Hi, we are currently residing in the EU but moving home to US. We fly to Schiphol from within the EU and then take a flight to the US. We are trying to figure out if a friend who lives in Netherlands could meet us at airport for a coffee between domestic terminal before going to international? We have a 5 hour layover, EU residency cards, and will also have our 2 cats with us. I've never flown through Amsterdam so wasn't sure about being able to pause before going into the international terminal. Thought to ask here :)
Posted by
Green Bay
21217 posts
You would need to exit to luggage claim to meet your friend, as they cannot enter the flight area without a boarding pass. Then you would have to go through security and go through the passport control gates separating the part of the airport for non Schengen departures and Schengen departures.
Posted by
Chicago
8178 posts
You would have to go out landside to meet your friend and then through security screening again to catch your flight home. Your friend would not have access to the airside without a boarding pass for a flight that day and time.
Posted by
Chicago
662 posts
If I recall correctly, there is just a passport check to go from Schengen to international
section of Schiphol. So you must already be in the secure area of the airport.
If that is accurate, then either your friend will have to be able to access the secure area
of the airport (unlikely, but I'm not 100% sure if it is impossible) or you will need to clear
security, meet them in the non-secure area of the airport, and then go through security
& immigration again. Good news is that with 5 hour layover, you should definitely have
time for a coffee if the inbound flight is on time.
Posted by
78 posts
As mentioned by others, you will need to enter the Netherlands to meet your friend landside beyond the luggage claim area and past customs, unlike the US, where you would be able to meet in the luggage area without needing to have a boarding pass.
Do note that not all EU countries are part of Schengen: European Union-member countries Ireland and Cyprus are not. If you are travelling from these two countries, you will need to go through passport control and then customs. Otherwise, just customs, assuming your luggage is tagged for your final destination.
Five hours should be enough but there are a few things to consider when going back airside for which you would need to go through security first and then passport control, especially on how crowded it will be (and it can be!).
Do you have a boarding card for your flight to the US? I assume so.
Is it holiday season or not? If it is holiday season it can be really crowded. How busy it is expected to be can be checked here: https://www.schiphol.nl/en/my-travel-day/today. You can enter the date and flight time on this page to get an idea how crowded it is expected to be.
Consider booking a security slot (not for passport control though) through https://www.schiphol.nl/en/page/timeslots/ if it is expected to be crowded.
What day of the week are you flying? Business travellers tend to fly more frequently on specific days of the week, like Monday and Friday and maybe even Thursday for the US to be home before the weekend.
Are you flying business class or economy or do you have priority because of your status with your airline? Priority security check lines are often shorter, but you still end up in the same queues for passport control.