noodlenoggin

Tl;dr: 25 min from train to inside security at Departure 3 this morning.

We are flying AA from AMS-PHL at 10am. Prem. Economy, so we have priority. We checked in on line, and only have carry on luggage. We took the train and arrived at 6am. No line or checking at the travelator for boarding time. Long line for checkin at Dep 3, but none for security. Like 9 people ahead of us. Passport control had one other family ahead of us, but the selfcheck was a bit clogged. All told we were inside security by 6:25.

mfkne

There have been reports of bag delivery taking hours as well, but there are also reports of bag delivery being fast. YMMY.

Anish

Arrived at Schipol at 9.45am via train. No queue to get into Departures 1. Priority lanes functioning as usual, took about 35 mins in all to check in bags at AY counters and clear security.

OWBlueMoon We flew LIS-AMS last week and bags took about 1 hour to hit the belt from touchdown.

Coder33

Any feedback for a to-Schengen flight (using SkyPriority) with only cabin luggage ? How long was the wait from outside till past-security ?

mmlugar

My family of 6 and I are flying tomorrow on BA423 at 750a to LHR then onto BOS from there. We’ve completed VeriFLY and it shows we are clear to fly but BA is still showing I need to supply Covid-related detail and no Boarding passes. Given flight time tomorrow, any idea on a solution? I’m not even sure I can go tonight to AMS given the 4 hour requirement. I’m not sure what else to do.

Sjoerd

Another friend went through the Schiphol hell yesterday on an EK flight to Dubai. He was at Schiphol 5 hours before scheduled departure time. Took him 30 minutes to check his bag, and almost 4 hours to clear the (non-priority) security. He arrived at the gate just in time - to be told that they were still waiting for ~200 passengers and the flight would be delayed. Left 3 hours late.
Missed his connection in Dubai, at least Emirates provided a hotel (plus transfers and meals).

johan rebel

Impossible to predict, you may or may not luck out.

Some pics from the T2 luggage hall at lunchtime today:




As a passing passenger said: "looks like a lot of Dutch babies had to learn to walk in a hurry".







The entire hall was a certified disaster zone, the pictures don't show it all.

The moral: if AMS is your destination or transfer point, only check bags as an absolutely last resort.

Johan

johan rebel

Some observations at lunchtime today.

- airside busy, but not exceptionally so. It was much worse back in 2019 when the airport was operating at or above capacity.

- very short line at S/NS immigrations. About half the self-service gates open.

- the infamous departure security queue stretched as far as the end of the first tent section.

- One of the escalators from the Plaza to Departures T2 was closed, the other supervised by two staff members, who were not checking eligibility. Short line. Bright sparks who decided to use the stairs or elevator instead could skip the line, as usual.

- T2 KLM SkyPriority check-in very quiet, not more than a dozen pax.

- The T2 priority "back door" was manned, and boarding cards were checked.

As a counterpoint, at busy CPH this morning I was through security seven minutes after stepping off the train, using CPH Express. It only took that long because a) there was a disorganized lady with plenty of kids ahead of me, and b) a trainee was manning the scanner. Always a good idea to use priority checkpoints to get new staff up to speed.

Johan

jimkwatson

Unfortunately, when a connecting flight is involved, BA doesn’t appear to allow OLCI for outbound flights to USA. It’s seems their IT is broken between BA and Verifly so, even with the Verifly green pass, you can’t check in online. I had exactly this on a AMS-LHR-SAN the other week. You have to see BA at the check in desk to get your boarding pass. Coming back Verifly is not the tool, instead the Salesforce upload is used to upload vacc cert and vacc declaration for NL. Once docs approved, I was allowed to do OLCI for SAN-LHR-AMS.

johan rebel

Nope, that won't work anymore, at least not when the access point is supervised.

Pax coming from the SkyPriority check-in area now have to exit through the swing gates and then enter via the checkpoint. Direct access to the escalator and stairs has been blocked with tensabarriers, and for good measure the stairs have been closed off with a sturdy canary yellow barricade.






Johan

Xandrios

Walked around the departures 1 area this evening around 17:30 PM.

They were checking departure times going up from Plaza, there was a bit of a queue there. I just walked up to a waiting elevator and had no issue getting upstairs without BP.

No line at departures 1 security access point. Upstairs there probably was some line, but nothing major as it wasn’t visible from below.

Went to the priority security checkpoint at the back of Skypriority which indeed was manned. Guy said they open at 6AM. I asked where to go when you have a 7AM flight and he just shrugged and said to ask somebody at that time. Right.

So the good point is that the previously skypriority security entrance has now become the priority entrance for all. The bad point is that apparently it’s not open early morning and pax will likely have to ask an attendant to jump the queue at the regular departures 1 entry point.

Heertje

Very interested to learn your experience, we are travelling in business mid july ams-zrh…
unclear to me if it will be possible to reach checkin desk at checkin 1, or have to wait in the long line , (from check in desk to security will be fine i assume), i assume there are not that many waiting for swiss…

Fabo.sk

No problem reaching desk once you are in Departures, tricks how to bypass control to there are well documented.

IME LH group prio check in is usually a short wait, but a wait.
Once checked in, you proceed to the designated priority security i.e. "back of SP zone". Pass by Privium lounge, next to oversize baggage, can't be missed.

Don't expect to enjoy a lounge.

johan rebel

This afternoon all T1 & T2 departing pax entered the building through door F (opposite the SkyPriority check-in area). Once checked in, all regular pax were sent out again into the tent queue, where they looped back to the terminal, reentered through door H, from where the goose parade continued to security on the mezzanine. Priority pax could go through the "backdoor" access to priority security, see pics in my previous post.

Johan

BubbaX

Well, on perverse logic, it makes sense. The trainee gets a combination of frequent flyers, who know the drill better than the trainee does, and privileged Business pax, who will try every abuse possible. So the trainee is exposed to the two extremes on the scanner, and they're pretty clearly demarcated.