This weekend is turning out to be almost as bad as last week--long lines, flight delays/cancellations. If you're flying through AMS anytime soon, might behoove one to keep an eye on this situation...
Flyertalk has been pretty good following what's happening...
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/klm-flying-dutchman/2080797-mess-ams-today-april-2022-onwards.html
Let’s hope the airport coffee shops are open.
Yikes! We fly out this afternoon on United. I plan to arrive 4 hours early to be on the safe side and we are already checked in for our flights. I hope that’s enough time.
Good luch Andrea! Let us know!!
It took 3 hours from getting off the bus at AMS to reaching our gate. Thankfully we allowed ourselves 4 + hours instead of the 3 hours United recommended. We start boarding at 2:00 for our 2:50 flight. I won’t be surprised if some people miss flights today.
Glad you made it!
safe travels, Andrea
We got home last night, after a very trying travel day. I neglected to mention that the time we allowed ourselves at AMS wasn’t enough to get a refund from money we had to pre-load on our OV-chipkaart travel pass. It’s good for 5 years and anyone can use it, so hopefully we can gift it to someone we know traveling to the Netherlands.
Our flight left almost an hour late because of problems with the ground crew. Likely a staffing shortage. We had a tight connection in San Francisco and we weren’t sure we would make it. They made up some of the lost time in the air and global entry saved to day getting through passport control. We had to hustle to make it to the gate and arrived as they started boarding.
We had a great 6 week trip, and it’s good to be home.
Andrea, I am going to Amsterdam and surrounding areas and would love to have your card if it is still available :) That would be awesome.
Nicky
I think it's a problem everywhere, even Pearson airport (Toronto) had the same issues. The problem seems to be not finding enough workers and workers getting covid therefore airlines have nobody else to replace them with.
Many of the workers are underpaid, especially luggage staff, so harder to find someone doing the job.
Flight departure from Schipol on May 9 was a cattle car situation. Husband and I inched forward in single line through airport to bottom of staircase which led to departures security. At least 250 persons shoulder to shoulder in this area for more than 45 minutes before allowed to ascend stairs. Armed personnel at bottom of stairs preventing passengers from ascending until Airport person with walkie-talkie allowed about 80 passengers at a time, every ten minutes, to scramble up the steps to security area. This included economy and priority passengers. You can imagine the crush of people surging forward when those at bottom of stairs were allowed to go up, hoping to get their foot on the bottom step which led to success and fresh air at the top. At top of stairs I asked someone to point me to priority line which was close and unused. Total time from beginning of line to clearing security 2-2.5 hours. Allow yourself extra time; many missed their flight. This is a serious situation. Personnel were professional but severe shortage of workers. This was in Departure D. I assume all other departure areas were the same.
Thanks for that information, Val.
Flew from London Heathrow to Amsterdam on 4/23. Total chaos. Cancelled flights into Schipol. Unannounced baggage handlers' strike. 3 weeks later and after a week of vacation in the Netherlands we are finally getting our luggage back. I understand the situation and am sympathetic to the workers. But KLM Airlines was caught flat-footed on this one. Once I'm on the flight, I appreciate KLM. But their customer service was abysmal. Pack light and don't check your baggage. You'll be happy to avoid the trouble.
Anyone traveled through there since the last post on 5/12?
Donna - I have not (going in early June), but I found out you can check predicted busy-ness on their website or via their app. You can plug in your flight number and it gives you a suggested plan of attack. I put in my flight using tomorrow's date as an example and it suggested that I check in online, arrive at airport by 6:55 (for a 10a flight) and which check in desk and departure hall to use. We'll see!
I believe Pam from Idaho has been through AMS recently so hopefully she'll weigh in.
Yep, I flew out of Schiphol on 5/13. I was worried so took an early van transfer from my hotel near the Vondelpark. The van left the hotel at 530A, got to the airport at 5:43, lol. I was thru check in with KLM for my Delta flight, thru exit passport control, thru security and to the secure side by 6:16A. 46 minutes from my hotel to airside.
Flight left on time as well at 1030 for Seattle.
BTW, I tried to check in online thru the Delta FlyReady app and thru KLM to no avail. I was able to load my negative Covid test into the Delta app with repeated tries. The check in agent still asked to see the negative result. I had received it via email and was able to save it to my notes function for easy retrieval.
Hopefully, this mess is resolved by August when we fly to Amsterdam on our way to East Africa for a safari.
Geovagriffith…it seems like the reports of issues have been from those departing from AMS not transiting through. Perhaps as travel picks up we’ll get some reports of transit experiences.
I wonder if the delays are affecting arrivals too.
@roubrat, I was wondering the same thing and was going to ask here!
Some googling led me to this article which seems to say they are canceling as many arrivals as departures. Sigh.
https://airwaysmag.com/flights-delayed-schiphol-airport/
When are you traveling, Sleight?
We were there on Monday the 23rd. Check-in was a chaotic nightmare. After an hour wait, we finally were checked in by a security person who really struggled to do the job. The conveyor belt was not working and the luggage of those who did manage to check in sat piled everywhere. Staff told us that security clearance lines were up to a four hour wait, and I wouldn’t doubt it. Mobs filled the departure area. People were yelling at each other and at staff. We sat on the tarmac for more than two hours as the pilot waited for passengers caught in the mess, causing us to miss our take-off window and connection. Our wheelchair attendant said she was considering a job in the industry, but told us that labor across the board is angry, underpaid and overwhelmed. She felt that this situation will continue. BTW, she's decided to become a physician's assistant.
My wife and her family arrived at Schiphol on May 24th from Verona, Italy (Schengen - no passport control). They needed wheelchair assistance and had oversized luggage.
From touchdown to getting into the taxi was exactly 1 hour and that includes 15 minutes taxiing time from the Polderbaan runway to the gate. They thought this was one of the fastest transit times ever.
They said there were huge crowds airside departing but, for them, arriving, everything went very fast.
markwilson, thank you for that information!
Daughter is arriving from Rome tomorrow so let's see how that goes!
How did she do, markwilson?
Her flight arrived on time at 4:30 pm and she was out with her hold luggage and in my car after an hour from touchdown. She reported that airside had normal levels of pax (not "busy") and although she had to wait awhile (15 mins?) for the luggage it was typical for Schiphol.
I had parked in P1 short-term parking (which had plenty of space - I chose "ice skater" area) and met her by the Sheraton instead of our usual cost-free trick of picking up at door A of departures (terminal 4/ CitizenM end) because I figured that departures' drop off would be under unusually strict control. I was parked for 10 minutes which cost €1.10
Glad it went well.
