Hello everyone,

Question is specific to AMS but likely applicable to many European airports. My question relates to the difference I have noticed for "check in" procedures in European countries compared to America. In America, check in counters take 2-3 minutes in most cases and there is often self-bag drop. When traveling Europe, I have noticed that often there is a massive queue that takes 45mins to 1 hour as EVERYONE must check in at the checkin counter and drop bags. I have been horribly frustrated at this in the past, which has happened in Spain and Denmark. I once almost missed my flight because of it. They offer no way to check in online and drop off bags, and no way to pay extra for priority to somehow skip the queue.

This summer, I will have one intra-europe flight from Amsterdam to London, on British Airways. I have not yet booked the ticket, but economy fares are about $200 cheaper than business. Considering european business class is often just an economy seat in the front, I am not inclined to pay the extra UNLESS I will have to do the one hour "check in" desk dance again at Amsterdam airport, which I assume I would be able to avoid flying business class as I could use the priority check in counters. Does anyone have any insight into this? Thanks so much!