poor handling at AMS, normal?
 

Arrived at AMS from DXB last monday and was a bit surprised at the ground handling. Is this normal for emirates?
1. The plane was parked on the apron so far away from the terminal that Haarlem seemed to be closer
2. Disembarking via stairs, minor nuisance for me but a lady walking with crutches (who counted on a bridge into the terminal) had to be helped down and into the bus by me and another passenger while cabin crew and ground staff were looking bemused but didn't lift a finger
3. Business class packed like sardines into a bus, I'm used to Schiphol buses because I fly a lot of cityhopper but it seems such a stark contrast with the chauffeur driven Mercedes at he start of the journey
4. Waiting 55 minutes from the plane landing to the first luggage on the belt.

Is this common? #2 especially bothered me.

It's not common, but I think there is only one A380 gate at AMS (Gate 9). There is a lot of work currently going on, so Gate 9 is sometimes closed.

When it happened to me, we parked up and then were pulled into a contact gate.

Why hadn't the passenger with crutches requested assistance? OK, you may have expected a contact gate at AMS, but there is a lot of bussing at DXB.

1. The plane was parked on the apron so far away from the terminal that Haarlem seemed to be closer

This has nothing to do with the handler. The operator of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol decides the stand although the handler may be able to persuade them to change it but diven lack of stands this may not have been possible.


2. Disembarking via stairs, minor nuisance for me but a lady walking with crutches (who counted on a bridge into the terminal) had to be helped down and into the bus by me and another passenger while cabin crew and ground staff were looking bemused but didn't lift a finger

The lady should have requested an ambulift. Staff may have been wary of assisting her on steps due to lack of insurance if she fell. That is, after all, why they have ambulifts - to assist pax that can't manage stairs.


3. Business class packed like sardines into a bus, I'm used to Schiphol buses because I fly a lot of cityhopper but it seems such a stark contrast with the chauffeur driven Mercedes at he start of the journey

IIRC, dNata is handler at AMS. Given EK normally uses an air bridge, they may have a lack of buses suitable for premium cabin pax or it may just have been poor thought put into dealing with where aircraft was parked.

4. Waiting 55 minutes from the plane landing to the first luggage on the belt.

This is way slow for EK standard SLA but given where aircraft was parked perhaps this caused the delay.

Is this common? #2 especially bothered me.[/QUOTE]

I wonder how much notice the airport had that the only A380 gate (G9) was not operational. It sort of sounds that this was a last minute surprise.
Like DYKWIA, I have landed at AMS when G9 was closed and been towed to a contact gate (I think it was in F pier). All of this took a long time, but at least no bus.
Bus gates are uncommon at AMS and all though they should have planned this, disembarking an entire A380 by bus would have been way outside their comfort zone.... It sort of explains (but in no way justifies) the problems for the passenger with limited mobility.
Baggage handling at AMS is a joke. Whenever you arrive and wherever from, it takes ages for any bags to appear on the belt. I always go to the yellow machine to charge my 'OV Chip card' (OV= public transport) and any other 'admin' stuff (draw Euros from an ATM) during that time. Even so, 55 minutes seems excessive even for AMS. My comment in the first line of this response may explain it a bit.

There are 3 A380-capable gates at AMS. One at the G-pier and two at the E-pier.

Had a similar experience on arrival on EK145 last month, which is a B777 and I believe the OP would have also experienced this situation on this particular flight.

Are the E pier gates also 'triple airbridge'? Or just wide enough for the 380 and there being a need for a tow?