Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

[friendlyfifer]

Has anyone passed through Schiphol in the last few days? Was your transit easy or did you encounter long queues? Lastly, did your luggage arrive at your final destination? Thanks

[pontac]

I take it you're posting this after reading today's news from Schipol?

 

I'm due to transit through there next month, and I'm hoping today's  baggage problems will be fixed by then.

 

I left from Schipol after a river cruise in April and it was awful, huge long queues to get into the terminal, then to check in and then go to security. Terrible. Just caught the flight. Schipol used to be a class act.

Edited July 22, 2022 by pontac

[friendlyfifer]

36 minutes ago, pontac said:

I take it you're posting this after reading today's news from Schipol?

 

I'm due to transit through there next month, and I'm hoping today's  baggage problems will be fixed by then.

 

I left from Schipol after a river cruise in April and it was awful, huge long queues to get into the terminal, then to check in and then go to security. Terrible. Just caught the flight. Schipol used to be a class act.

We fly tomorrow via Schiphol to Stockholm. The baggage system problem seems to be resolved but it’s going to be a stressful journey.

[duquephart]

Schipol is just to damn big and should be avoided if possible. My connecting flight always seems to be at the other end.

[Twitchly]

Yesterday (7/21), KLM didn’t allow passengers to bring any checked luggage onto its planes traveling through Amsterdam due to a “disruption to the baggage system.” If you showed up with luggage to be checked, you were advised to schedule another flight or take a voucher.
 

Doesn’t sound like this would affect flyers coming in from outside the country unless they were connecting to another European city. But with a system that fragile, seems like carryons are the way to go.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/mass-confusion-at-amsterdam-airport-after-klm-says-it-won-e2-80-99t-accept-checked-luggage/ar-AAZPMyt

 

 

[friendlyfifer]

2 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

Yesterday (7/21), KLM didn’t allow passengers to bring any checked luggage onto its planes traveling through Amsterdam due to a “disruption to the baggage system.” If you showed up with luggage to be checked, you were advised to schedule another flight or take a voucher.
 

Doesn’t sound like this would affect flyers coming in from outside the country unless they were connecting to another European city. But with a system that fragile, seems like carryons are the way to go.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/mass-confusion-at-amsterdam-airport-after-klm-says-it-won-e2-80-99t-accept-checked-luggage/ar-AAZPMyt

 

 

I’ve been watching the luggage problem carefully. It seems to be resolved now. We fly Edinburgh/Amsterdam/Stockholm tomorrow morning so all fingers and toes are crossed. Hand luggage only would be difficult for a two week cruise.

[Heidi13]

58 minutes ago, friendlyfifer said:

I’ve been watching the luggage problem carefully. It seems to be resolved now. We fly Edinburgh/Amsterdam/Stockholm tomorrow morning so all fingers and toes are crossed. Hand luggage only would be difficult for a two week cruise.

 

How was the town last week for The Open Championship - did you manage to get any tickets.

 

Brought back some great memories watching it on the telly, especially when they showed a shot of the Jigger Inn.

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, friendlyfifer said:

I’ve been watching the luggage problem carefully. It seems to be resolved now. We fly Edinburgh/Amsterdam/Stockholm tomorrow morning so all fingers and toes are crossed. Hand luggage only would be difficult for a two week cruise.

Flying with no checked baggage is very comforting (comparably) and two weeks in the right carry on is easy.  Not too long ago we flew to England for two weeks in carry ons.  Included a family country wedding, London, and 3 days in Venice. No problemo...🥃

[duquephart]

The SAS situation resulted in us being "stranded" in Bergen and Oslo. Viking got us out via SAS code share to AMS then United to ORD. In other words, we endured both Amsterdam and Chicago airports in the same day. There must be a medal for this.

[Twitchly]

56 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Flying with no checked baggage is very comforting (comparably) and two weeks in the right carry on is easy.  Not too long ago we flew to England for two weeks in carry ons.  Included a family country wedding, London, and 3 days in Venice. No problemo...🥃

It’ll be 3 weeks for us this September, with projected temps from high 70s in London to low 50s in northern Scotland and Bergen. I’m determined to try to get by with a carryon and (rather huge) personal bag.
 

Somehow I was able to travel around the world for 6 months with nothing but a knapsack in my 20s, so why am I so daunted by the prospect of a carryon for a few weeks? With laundry service?

[SantaFe1]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

Not too long ago we flew to England for two weeks in carry ons.  Included a family country wedding, London, and 3 days in Venice. No problemo.

Wish I could see your packing list.  My husband is begging me to take only carry on for our two weeks in Milan and the Italian Lakes in September.  I guess I couldn’t take the 14 pairs of shoes I took on our WC!

[Azulann]

3 hours ago, friendlyfifer said:

I’ve been watching the luggage problem carefully. It seems to be resolved now. We fly Edinburgh/Amsterdam/Stockholm tomorrow morning so all fingers and toes are crossed. Hand luggage only would be difficult for a two week cruise.

Please report back on your flight and luggage  to get to Stockholm.

 Have a wonderful cruise , once on board you can relax! 

[duquephart]

2 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Wish I could see your packing list.  My husband is begging me to take only carry on for our two weeks in Milan and the Italian Lakes in September.  I guess I couldn’t take the 14 pairs of shoes I took on our WC!

 

Imelda?

[SantaFe1]

Ha ha. I had forgotten all about her.  Well, if the shoe fits…

[DrKoob]

We are headed there in late August. Going to keep an eye on this thread.

[janetcbl]

We managed a month with just a carry on each…..but by the time the 4 weeks were over, I was tired of wearing the same things every few days. What made a difference for us; we were in PS3 which included laundry (I am now totally spoiled,) 

P.S. We left Stockholm this am, flying thru Amsterdam to our final destination. Made it through the Transfer security to F gate in under 15 minutes! AMS seemed very busy, but organized…for thru passengers, at least.

 

[IDLnyc]

We passed through Schiphol four weeks ago (late June). Took a direct flight from Hamburg to Amsterdam - our checked baggage made it to the carousel about fifteen minutes after we found the right baggage claim area.  (It took two hours for us to get through check-in and security at Hamburg.)

 

We departed from Schiphol a week later.  It looked to me that the enormous lines were for the "Terminal 1" area, which is for intra-Europe flights.  We had lines at Terminal 3 (international ) but these were all on the second floor and did NOT go up and down stairs, out the door like at Terminal 1.

 

The night before our 9:30a outbound flight we stayed at an airport hotel, and got in line at Terminal 3 at 6a.  In my sleep-deprived state, it seemed like we were through check-in and security by 8am.  Our bags made it to the USA.

[jmfdr]

On 7/22/2022 at 4:20 PM, Jim Avery said:

Flying with no checked baggage is very comforting (comparably) and two weeks in the right carry on is easy.  Not too long ago we flew to England for two weeks in carry ons.  Included a family country wedding, London, and 3 days in Venice. No problemo...🥃

I agree. No checked baggage ever again for us.  In April we spent 2.5 weeks in Ireland with carry-on luggage just fine.  Flying to Kenya in a couple days with only carry-ons.  I don't think it will be a problem for 19 days.  Our next cruise is not until October and we plan to use only carry-ons for that 2 week trip.  Cruise packing is much easier since formal and dressy wear is not required for dining as it once was. 

[RJMAROB]

We extended our British Isles Explorer trip with 3 days in Amsterdam. Our Eurostar train leaving London after the cruise on 07/15 was cancelled in route at the Brussels train station as there were not sufficient staff to handle the train at Amsterdam central station. When we left Amsterdam on 07/18 there were massive lines early that morning at Schiphol. We arrived 4 hours prior to the flight and barely made the flight. Hopefully this clears up soon.

[DrKoob]

On 7/28/2022 at 10:19 AM, jmfdr said:

I agree. No checked baggage ever again for us.  In April we spent 2.5 weeks in Ireland with carry-on luggage just fine.  Flying to Kenya in a couple days with only carry-ons.  I don't think it will be a problem for 19 days.  Our next cruise is not until October and we plan to use only carry-ons for that 2 week trip.  Cruise packing is much easier since formal and dressy wear is not required for dining as it once was. 

I always envy those of you who can just do a carry-on. When you have size 13 shoes and need to have more than one pair with you it just isn't possible. One pair of my shoes takes up half of a carry-on. I would love to just take that. We try and get around it by only flying non-stop and checking Apple AirTags before and after the flght. 

[DrKoob]

On 7/29/2022 at 5:22 AM, RJMAROB said:

We extended our British Isles Explorer trip with 3 days in Amsterdam. Our Eurostar train leaving London after the cruise on 07/15 was cancelled in route at the Brussels train station as there were not sufficient staff to handle the train at Amsterdam central station. When we left Amsterdam on 07/18 there were massive lines early that morning at Schiphol. We arrived 4 hours prior to the flight and barely made the flight. Hopefully this clears up soon.

Amen! We are really hoping it clears up. We are flying in to AMS a month from today. And back out three days later to head to Athens to meet Sky. Been tracking our flights every day and they have been on-time most days. Fingers crossed.

 

[Let Me Travel!]

Ok…you mentioned the apple tags…I just bought “tiles” and I’m hoping they will help me track the bags if (God forbid…) my checked bags get “left behind”….there is just no way we would be able to just do carry-ones.  We will be gone for 28 days on this coming trip and we a known for being over-packers. Tell me…do they work? This will be my first time using…definitely open to advice…

[SempreMare]

My experience:

 

1) Arrival flight in to Amsterdam

Via the new Delta / KLM Austin to Amsterdam direct flight in mid-April was perfect. 

 

I had purchased the meet and greet arrival service to get through faster. That worked well.  We took a BRISK, fairly long walk from gate arrival to customs, via a path with shortcuts I would not have known to take based on signage.   The main passport line had probably 200 people.  My greeter guided me to a line of ~ 20 people on the far right in their customs area. 

 

Then, for some unknown reason, an officially-dressed customs person came out of the office,  walked me to a separate window, and processed my passport.   The greeter said she has never seen that happen in 12 years working; she always has to wait in that line (on the right).  I'm not a recognizable VIP,  just your average femalle.  Not sure what prompted this.  

 

2) 3 weeks later, my business class Departure was the polar opposite experience.  

 

I've been American Airlines Executive Platinum at various parts of my career.  So, have flown a lot and never felt frightened by an airport experience.   My departure was the most confusing and chaotic I've ever experienced.    It included: 

- Having to leave the taxi with luggage hundreds of yards away from the airport entrance doors (a 15 min walk just to get near the doors).  I thought there was some kind of a security situation happening.  

- Total uncertainty over which line to be in (lines were so long there was zero signage at end of lines.  Had to rely on people's guesses at the end of the line as to the purpose of the line.)

- Watching the security checkpoint "garage doors"  being rolled down in between an angry mob of people for a security line being closed

 

I did not try to book departure Meet & Greet services till 4 days earlier.  It was already sold out. Don't know how much of a difference it would have made, but the departure experience couldn't have been worse...

 

For up to the minute detail,  read the FlyerTalk forum pinned thread on "Chaos at Schiphol" or something like that.  

[millybess]

1 hour ago, Let Me Travel! said:

Ok…you mentioned the apple tags…

Tell me…do they work? 

Yes.  On a recent trip to Santorini I knew that our bags were left behind in Athens.  When the hotel employee was driving back from the Santorini airport with only one bag the next morning, I knew before he returned to the hotel he had one bag and that there was another bag still at Santorini airport.  

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, millybess said:

Yes.  On a recent trip to Santorini I knew that our bags were left behind in Athens.  When the hotel employee was driving back from the Santorini airport with only one bag the next morning, I knew before he returned to the hotel he had one bag and that there was another bag still at Santorini airport.  

We used Apple AirTags in our TA in March. My husband kept getting notifications on his phone “Dave’s luggage last seen in the middle of the Atlantic”!. LOL.😂