Immigration Clearance Time @ AMS (Schiphol)
May 31, 2019, 3:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: NC
Programs: AA, Marriott/SPG, AMEX
Posts: 272
Immigration Clearance Time @ AMS (Schiphol)
Does anyone have any recent experience? Amsterdam is our destination, we are not trying to connect to another flight. We will be arriving July 2 so I expect it to be busier than when I was there in October. 2 US passport holders. I'm trying to determine if Blacklane offers any value since this is a fairly short trip (5 days) for my husband's birthday.
Jun 1, 2019, 4:08 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,196
Black lane is a car company.
Any car company worth it’s salt will happily take a booking based on scheduled time of arrival and then monitor the flight on the day then allows 30 minutes for yiu to clear immigration etc.
I’ve not seen any fast track immigration lanes at AMS (other then Privum but that’s not applicable for the OP)
in my experience it’s nit the wait for immigration that’s the problem at AMS it’s the slow delivery of bags.
Any car company worth it’s salt will happily take a booking based on scheduled time of arrival and then monitor the flight on the day then allows 30 minutes for yiu to clear immigration etc.
I’ve not seen any fast track immigration lanes at AMS (other then Privum but that’s not applicable for the OP)
in my experience it’s nit the wait for immigration that’s the problem at AMS it’s the slow delivery of bags.
Jun 1, 2019, 5:52 am
#4
Join Date: May 2013
Location: AVL
Programs: DL 2MM, Plat; Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 214
I was there the end of April, a fairly busy time because the tulips are at their height. I landed on a Wednesday about 12:40 PM on DL and it took about 5 minutes to clear immigration. I was in Delta 1 so I got to Immigration quickly. If you do not have a connecting flight, you have no pressure.
Jun 2, 2019, 10:29 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: NC
Programs: AA, Marriott/SPG, AMEX
Posts: 272
Black lane is a car company.
Any car company worth it’s salt will happily take a booking based on scheduled time of arrival and then monitor the flight on the day then allows 30 minutes for yiu to clear immigration etc.
I’ve not seen any fast track immigration lanes at AMS (other then Privum but that’s not applicable for the OP)
in my experience it’s nit the wait for immigration that’s the problem at AMS it’s the slow delivery of bags.
Any car company worth it’s salt will happily take a booking based on scheduled time of arrival and then monitor the flight on the day then allows 30 minutes for yiu to clear immigration etc.
I’ve not seen any fast track immigration lanes at AMS (other then Privum but that’s not applicable for the OP)
in my experience it’s nit the wait for immigration that’s the problem at AMS it’s the slow delivery of bags.
I was there the end of April, a fairly busy time because the tulips are at their height. I landed on a Wednesday about 12:40 PM on DL and it took about 5 minutes to clear immigration. I was in Delta 1 so I got to Immigration quickly. If you do not have a connecting flight, you have no pressure.
Jun 3, 2019, 6:38 am
#6
Join Date: May 2013
Location: AVL
Programs: DL 2MM, Plat; Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 214
Blacklane also offers BlacklanePass to expedite immigration/customs. We won't have any checked bags so at least we don't have to worry about that wait.
Does flying in a premium cabin help like it does at LHR or was it just because you were off the plane 1st? We're in J on AA.
Does flying in a premium cabin help like it does at LHR or was it just because you were off the plane 1st? We're in J on AA.
Jun 4, 2019, 2:56 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Malaga, Spain
Posts: 1,077
Look carefully at the BlacklanePass wording - IMHO 'expedite' for $200 on AMS arrival consists of accompanying you to immigration but once there I don't recall a Priority line - other than Privium which was correctly excluded by UKtravelbear since it requires pre-registratiion.
Same vague 'expedite' offer on other sites even like Schiphol's Meet & Assist which at least gets you a buggy ride
Same vague 'expedite' offer on other sites even like Schiphol's Meet & Assist which at least gets you a buggy ride
Jun 4, 2019, 3:17 am
#8
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: CPT,AMS
Posts: 4,412
There is no priority line in AMS, however crew & disabled PAX always cut to the front of the queue, between privium and the first booth, the meet & greet service might be able to do the same, but better to enquire in advance.
Jun 4, 2019, 4:18 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: NC
Programs: AA, Marriott/SPG, AMEX
Posts: 272
Look carefully at the BlacklanePass wording - IMHO 'expedite' for $200 on AMS arrival consists of accompanying you to immigration but once there I don't recall a Priority line - other than Privium which was correctly excluded by UKtravelbear since it requires pre-registratiion.
Same vague 'expedite' offer on other sites even like Schiphol's Meet & Assist which at least gets you a buggy ride
Same vague 'expedite' offer on other sites even like Schiphol's Meet & Assist which at least gets you a buggy ride
). We used a paid arrival service in Barbados a few years ago and it was well worth the $150 price (friends travelling with us, who decided not to pay for the service, were in line for over 2.5 hours) but $300 would only be justified if it was pretty much guaranteed to save a couple hours or more.
Jun 4, 2019, 5:35 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,196
Where are you travelling to once you get to AMS?
Public transport in the Netherlands is excellent and why waste money on a car - that you can spend on all sorts of other stuff - when you can get to your destination by Train?
Public transport in the Netherlands is excellent and why waste money on a car - that you can spend on all sorts of other stuff - when you can get to your destination by Train?
Jun 8, 2019, 4:06 pm
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: NC
Programs: AA, Marriott/SPG, AMEX
Posts: 272
You are right, the Netherlands does have excellent public transport. We are not using the Blacklane car service for this trip. We will be taking a train from AMS and then walking from the train station to our hotel. We have experience with Amsterdam, just not in the high season.