Mcflyneo

Even less motivating to become Privium..

caliform

Yes, I was about to purchase it myself, but it seems when the going gets bad, they tell Privium to queue with everyone else. Great benefit, Schiphol, thanks.

Saint4805

Can I use SP security at Departures 3 if I'm flying both Schengen and non-Schengen? Does KLM have check-in desks there as I ususlly check a bag in? I heard that the KLM lounge is closer and that going through Departures 3 will be faster.

caliform

You are always free to just check your bag at Priority Departures 2, then walk to 3 to clear security there.

Saint4805

Thanks. Is there SP security at 3?

mfkne

There is, but you may only use it for non-Schengen destinations. If you're flying to a Schengen destination you must use security in departures 1 or 1a.

mfkne

From Twitter, this is the queue for Schengen departures from Departures 1 tonight, reportedly with a single lane open at the checkpoint:

troje

Madness.

Xandrios

Oh my goodness. Lets hope that Priority is open/allowed at such time..
Also note the huge line upstairs at non-shengen. That's easily an hour wait as well, if not more..

Schiphol has, of course, a brilliant explanation on Twitter:

"It's very busy at the airport. That's because of a few things. More and more people travel by plane, oil prices are decreasing, and planes get bigger and bigger.".

Have they gone mad?! Do they really think we are THAT stupid?

WorldLux

But don't you see the many the many A380 of KLM Cityhopper parked on the tarmac?

johan rebel

Oh boy!

Guess I should consider myself lucky. Went through T1 "Priority" security at 1.30 p.m. Counted 37 people ahead of me, not including at least four small children and one even smaller designer dog. Don't think I've ever seen it that busy at that time of day. Other "Priority" pax complained to the agent directing traffic that regular pax were being processed a lot faster, but he just shrugged his shoulders. This could easily have been resolved by moving a tensa barrier and allocating an extra checkpoint to "Priority".

For once my bag was not selected for secondary, which was a good thing, as the conveyor belt to secondary was backed up for its entire length.

Did get a pat-down, of course. Interestingly, this time the yellow rectangle was located somewhere in outer space, below my right elbow and some distance from my armpit. I expected the security guy to start frisking the air, but was disappointed.

Total time: 14 minutes.

Johan

johan rebel

No, it is just a pathological case of denial.

In an article in the latest issue of Zakenreis, Schiphol brags about its state-of-the-art flow management:

"Soepele passagiersstromen dankzij gebruik van beacons"

The airport has installed 2,000 beacons that register pax movements throughout the airport in realtime.

"Passagiers moeten in een soepele flow vanuit de vertrekhal hun gate kunnen bereiken. Dat noemt Schiphol een no-queue-policy."

Seriously, I'm not making this up, Schiphol prides itself on its sophisticated no queue policy, which is designed to ensure that pax will have sufficient time to go shopping and have a cup of coffee.

"Met het voorspellend vermogen van de wachtrijen zijn we heel ver, met een bandbreedte van een paar minuten."

OK, that's about as bizarre as it gets! The airport claims it can predict waiting times with an acccuracy of a few minutes.

Johan

caliform

Heh heh heh.

It's pretty revolting that Schiphol is still pretending like they have any kind of grasp on the situation at present. It's completely out of control.

johan rebel

In another example of Schiphol efficiency, my flight was delayed because the door to the jetway had gone into "security mode", whatever that is. That meant that the cockpit and cabin crew could not board the aircraft. As the captain later explained, it took quite a while to get someone to open the door, because "the airport is very busy". Which, no doubt, caught Schiphol completely by surprise.

In another example of smart planning, the Kaagbaan has been closed for maintenance since March 18, and won't reopen before May 24th. The closure thus coincides perfecty with the Easter and "Mei vacantie" peaks.

We were of course condemned to the Polderbaan, but since the Zwanenburgbaan was now being used for landings, we had to taxi all the way around the northern end of the latter. Longest possible detour to our take-off runway, in other words. Brilliant!

Johan

Mirk

It would be back in control quickly if they started doing the security screening properly and not send 60% of the bags to secondary