Security staff have announced a "glove action" on the 6th of next month.

Rules apparently stipulate that they are only allowed to wear gloves when dealing with dirty pax (defined as those with visible sweat stains etc.). Staff want to wear gloves all the time, and will do so on Thursday.

Johan

This is off topic but as several people here seem to have Privium access, and I don't want to start a thread for it... I have a parking 50% discount voucher from joining Privium last November. I don't have a car and it expires at the end of March 2020. Would anyone like it (for free - I'll PM a picture of the code)? I'm not sure you can use it as reading the terms and conditions:
If you want to give it a go, I'm happy to oblige!

I sailed through T2 priority this afternoon, when I arrived it was completely devoid of passengers. I was the only one (although a few more pitched up after me). No secondary, although I of course took the usual precaution of removing at least half the contents of my bag.

Johan

Slightly OT: Non-Schengen (Hall3) passport control under renovation
 

FYI - the passport control area in Hall 3 is undergoing renovation - so do take note of possible lines. This morning waited for about 15 mins before passing through. (I was actually surprised with the current virus scare, that the airport was still quite busy)

I am not sure how long the renovation will take.

Cheers!

SK just reported traffic figures for February.

Despite canceling all flights to China, pax numbers increased by 3.9% last month. Load factor -0.6%, RPK +0.5%, yield +3.7%

I know, I know, other airlines have fared far worse, and the corona impact will be much greater this month and beyond.

Johan

Greta clearly have the right effect in her home market...

A one-trick pony stuck in a groove, repeating the same simplistic and alarmist message over and over again, ad nauseam. At some point sensible people will stop listening, assuming they did so in the first place.

Johan

T1 Schengen security has these fancy leave-everything-in-the-bag scanners, yet they managed to send both of my bags to secondary yesterday. Usually it's only one.

Why?

First bag was waved through after a cursory glance, no idea why they picked on that one. The second was thoroughly searched because it contained . . . wait for it . . . two chocolate bars!

What?!?

These very same bags of course sailed through ARN security this morning, where they still use old-fashioned scanners. Even better, their Fast Track actually works.

Later this morning I went through Schengen / non-Schengen immigrations. The two officers on duty vastly outnumbered the passengers, so I was done in a jiffy. Next came an eager security agent who was happy to select me for a random security check. She had probably been waiting for me all morning.

You guessed it, secondary again! Only one bag this time, and nobody asked about the chocolate bars. Now they picked on the hand sanitizer. I've carried the same brand in the same size bottle since March, never an issue. Now they ran it through two different scanners, and photographed it with a tablet. You can't make this stuff up!

Johan

The new security filter in Departures 1 for Schengen flights has been opened on the new mezzanine floor. From what I can read from the announcement, there now is direct access to this filter from the Skypriority check-in area. Can someone confirm that, after checking in at the SP desks, you can directly access the priority lanes at the Schengen security filter? That would be an improvement for Skyteam Elite/FB Silver members. There has been an oddity at AMS that Silver/Elite were not able to use the priority lanes directly, but when passing through the SP check-in area everyone funnels into the priority lane for the non-Schengen filter.

I guess the only way for that to be possible is some way around that large column that holds the elevator and escalators - I didn't see anything like that last week when I went up to priority security from the SP check in, but I also didn't pay particular attention.

Went through T2 non-Schengen security Monday afternoon. Only one single checkpoint open, so so much for priority. And you guessed it, 90% went to secondary, despite the fancy new-fangled scanner. As luck would have it, the two pax ahead of me were both moms with infants who managed to fill half a dozen trays each. That gave me lots of time to study the lady operating the scanner. After each bag she stopped the belt and stared at her screen for half a minute or longer with an expression of concentration, bewilderment and consternation. You could almost hear the neurons misfire. The outcome of almost every painstaking analysis was a beeline to secondary, overwhelming the poor agent at the receiving end.

For crying out loud! Why the heck must AMS have the worst security on the planet?

Johan

Just went through the new Schengen checkpoint. It you have Sky Priority or Privium you take the escalator up to non-Schengen security, then keep left. An agent check your boarding card and then admit you to a temporary access lane, which feeds directly into the single priority checkpoint around two corners.

New scanners, everything stays in the bags, and to my utter amazement none of mine went to secondary, although other bags did. Having somehow crammed three huisjes into my liquids bag I fully expected to be picked on.

Just because my bags were approved in one go, I then got to watch them sit in their trays while I waited for my turn at the body scanner. For reasons completely beyond comprehension they only checked one pax every few minutes. In the interval the staff just stood around and chatted. Then the lady in front of me had two-way kids with obvious mental health issues. They refused to be scanned, and the youngest refused to be separated from his mom, so she could only be scanned with the kid hugging her leg. Common sense would dictate exempting the kids and just letting them through, but no, they of course had to be frisked. The security agents were really nice to the presumptive miniature terrorists, but the consequence of course was another round of whinging and crying.

Welcome to AMS security! You just never know what you are in for.

After security a sign tells you to turn right for all gates, and left to all lounges. The latter route indeed takes you straight to the Crown and Privium lounges, but is also the shortest route to the D concourse.

Johan

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieu...medium=twitter

(Translated) SCHIPHOL - With the opening of the new security filter on the mezzanine of Departure Hall 1, all departure and transfer filters at Schiphol are equipped with CT scans. According to the airport, this represents a major step forward in passenger service. Passengers now no longer have to remove their liquids and electronics from their bags when they go through security.

I'll believe it when I see it.

And then you will get sent to secondary anyway.

Johan

But with a blistering new level of efficiency!