The Schiphol mess

Board Walker

How ever bad Dublin is, Amsterdam is far far worse! two weeks ago we had to arrive at AMS at 5.45 for the 930 to cork. it was quiet but when i came out of the lounge at 8.30 there was a Q from the entrance to Schengen area all the way to Pier E.

Roll on to this week, waiting for my baggage in LUX on Tuesday and an announcement came on that no baggage was sent with the flight and it would arrive on the 11PM. I filled in the online form and requested airport pick up. So i went in the following morning and they advised it had not arrived and that the Morning flight(there are or 4 a day from AMS to LUX) had been cancelled! I eventually picked up my Luggage yesterday when i was checking in for my flight home.

We were sat on the aircraft from LUX last night for 20 minutes before a stairs came, and the baggage was sat next to the aircraft for 30 minutes before it was loaded fo cork, the flight was delayed as a result and was loaded then by some ould boy that must have been on a mission to break as much stuff as possible. Did this guy not realise we could see him loading the baggage onto the conveyor id love to know?

Finally i couldn't believe what i saw in Cork. Rows and Rows of baggage. I went for a walk around while i was waiting for my own bag looking at the sea of baggage from Amsterdam. almost every bag i saw was EI/KLM with AMS on it. i did see one AF alright.

Is it people out from covid or is there some dispute with ground handling staff in AMS? LHR cant be too far behind as KLM sent an A330 over during the week empty to pick up hundreds of bags.

EchoIndia

Similar problems being experienced across Europe but AMS seems to be one of the worst. When a large hub airport is not working, the knock-on consequences there and elsewhere are huge.

(BTW when did people in Ireland start saying things like "we were sat"? What's wrong with "sitting"?)

Noxegon

A work colleague was there this morning and said that there was a delay boarding their connecting flight due to a software problem.

Locker10a

There’s also a shortage of tug drivers at AMS and frequent delays being experienced waiting for push back

L1011

Stacks of issues flying in/out of there last weekend. I would avoid connecting there at all costs this summer - it was bad enough for a direct passenger! Do not expect your bags to meet you at the final destination if connecting.

On arrival, they have reduced the signage to the normal Arrivals 1 entrance to the baggage hall so you get guided to Arrivals 2; quite some distance away

The baggage hall is absolute chaos - trolleys of bags everywhere, lines of bags between the belts and the belts themselves were mostly full of bags from previous flights, uncollected and uncleared

The belt had so little space to put out arriving bags that it eventually backed up and crashed. Took someone about ten minutes to realise and restart it.

On departure - Swissport hadn't set up the barriers properly so there were two different flights of people queuing at one checkin area. This was not sorted until about 2:20 before depature. Two people to check in a full A320.

55m queue for security, despite them having all the latest tech and no need to take anything out of luggage. If you travel very light your tray won't make it through the system as it'll be too light to be detected!

Further significant queue for the e-gates for Schengen exit, even though they take UK and some other non EEA passports. Gates just seemed super sluggish to respond between passport scan and turning on the camera

Flight was delayed marginally inbound. Loaded up quickly, but 7 pax missing. One of which had somehow got a bag aboard. Took the guts of an hour to get Swissport to bring back the baggage loader and offload that bag. It then started raining which reduces departure capacity so we had to wait for a slot.

donkey balls

I am glad I took my holidays back in Feb/Mar, Don't think I could go through the unknown of flying currently the hassle of turning up at mad o clock in the morning.

Getting through security to find out the flight cancelled etc.

https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rc20200914-schiphol-zomer-0247.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=960&h=&dpr=1.5

Noxegon

Ryanair's being Ryanair:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/vp8gj2/anyone_flying_to_amsterdam_this_monthcancelled/

kevinandrew

I have to applaud Ryanair on its messaging though, this isn’t their fault and they want everyone to know it.

Board Walker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283531#Comment_119283531

Thats gas.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119275593#Comment_119275593

The fact you even had to say that shows how pedantic you are.

asdfg87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283531#Comment_119283531

I think if all Airlines were as forthcoming with who is responsible we would make progress.

The DAA and Government spent 6 months telling us Dublin was ok when it was not amnd now we have the army.

The aviation industery seems to have got alot wrong in recent times.

irelandrover

I'm flying from Schiphol to Dublin on Friday and returning on Sunday. I am very excited about it.

Board Walker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287485#Comment_119287485

You sound it! :D

Don't check in bags and arrive 4 hours before on the way home.

screamer

Schipol has been awful to fly through long before covid. It’s not all covid related but they also couldn’t give two hoots. I mailed their customer service team to outline our awful experiences in waiting an hour and a half after arriving to get through the passport area and their reply was that’s your airline ground handling staffs fault!!!! No it wasn’t. Anyways after that it has earned the nickname shithol airport in our family and we will avoid it at all costs in future.

irelandrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287733#Comment_119287733

I always found Schiphol great to fly through. Queues moved quickly, services were great. I used to fly from there 6-8 times a year as well.

samo

Fully agree… end of May

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287733#Comment_119287733

end of May in torrential rain, people were left outside in T1 for hours which was awful, just to get into the terminal.

thankfully we were EI from T2, but still bag drop didn’t open till 2 hours before and was glacially slow, 10 from top of the queue it took 1 hour (!) to check bags in, 1 hour through security then, then rushed through passport control (they seem to decide in the moment if you can use the eGate with UK passport!) and the flight was 90 mins late, thankfully as it was a solid 20 min sprint to the gate..

Super stressful and definitely agree, avoid bag drops!

Board Walker

What happens if you arrive by train? Are you Shoed out the door?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287992#Comment_119287992

They have security on each of the escalators up from the plaza to the departures level. If there's an entry queue I presume they let people up in batches (as is done for security screening / boarding pass scanning also)

Tuesday_Girl

I'm flying over on the 15th which I'm not too worried about but back on the 18th, right after schools in north-holland close for for the summer holidays. That week has always been chaotic, can't imagine what it will be like this year. Last time I went through was in May and it took 1.5 hours to get through Security, I'd settle for that again.

Board Walker

It appears to be only getting worse over there!

Also if you have privium - You can skip every Q as normal inside the terminal but you still have to Q to get into the terminal.

Tabnabs

My elderly father flew (assisted passenger) with KLM recently and transited twice through AMS. His bags arrived with him on both legs. AMS was very busy but he was exceptionally well cared for by KLM staff. One of his flights was cancelled by KLM but he was immediately booked onto the next one (an extra three hours waiting time in AMS) and suffered no further inconvenience. It may not be pleasant, but the system can still work.

irelandrover

I flew yesterday.

I had loads of hassle getting to the airport due to train issues and got there 2,5 hours ahead of my flight. I was through security and passport control an hour later. It was well organised.

Saying that I only had carry on and bag drops looked horrible.

tabby aspreme

Take a look at Eindhoven as an alternative for getting out of NL, my daughter lives out there and was lucky to make a flight 6 weeks ago, she's home again in August and using Eindhoven to get out and Schipol going back

irelandrover

Eindhoven is worse than Schiphol at the moment based on mine and friends experiences. A friend flew from Eindhoven the day before I flew and took them 2.5 hours to get through security

Qprmeath

Me and my wife plus 3 kids did Dublin Schipol last Monday back yesterday, extremely good experience. Virtually no security queues or issues. Both flights delayed bout half hour due to late arrival of incoming aircraft but otherwise pretty normal summer travel experience.

Suckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119467550#Comment_119467550

Had the same experience this week. Delay leaving Dublin as the handlers loaded wrong luggage that had to be retrieved. KLM staff were moaning about Dublin being the worst at the moment etc. etc. Had a longer delay again departing Schiphol and it was blamed on "staff issues that every airport was experiencing". The airport itself was pretty comfortable, longer that 'usual' queues for food in some places but no security queue delays.

Cian59

Anyone any recent experience connecting here? Seems to be the easiest for my connection but wondering is it as much of a mess for transfers?

L1011

Connecting avoids most of the direct passenger horror, but don't rely on your bags coming through immediately. If ever.

Most of the passenger delays there are at checkin, security (particularly) and Schengen exit passport control - none apply to a connection.

Suckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119498469#Comment_119498469

Just allow plenty of buffer time between the expected landing time and your next flight.

Board Walker

I transferred on monday morning to Schengen area. I have privium so i was through in 2 minutes but the que was all the way back to the cosmetics shop.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119498469#Comment_119498469

Noxegon

My father missed his connection to LPI on Sunday due to KL938 being almost two hours late.

He was rebooked 24 hours later – spending almost 2 hours getting through inbound passport control to get to a hotel (which he had to sort himself) then another 2+ hours the next day getting through all formalities to get to his departure gate.

Needless to say he won't be booking another connection through AMS any time soon.

afatbollix

There was a very large trade show in Amsterdam at the weekend, Should quieten down again soon.

Went through from Taxi, Bag drop, Fast track to other side of passport control in 40 minutes today. Ya it's a pain but kinda expected these days.