Didymis

To get back on topic. I've also tried to enter the Non-Schengen departure lounge (2 and 3) from the Departures 2 security filter in January and was rejected for the same reason. The automated gate does not open when you have a Schengen destination and the Schiphol personnel and/or KMar will not let you through (in most cases). If you have Privium it makes things a bit easier, as you won't have to interact with anyone. Can't comment on the Schengen/Non-Schengen immigration filter between Lounge 1 and 2 - your mileage may vary...

Tofuciao

Huh. I guess the advice on KLM website to guide transit passengers using non-schengen lounge for sure needs non-schengen access as prerequisite.

https://lounge.klm.com/client/lounge25/home

"The KLM Schengen Crown Lounge is temporarily closed.You are welcome in our Non-Schengen Crown Lounge.
To enter the Non-Schengen area at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, just show your travel documents at the security controls."

I'm not sure why they haven't aligned with AMS security filter before communicating this to passengers...

So if one lands at non-schengen area, in order to use Crown 52, he/she should just stay there before heading to schengen area correct? there will likely be no way back...

Tofuciao

That's interesting. I don't really recall immigration officers asking my destination (the one right next to Crown 25 when you transfer from non-schengen to schengen, I guess that's the filter between Lounge 1&2?). I was quite curious and I did pay extra attention to this detail both in Jan & Feb this year. They just didn't seem to care, nor did they request to see my BP...

LifeontheBeach

Flew KLM business class and connected in AMS. Lounge 52 had about 30-35 people all said. The "restaurant" had opened that day on the 9th June, from what I was told by the attendant. Croissants and fruit with coffee for breakfast. And lunch was sandwich with a soup and a choice of wrap. No meat was on offer!

Alchohol was on offer, as the bar area too had opened that day. Brightened the day up a tad.

Onboard service was a bag of sandwiches, 2 coke cans, 2 candy bars and a bruised banana: all wrapped in a plastic bag. Oh and there was the Miniature house: all of the above left for us before we boarded.

What's interesting is that in business class, out of the 2 front toilets, one was blocked for the crew. The notice outside said "out of order", but the senior cabin crew (or CSD) told me it was reserved for the crew during covid times. So effectively, premium pax had one toilet.

In short, an experience I will try not to repeat. After Covid times, maybe.

johan rebel

Disgraceful is an understatement.

Thanks for reporting back!

Johan

palmanfr

Hi, I am currently sitting in lounge 52, although I am flying to LYS in 90 min from now and started my journey at AMS. When I checked my bag at the skypriority section the lady informed me that the lounge was closed. When I asked about the option of using lounge 52, she told me I would not be allowed to. Anyway, after clearing security at 1a area, I went through emigration where I found absolutely nobody besides one mar�chauss�e officer at the diplomats booth. The egates were closed. When I showed my passport, he asked me what was my next destination to which I replied the lounge. I explained I had 2 hours to wait before my flight to Lyon and since the Schengen lounge was closed, I wanted to go to the other one. He hesitated a second and did let me through, after indicating to me that I should plan enough time to come back to the Schengen area. Right after this I had to go through an additional security screening. I will post pictures from the lounge later today. I can confirm that the staffed bar is open, one coffee machine with cookies and water are available. There is a small restaurant area where an employee prepares breakfast sandwiches, and can provide juice, croissants, muesli and milk/soy milk. We are about 20 passengers on the lounge right now I think...
I have to say the skypriority experience was ok, with almost no wait anywhere. But the terminal was busier than I thought and there were lanes for economy check in.

palmanfr

Entered again Schengen without any issues. Same thing for immigration, all e-gates were closed and only one booth, staffed by a friendly female marechauss�e officer who just asked me where I was flying to. I was done in 10 seconds as i was the only passenger in there.

corporate-wage-slave

Here are some photos from a morning departure. The bar didn't look open but it was a tad early for that. Also the F side wing was open, the E side wing was roped off but there was plenty of space for all. The food offering involved queuing up at the central cook station and the lounge staff then assembed a tray of whatever you request, notably a made to order sandwich. Several other items were available.







The only self service items are coffee/tea and the water pump (still and sparkling) plus a bowl of Meijer biscuits.

SInce this was the first lounge visit I have had in Europe since March it was a welcome start to the day.

corporate-wage-slave

My understanding of AMS is that you can go between zones so long as you have Schengen entry rights and you are already airside, though you may need assistance to do so. But yes, the easiest would be to do as you suggest, if arriving non Schengen. Bear in mind that Lounge 52 is quite some distance from say B.

Fabo.sk

Good to know the service is slowly returning to normal.

Also, interesting about the Schengen lounge. I've known that it's slated for refit, yet at no point did it cross my mind that this might happen now... despite it being undeniably the best time to do so.


I suppose that the issue is with outstations and returns into AMS. But then I don't think also that there would not be enough alternatives to find. I mean, it's not a days notice, or even weeks.

palmanfr

So as promised, a short photo summary of my experience this morning departing AMS to fly KL1415 to LYS.
Arrived at the airport around 7:30 after an almost sleepless night at the Hampton Inn Amsterdam Schiphol. I think we were only 4 or 5 guests at the hotel last night. No airport shuttle, very limited breakfast and to go only. The day before NS (Dutch train company) was in advance and I was mostly alone in the carriage between Maastricht and Hoofdorp). This is clearly an indication we are living in surprising times !
Anyway, back to the airport experience, the departures area was reasonably busy, it went fast to check my luggage in at the skypriority section but there was a line at the economy class section.

Departures area

A bit of a queue

Morning departures

I was hesitant in clearing security at the non-Schengen side, so I went to the regular security for the Schengen departures. As the check point near the C gates was quite full, we were advised by an agent to go all the way to the check-in area 1a (not in service) but where the security was open. Clearing it took 5 minutes no more.


B-gates security

Btw, the construction of the A terminal advanced quite a bit since I was last time in Schiphol early March. They closed a couple of gates in the B pier (and the C pier too I think) and started to built a new connection bridge between A-B and C terminals.

There were a few F&B outlets open on the Lounge 1 (Schengen terminal) and most of the shops were open. I decided to give a try and go to the Non-Schengen terminal to get to Lounge 52. On the way, I could see that the Schengen Lounge 25 was under renovation but I could notice a different look than I was used to see from the windows. I did not take a picture sorry.

Emigration area was totally empty. e-gates closed, and only one booth staffed by Marechauss�e.



As explained before the agent immediately asked me where i was going to and I replied the KLM lounge since that one was closed. I explained that I had 2 hours to wait for my flight. He thought for a few seconds and told me to plan enough time to come back to this side of the terminal. I thanked him and immediately after I had to go through an additional security check of my carry-on and another body scan.

Then I was airside non-Schengen terminal where it was a bit busy, but only the shops in Lounge 2 were open. After Lounge almost everything was closed.


Non-schengen area (lounge 2)

Lounge 52 entrance

It was only my second time in this lounge and the first time I spent only 15 minutes in there. The entire lounge was open, although the "food" and beverages were only available on the F-gates side.

I was literally alone seated on the E-gates side. Maybe 20 guests were in total in the lounge.








The traditional buffet area was replaced by a booth where a lady was giving options between croissant, eggs, muesli with yougurt and fruit salad and breakfast sandwiches. 3 juices (apple, orange, tropical) together with water bottles and milk or soy milk were available.
You are asked to wait in line and disinfect your hands before entering the area.





The bar behind was open and staffed and only one coffee/tea machine and one water dispenser were available. Individually wrapped cookies were also available.




Tropical juice tasted like water. I left the lounge at 9:00 fearing issues or queues going back to the Schengen terminal.



Entering Schengen was a breeze, I was the only one in line and the lady from the marechauss�e let me go though after looking a few pages of my passport and asking me where was my destination. The e-gates were also closed and only one booth was staffed.

So at 9:10 I was airside Schengen. And still had to wait for an hour.

My flight to Lyon was departing from B04, downstairs the B gates so boarding was by bus. On my way to the B-gates, I noticed a special area at the entrance called gate B14 and where KLM staff was conducting health checks for all passengers for Milano and Florence. Not sure if the destinations were randomly selected or not.


About a dozen tables with KLM staff to have discussions with passengers for FLR and LIN

I waited downstairs for about 20 minutes before the staff and the bus arrived. With only 23 passengers today on that flight, only one bus was provided. I have to say people were disciplined and there was no usual rush heading to the gate, the bus or the aircraft... Gate staff announced that all passengers should be wearing a face masks starting the moment they cross the gate.



Embraer 175 to Lyon

I was seated in 5F and the first 3 rows were for business class. Upgrades were offered during OLCI for 59 Euros. 4 passengers were in business class, all in rows 2 and 3. The seat map showed all aisle seats in economy as blocked also during OLCI.
One gentlemen was in 4A and one Dutch lady in 4F.
Then the next economy passengers were past row 10 so I had lots of personal space !



We took off ahead of schedule from the remote runway. Felt good to be in the air !




AMS from above. Still a few aircrafts parked on the runways.

A snack pack with a mini stroopwafel, a cheese sandwich and a cup of water was provided (same for business class). The only difference is that business class passengers got personally informed about the catering changes by the purser and offered a hot drink in a ceramic cup. At least I can congratulate KLM for still providing something onboard.
A few minutes later, the crew distributed the two forms the French government requests passengers to provide. Several passengers were confused as we already had printed some forms at home, but those looked slightly different. A KLM pen was given to every passenger as a souvenir :-)




We landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Today in LYS, only 4 flights were listed, and this was the only one coming from abroad. The other 3 flights were AF domestic services from and to TLS, BOD and NTE later in the afternoon.


Landing in LYS

When we disembarked, I felt like nothing really changed, besides seeing face masks and an almost empty terminal. We reached the immigration check area downstairs (not always used for AMS flights operated by KL, most of the times those past 12 months, we were allowed to go straight to the luggage claim). No less than 6 police agents were present. Never seen that in LYS T2 ! 3 booths were open with 3 agents supported by 2 extra and more senior officers in the back and another agent was next to the waiting lines. I showed my French passport (Issued by the Consulate in Amsterdam) and the agent immediately asked me if I was living in France to which I replied no. Then she asked me why I was coming here and for how long and replied that I normally could not enter but after her boss told her that she could tell that to me since I was a French passport holder and coming from the EU, I was allowed in and the senior officer confirmed that there was no home quarantine (since coming from the EU).
Luggage arrived in an exceptional speed (for LYS) in less than a couple minutes. Lots of baggage due to the fact many passengers were coming from outside the EU. Also a first for me in LYS T2, the customs were present (no less than 5 agents, never seen around here !) and were individually asking passengers where they were coming from. I was let go after replying Amsterdam and that I was living in NL. Not a good day to smuggle things from abroad


LYS immigration area

Departures and arrivals today, June 12th 2020...

Well, more than a lounge review, I feel I wrote a trip report here. But several of my friends already asked me today how was flying in those days, so I guess those few lines and pictures might be of interest for some of you

HalconBCN

Palmanfr, thanks for the very detailed report. It's good to see the lounge is starting to improve its offerings. With so few passengers, it's probably the best time ever to enjoy the non-Schengen lounge. Crazy to think a few months ago we were debating how overcrowded it was.

I bet you were happy you did not pay 59 euros for a business class seat. That's expensive when all you get is a hot beverage and an apology from the purser.

f4free

palmanfr I missed you this morning. I used slightly different tactics.

From the train station I kept right to Check-in of KLM, went Via Priority Check-in up the escalators to a very empty elite security 2.

As reported previously, my Schengen boarding pass to ZRH was rejected with a wrong area message. I waived at a queue manager who was dealing with the crowd at the far end. With a friendly smile I explained my plans, mentioning KLM sending me up. After a few heavy exchanges on the radio to get authorization, she barked at KLM for not escorting us up to security to tell them about letting us in, before she finally let us in.

Customs had no questions.

From there, I stayed on the top level, walked past transit security in the upstairs passage way to E / F, and took the escalators right down to the crown lounge excavator.

I was also pleasently surprised with the offering, sfeter last week's reports.

On the way back my friend was a bit nervous about a 29 minute walk announced by the departure board to get back to B18 so he left earlier. Also to have a webmeeting from the gate. He found a huge queue to get over to Schengen side, and shocon sign was 10 minutes away from showing our flight. Funny enough I left the lounge 15 minutes later, asked for the short connection and passed him Again customs, or rather Marrechaussee, had no questions. Poor American lady next to me however different story, papers and all. My friend had his meeting walking. Long enough walk.

It was a bit of a hike but not all that bad. Quite doable. Still would be better to have Schengen lounge reopening soon.

Thanks for the picture report. Nice you took the time, I did not really... So thanks for that.
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johan rebel

Yes, it obviously is a very opportune time. Privium is also taking the opportunity to refurbish their airside lounge.

Johan

Goldorak

Thank you Palmanfr for your live report. Shame on the police officer on arrival in LYS : what a nice way to welcome a French citizen at home saying him "normally you cannot enter"