Radiation Station

From the anecdotes I’ve seen, late evening flyers don’t usually encounter the queues. Thanks for helping to confirm that!

Tobias-UK

It appears today the queues just to get inside the terminal were over 4 hours!

mikeap

I am connecting in AMS. Coming in from Scotland, and out to Canada. Since I will be after security the whole time (my bags are checked all the way through) are there any delays, secondary checks, or other understaffed things I should worry about? Or will I not even know there is a problem since I am "after" all the mess?

DYKWIA

You should be OK. You won't need to go through any more checks.

TedToToe

Anecdotally, I heard yesterday that this is typical for entry to the KLM departure hall. For us, it was 40 minutes to get to a position where we could queue jump to fast track. I shan't be going anywhere near AMS anytime soon!

South London Bon Viveur

And yet there is apparently a rule that you should not arrive more than 4 hours before departure! Not that anyone is checking. I arrived at Schiphol around 15:30 for the 18:15 LCY departure and was through in around 10 minutes. Other people travelling back to London reported no queues, modest queues and horrendous ones. It seems to be very dependent on the time of departure, and yet they can't seem to manage at all at peak times.

South London Bon Viveur

I am not sure whether the machines will reject your BP- probably not, but I can imagine that if you are using fast track you might need to show your boarding pass to a human, at which point it's likely to be pot luck (Schiphol staff generally unhelpful in my experience). However this is based on my experience of using Schiphol to fly to the UK. It's been a very long time (4 or 5 years) since I actually entered the non-Schengen part of Schiphol from Amsterdam, as opposed to transit, so I am not sure what the set up is these days. I certainly would not bank on this being an easy option. Plus you then have to go through passport control airside, which could also be problematic. Sounds to me like you'd be taking one for the team

You could ask in the KLM forum, they might know more.

In any event, good luck!

Simonp27

I flew in and out of AMS last Tuesday.

On arrival we waited ten minutes before they would let us down to the passport checks - they let EU holders down, just not UK/US etc. No e-gates for non EU either. The AMS staff thought it was funny making the UK passport holders wait. I guess UK visitors are decent business for the country so they might want to reformat the split between EU and no EU desks.

On the way back no problems at all.

justin_krusty

15/6 into AMS ~3pm. Passport check took me about 30 mins but a colleague who arrived 10 mins after me had an hour plus wait and was held upstairs. Saw some British people try to use the egates which was amusing and resulted in the policeman giving them a Dutch telling off.

17/6 out of AMS ~1pm. using T2 security was 70 mins from joining queue to exiting passport control. Colleagues had a 2 hour queue around 4pm.

Will take the train next time.

DYKWIA

AMS was letting UK passports through the eGates a while back. There was even a Union Flag alongside the EU flag above the gates.

KARFA

for entry or exit passport checks?

DYKWIA

Good question... I can't recall. It was on the "Mess at AMS" thread and had a photo of the gates.

KARFA

I know for exit they are used, with a UK flag added on the overhead sign, and there is someone stood after the e-passport gates at a podium so you can collect your souvenir exit stamp.

For entry I didn't think UK passport holders can use them, or at least that wasn't the case last month.

MaxFlyer

When I entered AMS back in April I used the E-gates.

South London Bon Viveur

No one was using the egates when I was there last week as they were broken, which apparently is a regular occurrence.