Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) Issues

[Stu Gotz]

Figure I would throw this out there.

My family is traveling through Schiphol Airport this weekend on a connecting flight. Curious to know if any one has traveled through the airport recently and are the operations just a nightmare?

[schindlerpiste]

My daughter flew home from Amsterdam a few weeks ago. Chip all was great. No lines. No issues. Good food. Good shopping… If that’s what you’re into.

[sirbumpsalot]

Its always a nightmare....every connection requires a pass thru passport control....and YOU WILL always pick the line with the slowest agent.

I went thru last week after Geneva Airport held the plane for an hour and I missed my AMS connection....by 2 minutes...plane still there but gate closed. First Class ticket didn't help. Spent day in lounge and night in a crappy hotel to fly out 20 hours later. Never again...Heathrow better IMHO.

Beware lines are long...farmers keep threatening to block access due to carbon laws. Priority check line thru their TSA was 1hr alone.

[Buster Highmen]

I hate Schiphol, have almost missed flights there several times over the years, though my data is not as fresh as Schind's.

Customs is badly run and there's a lack of flight info displays on the walkways. Maybe if you're flying from the EU it's not as bad, but coming in from the states has been a hassle.

I always try to avoid it.

[Timberridge]

If a stranger asks you to carry their bag on the plane while they go to the bathroom, just say no.

[schindlerpiste]

She had a non-stop. In my experience out of the large European airports Frankfurt, Munich and Heathrow rule followed by Shipol. CDG is the absolute worst,

[liv2ski]

We arrived 2 hours before our flight in early June and operations were impacted. Our flight was about 50 minutes late taking off so we had to run through Helsinki's airport to make our flight home. Made it by 5 minutes. Needless to say Mrs. L2S was ready to have a meltdown. Lesson learned, do not fly when the rest of the world is. Works for us, but not everyone.

[liv2ski]

CDG is the absolute worst,

Very busy airport and do not fly Air Chance, as relayed to me by a nice couple trying to get to Tunisia for a golf holiday. Air France lost my luggage (first and only time) flying to Dublin.

[Stu Gotz]

Thanks all.

We've got three hours between flights on the way over so I think the cushion at 6:30 in the morning should be ok. Flight home following Sunday might be tight, but I am ok spending an extra day puttering around Amsterdam if needed. Big worry is losing baggage, but may just carry everything and leave the non-essentials at home.

[liv2ski]

WE did a 3 week holiday Stu and just packed our carry on bags. With a washer & dryer available to us mid trip, it worked perfect.

[sirbumpsalot]

Thanks all.

We've got three hours between flights on the way over so I think the cushion at 6:30 in the morning should be ok. Flight home following Sunday might be tight, but I am ok spending an extra day puttering around Amsterdam if needed. Big worry is losing baggage, but may just carry everything and leave the non-essentials at home.

3 hrs probably ok. Anything an hour or less is iffy. I had 1 hr on way in and made it barely (luggage didn't) . 40 minutes on way home and just missed it. Delta....didn't have much choice however for flights as was booked last minute and needed 1st class availability.

1st class being packed along with lounges being full of families with toddlers tells me air fares are too low and money is still sloshing around in the world. We can use a good recession and a boost in airfares to push the riff raff back into their station wagon trips to jellystone park.

[Timberridge]

Unless I'm flying privately, when travelling to Europe on one of the major airlines I prefer to buy all my clothes once I am there. Or have them shipped to the various hotels directly from some of my favorite stores in Paris or Milan. It avoids the hassle of dealing with luggage and local fashion trends may be different than what we have here is the states.

[riser4]

She had a non-stop. In my experience out of the large European airports Frankfurt, Munich and Heathrow rule followed by Shipol. CDG is the absolute worst,

While Frankfurt sucks, especially if you want to take a crap in a clean bathroom, there's a reason why I still take direct flights there and then take a direct ICE train to Stuttgart. I've gone to great lengths to avoid changing planes at all on any of my European trips. Or I have booked separate legs with a purposeful layover.

[AK47bp]

If a stranger asks you to carry their bag on the plane while they go to the bathroom, just say no.

Also, don’t say “bomb”.

They hate that.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Timberridge]

Also, don’t say “bomb”.

They hate that.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

On Drugs, Inc. that Amsterdam airport is a hotbed of illicit drug activity. Couple things I learned from the show though. 1) Don't be the last one off the plane, 2) Make eye contact with the agents if you get asked a question.

[The AD]

I went through AMS last October (a different time, I know) and was a bit worried because I only had a 50 minute layover. It ended up going fairly smoothly. At passport control they had people going back and forth pulling out people who had short connections. I had gone through most of the line by the time they called out my departure time, but it still saved me a few minutes. I don't even think my connecting flight was loading yet when I got to the gate.

[Timberridge]

There's always some guy who claims to have driven the Long Island Expressway at some point and says "Yeah, the trip was ok, man. No traffic at all" and everyone else in the room deosn't know if he's fucking with them or if it really happened.

[The AD]

Just relaying a single data point. I was worried I'd miss my connection and it turned out not to be a problem.

[Timberridge]

I'm just saying if I were Stu, I wouldn't know who to believe in this thread.

[Stu Gotz]

LOL Ithink I got enough to know that the airport isn't burning down and with enough time I can get where I need to be.

I was worried with striking workers and limited staff that things might be unmanageable. My other option was to rebook through DeGaulle, but that doesn't seem to be any better.

Its a vacation though, and an adventure that goes sideways is still better than a day in the office.

[Timberridge]

Well good luck Stu and as they say in Spain "Bon Voyage!"

[zion zig zag]

I went through AMS last October (a different time, I know) and was a bit worried because I only had a 50 minute layover. It ended up going fairly smoothly. At passport control they had people going back and forth pulling out people who had short connections. I had gone through most of the line by the time they called out my departure time, but it still saved me a few minutes. I don't even think my connecting flight was loading yet when I got to the gate.

Every time I've been through they've had employees that are roaming the line pulling out people with tight connections. I had a little over an hour through there in March so I didn't get the line cutting privileges but made it with no issues.

[Kevo]

One time coming home AMS-IAH-DEN I had half of a 300 mg space cake left over from a night out with a friend that lives in Amsterdam.

Once I was sure I was going to make the flight but before going through customs, I ate the 150 mg dose with the intention of chilling on my flight back to the states.

There was an extra bag check at the gate where I was chosen for a random swab to check for explosive residue on my carryon. Somehow, someway my bag set of the explosive detector. They tested again, and then again. It was positive each time.

I was suddenly surrounded by all the security at the gate and then quickly surrounded by police rifles and a dog and a very tall guy in a suit who explained that he was from the Dutch equivalent of the Dutch FBI.

It was about that time the edible started to kick in.

I was questioned by multiple people for over an hour about why I was in AMS, where I had been, who I had been with, etc while my checked baggage was pulled off the plane. Was I traveling with anyone else? "No". If your company has an office in Amsterdam, what is it's address? Who are your coworkers there?The plane left. I stayed. At first it was right at the gate, but then I was taken to some back room.

15x a normal edible dose is, well, a ton. It took every bit of my concentration and mental strength to keep my shit together. I thought multiple times about coming clean about the edible to explain any erratic eye movement that I may have had going on, but thought better of it because of the risk of it complicating my situation.

I was presented with my baggage and told to scatter it throughout an empty room. A bomb dog was brought in. It sniffed everything, but never alerted.

I was released into the care (or lack thereof) of United airlines, who informed me I had 5 minutes to run more than 1/2 a kilometer across the airport with my baggage to catch an alternate flight home through IAD before the door to that flight was closed.

While running, a coworker who was originally booked on that IAD flight called me- "They're paging you at my gate. Are you on my flight?!"

I had the peace of mind to tell her to get on the flight an not acknowledge my existence until we were airborne. I'd explain everything later. I couldn't risk my story about not being with anyone else complicate my ability to get on that flight.

I arrived at the gate, was interrogated yet again by some of the same people who had somehow driven to the gate, and then was allowed to board the flight.

I was so fucking high I have no idea how I navigated all of that. I threw away the bag in question. No way could I risk that bag setting off a detector in a place like Jakarta or Singapore where I was regularly traveling at the time.

[liv2ski]

Holy shit Kevo. A 150 mg dose?

[HellgateBasement]

If you're continuing on to another EU destination I think you'll be ok. I'd be careful if you're traveling from another EU country and headed to the States, or some other scenario where you need to re-clear security. Especially if you're flying economy, and especially in the afternoon/early evening since things seem to just build throughout the day.

I had a KLM economy flight July 2nd from AMS to Stavanger. I showed up a little less than 4 hours prior to my 4pm flight having checked in online and only carrying a backpack. The line was 3km long and pure chaos. I was still 30 minutes from reaching the security checkpoint when the flight departed. They aren't allowing people into the terminal more than 4 hours earlier than their flight time so not sure what else I could have done. I would have considered an upgrade to business class to use the priority lane or using Schiphol's paid "meet & assist" service https://schipholmeetandassist.com/book/ if either was available.

Baggage claim is also a shitshow - I saw today that Icelandair is actually flying baggage handlers on each flight to staff their ground operations at Schiphol.

Good luck out there.