EES: Amsterdam experience

Good to hear it’s working. We’ll be flying into Naples next week and need to go through this process. Luckily we do not have a connection.

Thanks for your report.
A word of warning though for those reading this. This experience transiting in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport says nothing about how long or short EES will take arriving, transiting or departing from other European airports.
It doesn’t even say anything about going through EES when arriving in Amsterdam, which could be a totally different story altogether. The border police at Amsterdam Airport is chronically understaffed. The airport doesn’t want bad publicity about passengers missing flights or connections, so they made a deal with the border police; the majority of border agents will be assigned to the passport control of departing and connecting passengers. The remainder will check the passports of passengers entering the Netherlands. The airport cares less about arriving passengers missing onward trains, cruises etc than they do about departing and connecting passengers missing their flights. There are reports in Dutch media about the huge lines for EES for passengers arriving at Schiphol. Some passengers claim it took them 2.5 hours to go through passport control when they arrived in Amsterdam.

Thanks Paul for sharing the details on your experience with the system at Schiphol, arriving from U.S. and transferring to another Schengen flight. It's really helpful hearing trusted travelers' real-world experiences.

Yeah, that is why I was careful to state the time, day, and that it was a transit immigration, because it will certainly vary with all those factors.

It is also a mystery why some are routed to the e-gates, others to the manual line. Maybe random, maybe since I am missing parts of two fingers on my right hand, maybe I just look suspicious.

I also have not really seen anything official on what the end vision looks like for entry. I suspect what it will be is similar to what I experienced, you will be directed to a kiosk, scan your passport, look at the camera, then you may be asked questions, maybe not, then either directed to the e-gates, or asked to go over to a manual line for further questions and checks.

Paul, We will go through Schiphol in the fall, and was curious how a missing fingertip affects the ESS scanner, as we relate to that scenario. If I get Lane 1 and hubby gets Lane 2, maybe it will confirm your theory.

A few days ago, we landed at AMS, our final destination. It was evening, and the airport was still buzzing with people. Our experience with the machines was quick and easy, and we got thru the line at passport control under 30 minutes. In fact, they opened additional windows when the line seemed long (50 folks.)
So no problems to report .

Thanks for sharing Paul. I am bookmarking this post as I imagine others may share their experience as well at Schiphol.

Thanks Paul for the intel. I'm flying on KLM from YYZ to BCN via AMS in mid-May and my flight arrives around 0600 and my connection is at 0800. I'll be watching the situation closely. At least, there's still time for them to tune the system and processes.

Just arrived Amsterdam and the line to get out of airport stretches farther than one can see. People in middle of line report that they have been in line 2 hours. It hardly moves. Seems like all resources have been moved to connecting flights.

Also arrived April 18 with final destination of Amsterdam. I was in the long, long line for immigration. Took 90 minutes from getting in line to walking away from immigration. Airport employees walked the line asking for connecting passengers, who were sent elsewhere for immigration. Employees also handed out bottles of water to those waiting in line.

Not sure if I would encourage the "hack" but if the line for "exit" immigration is long, there technically is nothing (well almost) preventing you from using the connecting flight immigration (actually several connecting flight immigration points) to complete immigration and EES. You just would exit into the Schengen terminal area, from which you can exit the airport.

The big exception would be if you have checked bags, then you must use exit immigration to get to international baggage claim.

Had been following this post as I was nervous about a connecting flight in Amsterdam. I flew in on May 18, which had been a newsworthy day for EES into Amsterdam. The queue to leave airport was being held above the customs area due to so many people. With my connection, I went around the corner and toward Schengen side of airport. I went straight to EES machines, scanned passport and fingers, and was given route 1. No queue to go through, just swiped passport and gate opened. Took less than 5 minutes. The queue for quote 2 was longer but they were actively pulling people depending on flight boarding time, so priority is definitely connections. If you have a on time connecting flight, you should be fine. My connection time was 1 hour 50 min and I still had an hour wait for flight boarding.

artemissysteph - Thanks for coming back to share your experience, and so glad to hear you zoomed through it!

The queue to leave airport was being held above the customs area due to so many people.

Just saying...when doing the in-transit immigration at Schiphol, I do not recall needing a boarding pass, but if the regular immigration line is so backed up, I would be tempted to head through the "in-transit" line, exit into the Schengen terminal, and then out the door. Of course with checked bags, this would not work.

Does anyone know if families complete info. at the kiosk together? If done individually, we risk our 12-year-old being directed to a different exit lane with potentially wildly different wait times to reunite.

Does anyone know if families complete info. at the kiosk together?

Adults do not, it is each adult for themselves. Likely, with a minor, you will just be directed to a manual booth so the officer can process the entry. There are people directing everyone to where they need to go, so ask.

I’ve now flown through Schipol 4 times in 6 weeks. The first time I scanned passport, fingerprints and face and was directed to the route 1, e-gates. I was rejected and sent to another queue, slightly shorter than the route 2 main queue, but still about 30 minutes. The process with the guard took about 5 mins and he couldn’t tell me why I was diverted. On the return, I went to the e-gate, same thing happened.

Last week, I entered again, went to e-gate, longer queue this time, and was again, rejected! The queue for those of us in this situation had 2 border guards; the main queue had 4! I was queuing for 90 minutes!
My return was the same ; rejected from e-gate and queued for another 90 minutes having had a 2hour queue in security, on the hottest day of the year! Nobody can explain why I’m rejected. My scanning was approved so what will happen when I try another country? My flight to Schipol is 35 mins - it used to be easy! I’m not visiting Amsterdam again, until you can sort out your once fabulous airport!
The deeper question is real - if I’ve registered for EES what can I do to stop being rejected at any Schengen airport? This system is not fit for purpose! I travel frequently for work and pleasure - why should I stop supporting the EU economy because of this inept system?

I hope things get a little more stable by the time I travel in early September. I have 2h25m connection at AMS and doing EES there I assume with connecting flight to Krakow.

Last week, I entered again, went to e-gate, longer queue this time, and was again, rejected!

I do believe that you need to use the EES kiosks each time you enter, not just go directly to the e-gates. You will at least have to scan your passport, you may or may not be asked for more after the first time, then you will be directed to either the e-gates or a manned booth. If you skipped the kiosk, I can see why the e-gates rejected you.

From what I have read, the 12 year old will be directed to a separate kiosk and asked to enter answers to questions like do you have a visa and when are you planning to leave the Schengen zone. My 16 year old knew and was directed on to another line while rest of us were still at our own kiosks trying to get our fingerprints to scan. My 18 year old only knew we were staying about two weeks, not the exact day, so you may want to do some coaching ahead of time.

We will be transiting through Amsterdam later this week, arriving from a non-schengen country (US) to another non-schengen country (Tanzania). Would we still be required to go through the EES? (We have a very short layover). Thanks!

We will be transiting through Amsterdam later this week, arriving from a non-schengen country (US) to another non-schengen country (Tanzania). Would we still be required to go through the EES? (We have a very short layover). Thanks!

No, you do not go through passport control, unless you need to leave the international terminal (to collect luggage for example if it is not checked through).

You will arrive at the international terminal and just walk off the plane into the terminal, then on to your gate. There are plenty of restaurants and coffee places for a quick break.