San Gottardo

I am not very familiar with AMS Airport and actually I haven't departed from there in more than 15 years, all other times were transfers.

Thus: I am flying to London LHR in the early afternoon on KLM, Business Class, only hand luggage, I already have my boarding pass, I am FB Platinum. Only thing I have to do at airport is to go to plane, no check-in, no lounge.

What is the latest time a taxi should drop me at the entrance of the airport for me to reach my flight? I am a fast walker. 30 minutes before departure? That would seem like enough time to go through immigration and security and reach my gate, no? I don't mind arriving 15 minutes before departure and being the last one boarding.

Are there many pax at immigration and security at that time of day? Are the priority lines efficient?

Thanks

MichielR

30 minutes is tight. You will have to go through passport control in hall 2, security check is at the gate, almost always D pier for LHR.

The queues for passport control could be short or long, they are difficult to predict. I'd say 45 minutes would be enough in any case. However, if you are taking a taxi, it will be as difficult to predict traffic...

San Gottardo

So I arrived 45 minutes before departure, which was plenty. I even had time for a full sit-down lunch at the Brasserie before going to my flight which I reached without any stress.

This confirmed again what a very nice and efficient airport AMS is. I am not particularly fond of the "security at gate" situation because it makes SkyPriority a little difficult to happen. The signs say "if you are SkyPriority just jump the queue". Sure, one could, but nasty looks and all the explaining to other passengers is awkward. Other than that really nice.

Now en route to LHR, where I expect my T4-T3 transfer to be the exact opposite.

johan rebel

Yeah, embarrassing to do, yet one would like to think that the purpose of SkyPriority isn't to embarrass elite and premium pax.

The D-gates are being renovated, the upgraded ones have the same type of physical barriers as the longhaul gates to funnel priority pax directly to the entry point.

Johan

ajs123

I flew the same route the day after you and when I arrived at the gate D18 40 min before departure the line for security check was really long. Without any qualms I proceeded to the skypriority sign, stopped to read what is on it and hoping that anyone confused by my 'queue jumping' would be compeled to read it too. After a few secs I joined the line. No bad looks, no questions, but certainly awkward.
Once it got crowded in the waiting area, one of the GAs while working her way to open the door to the jet brdidge was saying "skypriority first, skypriority first" only to let everyone on board without actually enforcing it...

johan rebel

KL boarding procedures in a nutshell. Couldn't be more typical.

It will take a very major effort on KL's part to change these ingrained attitudes.

Johan

COFF-Platinum

This is the Dutch culture. If you cannot deal with it, fly Lufthansa.

Xandrios

Not quite sure if that is the case. I believe this is simply a case of a lack of training and/or supervision.

And while I have been in these situations at AMS as well, in the past 6 months or so things have improved a lot. Flights from the C gates are no issue anyway (Separate Elite line, no holding pen) and for most flights out of the D pier, with holding pen, the BP was screened for Priority while opening the gate doors.

Maybe I have been lucky but priority boarding seems to work better these days, at least for me it does.

Aviatrix

My experience is that German airports are the worst when it comes to implementing priority boarding - or is there a difference when they're dealing with their own airline?

avatexrs

Also my first time flying through Amsterdam. Rome to Amsterdam to DFW. How much of a cushion do I need in Amsterdam to make the connection? If I have a US passport, do I have to through passport control in Amsterdam?

mfkne

Yes, you will have to go through passport control in Amsterdam. Depending on how much traffic there is and whether your flights is on time, anything between 45 minutes and 1 hour *should* do. If you have more, then there's plenty of things to do at AMS.

Aviatrix

I wouldn't risk anything less than an hour. I know MCT is 40 minutes, but I don't think 40 minutes is realistic. 40 minutes was adequate in the 1980s when Schiphol was half its current size and when there were no passport or security checks for connecting passengers. It's way too short now. Even with a Privium card I feel uncomfortable about anything less than an hour.

MSPeconomist

AMS passport control can have long lines at peak times, including the summer. As a USA citizen you must use the all passports lines which can be very slow. Sometimes the questioning of one person can take a while.

I think even one hour is tight.

Aviatrix

There is now a priority line for those on tight connections, so things aren't quite as bad as they once were

cyatheaceae

I think 45 min with out-EU passport is abundant time. No problem at all. Try to go to passport control in front of D asap. If situation is as it should be you 'll have time for doing anything you want after that. Good trip.