mjrobson

Couldn’t find anywhere here or in the Mess in Amsterdam thread.

Does anyone have any recent first hand experience flying J out of Schiphol recently?

Does Air Canada J have access to the priority security lines?

thanks!

eastcoastcan

There are priority security lines. When I flew out of AMS last month the priority lines were almost totally empty. The standard line was over 90 minutes long but we were through in about 10 minutes.

There is a separate entrance for it. If you are facing the entry point for the line, there are stairs to the right. Go up those.

mjrobson

thanks - and that was on Air Canada in J? I read only airlines that pay for it get access to the priority lines and it isn’t clear if AC does.

The Lev

Also curious is it just J or do Star Gold also get access to the priority lane?

Altaflyer

I think the lane dragon was going to let me use the lane as a 35K with "Priority Security" on my BP but my companion does not have status so off to the long line we went..... Priority check in was quick - regular line was very long.

yyckiwi

Star Gold got us access to the LH priority check in and priority security lane , But they are in a different area to AC.

notanothersegment

I flew out of schipol last week and there was about an hour long line just to get to the bottom of the stairs. Once you got to that point there was an airport employee letting through people who had priority security. There was basically no line for priority once you cleared that hurdle. Make sure you get a printed boarding pass though as some friends of mine were unable to convince the people manning the priority line that their boarding pass in the app qualified them.

wjw

I don’t have a lot of experience with Schiphol (usuallly connect in Frankfurt). If I arrive from Canada on AC and will transfer non-Schengen, is it just an easy walk gate to gate? No immigration obviously, but are passengers from Canada considered sterile so no security either?

zrh2yvr

I flew out on LH on June 3. The normal line was ~2 hours - minimum. I could not find the end of the line . . Priority security is basically at the back of the checkin area behind a black wall with no signs. There, there is an escalator going up where you basically go around to the front of the line. I was pretty shocked - I was almost the only one in priorty. I was flying Y on LH and was able to use this with Star Gold.
Parents flew J-LH (dad is also Star Gold anyway) and they had the same experience as me.

AMS is a total nightmare right now so good luck but know that priority has its privileges now.

mjrobson

Family of 4 - Can confirm AC J gets priority security and the priority line for checking was good as well. Wow the line for security is long. It went on forever even before you got to the gates to scan though.

We walked to the bottom of the stairs where the gates are to scan your boarding pass and showed a guy our passes. He opened the rope and we scanned through. On the other side of the gates, you can go around the rest of the line and up the stairs / escalator after showing another lady your boarding pass. At the top there is another separate line for priority which had around 10 people in it. Even the line with 10 people was slowish.

The aspire lounge is way far and says it’s full when you get there, but they are letting in business class passengers. They’re turning away anyone with passes or other cards.

Having priority has never been more valuable than here.

Flight is already delayed 2 hours - we got food vouchers for 12 euro each when we checked in.

User8181416

Not sure how accurate it is but there's a table on the Air Canada website that lists who gets access to different priority services around the world here: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...-services.html

According to this table at Schiphol you get priority security if you are in Business Class, Star Alliance Gold, or 50K and above.

mapleg

This website shows where Star Alliance Golds can get priority access/security.

AMS is listed as one of those airports

Gold Track - Star Alliance

mjrobson

That's a really helpful page, thanks!

Flight left about 2.5 hours late and we were held in YYZ for about 15-20 mins due to customs. Even if customs is backed up, they should left people with nexus off, there was no there. We got through customs as quickly as the camera adjusted to take all our pictures.

Overall, the flight was really good though - crew was excellent and the food was much better than our YYZ-CDG leg.

eastcoastcan

I was flying AC paid J as a SE... it didn't seem to be a problem.