam to Bristol about a month ago (23rd August) at 10am. Knowing about the queue situation we got to the airport 4 hours early at 6am.
The flight was from departures 3 and there were no queues at all at 6am. One point to note was security - only 2 lanes open of about 10 and the queue was beginning to build up slightly. Didn't have to wait any longer than 15 mins though.
For connecting passengers I believe there's no need to queue anywhere at all - for all passengers arriving you're dumped straight into the departure hall and there's a door to arrivals for passengers not connecting to another flight.

Note the queue in the second image below was for passengers checking in luggage. Signage at the airport was really poor though and most people were confused what the queue was actually for - no clear signs showing where to go.

 

[dosxuk]

I queued there for 3 hours earlier in the month.
This was on the closing day of a massive conference in addition to any bonuses etc ending.

I suspect I was there the same day... You were lucky with 3 hours, we had 4 and a half of it - only making our flight as it was held (for two hours in the end) trying to get as many people on as possible.

 

[takno]

I suspect I was there the same day... You were lucky with 3 hours, we had 4 and a half of it - only making our flight as it was held (for two hours in the end) trying to get as many people on as possible.

View attachment 121249View attachment 121250View attachment 121251

Same day probably but, somewhat unbelievably, a different queue. The rest of our group was in that queue (which was longer), and after 3 hours of waiting, their flight was cancelled altogether.

What really amazes me, given the way airports typically operate, is that they haven't got kiosks set up to sell you stuff. Speaking of which, I never ate the Strupwaffel they gave out half-way round. I wonder where that got to...

 

[Mojo]

What on earth exactly is going on there to cause people to have to wait so long? Surely with the Cat scanners their queues would be more efficient… Or do they not have any staff at all?

 

[Mike395]

As I understand it Schiphol are chronically short of security staff - like most major airports they had mass layoffs during the pandemic and Schiphol just hasn't been able to recruit at anywhere near the speed and scale needed.

 

[Jamiescott1]

I'm flying from schipol on Sunday 16th in the evening. Apparently this is peak time and queues of 3 hours expected.

 

[ld0595]

Seems quite hit and miss to be honest. I went through Schiphol in July and had a completely hassle free experience.

Arrived on July 16 (Saturday) at 8am ish and was on the train into Amsterdam just before 9. I also had to do a bus to train transfer there a few days after on the Monday afternoon and all seemed fine - no significant queues or crowds in the check in area. I the returned home on a 9pm flight on the Wednesday and got from the train to airside in a matter of minutes. Didn't have any bags to collect or check in through, however there weren't any significant queues at baggage drop off.

The main issue we had in Schiphol was the lack of appealing restaurants/bars!

 

[island]

What on earth exactly is going on there to cause people to have to wait so long? Surely with the Cat scanners their queues would be more efficient… Or do they not have any staff at all?

They have CT scanners for baggage, but they require all humans to go through the Nude-O-Scopes (whole-body scanners) which have a throughput about five to ten times slower than walk-through metal detectors, or slower still when they trigger on tissues in people's pockets, baggy clothes, or whatever else passes for an "anomaly" in their AI.

 

[ainsworth74]

What happens to passengers who miss a flight due to security delays? Out of luck, claim on your insurance for a new ticket or do you get put on the next flight to wherever you were supposed to be going?

 

[island]

What happens to passengers who miss a flight due to security delays? Out of luck, claim on your insurance for a new ticket or do you get put on the next flight to wherever you were supposed to be going?

Depends on your airline's policy, the mood of the ticketing agent, how polite you are, etc.

Most airlines are very conscious of the ongoing issues and will just sigh and reissue you to the next flight. Don't count on them covering overnight accommodation if it's the next day though.

 

[ainsworth74]

Depends on your airline's policy, the mood of the ticketing agent, how polite you are, etc.

Ah so check yours Ts & Cs and then approach the agent with a big smile and a friendly "Hi! I'm really hoping you can help me out..."

 

[takno]

Ah so check yours Ts & Cs and then approach the agent with a big smile and a friendly "Hi! I'm really hoping you can help me out..."

One guy who'd made it through security just in time to miss his flight was appraised of the mood the ticket agent was in pretty well. He was relatively politely told that the agent had been working for 10 hours straight without any lunch trying to help people out, and since he hadn't presented in time for his flight the airline were not obliged to do anything for him.

 

[roversfan2001]

I transited through Schiphol on Saturday (UK to Schengen). I was concerned about the possibility of massive passport control queues but I was straight through in less than 5 minutes. Had a 70 minute stopover, the inbound flight was slightly late and I still had time for a pint before my onward flight.

 

[dosxuk]

What happens to passengers who miss a flight due to security delays? Out of luck, claim on your insurance for a new ticket or do you get put on the next flight to wherever you were supposed to be going?

Schiphol themselves have a compensation scheme set up to refund passengers, but you have to claim that back after the effect. Airlines are very much aware of the issues, in my case we were held for two hours to allow everyone who'd got through the boarding pass scan (about 3 1/2 hours into the queue) to board, with the seats for those who hadn't made it that far, or those who hadn't even checked in, released for people who had missed earlier flights.



These issues only seem to be on the security into the airport, and only really started after the end of their summer bonus scheme to encourage security staff to work, since then they've simply not had enough staff to open the security lanes to the required capacity (when we went through they had four of about twenty lanes open). Arrivals / Transit are a bit busier than they used to be, but shouldn't be a problem for the vast majority of passengers.

 

[island]

Arrivals / Transit are a bit busier than they used to be, but shouldn't be a problem for the vast majority of passengers.

Arriving passengers and most transit passengers don't go through security, so definitely shouldn't be a problem

 

[dosxuk]

Arriving passengers and most transit passengers don't go through security, so definitely shouldn't be a problem

The point is that the queues seen and being talked about are only affecting people who are beginning their journey at Schiphol.

It's not like in the UK where immigration was causing equally bad queues for arriving / transit passengers as those departing were experiencing going through security.

 

[rg177]

Well, my flight is this Sunday night and I can't say I'm particularly reassured by the fact that it's apparently a "peak" travel day.

The only positive is that I can spare the full four hours before departure, but frankly I'm wishing I hadn't bothered booking a flight out of there at all.

Anyone been through in the past couple of weeks?

 

[Jamiescott1]

Well, my flight is this Sunday night and I can't say I'm particularly reassured by the fact that it's apparently a "peak" travel day.

The only positive is that I can spare the full four hours before departure, but frankly I'm wishing I hadn't bothered booking a flight out of there at all.

Anyone been through in the past couple of weeks?

See you there Sunday night. Im coming straight from the finish line of the marathon to the airport. Ill be the smelly one who can't walk.

 

[takno]

Well, my flight is this Sunday night and I can't say I'm particularly reassured by the fact that it's apparently a "peak" travel day.

The only positive is that I can spare the full four hours before departure, but frankly I'm wishing I hadn't bothered booking a flight out of there at all.

Anyone been through in the past couple of weeks?

Spare the 4 hours, and take a book

 

[Jamiescott1]

Queues (well not a queue just a mass bundle of people) waiting to get through immigration on arrival at schipol last night.
Sat on plane for a little bit on arrival as no staff to connect airbridge.
Landing to railway station took over 90 minutes.

 

[Howardh]

Before covid I was a regulat tourist to the Netherlands, since then there has been nothing but trouble at Schiphol which has put me off, and I read on the dutch news sites that Eindhoven also had issues, which (with Rotterdam) would have been a viable alternative.
So with Avanti's pathetic service meaning I don't want to travel to London for Eurostar, and Schiphol's issues, then effectively the near continent's been cut off!!
Manchester to Luxembourg anyone?