BA850

Datapoint from today (29/7):

Dropped off by the Hotel Shuttle at A9 at 11:47. SkyPriority, so was through security by 12:07. Can’t comment on the border situation for UK passport holders arriving in NL as I flew in from Poland a couple of days ago, but I was permitted to use the E-Gates upon exit, so was airside by 12:13 and am currently enjoying the Crown Lounge terrace.

SkyPriority is the caveat here; the regular lines looked horrendous. Screens estimated 45 minutes to security from the departure hall, but I’d guess at at least an hour.

irishguy28

An interesting titbit gleaned from today's Q2 results presentation; KL are currently keeping 14 unsold seats on KL Cityhopper flights, and currently keeping ~5% of seats on KL mainline unsold.

I've not been on a KL flight since July 7 - do you actually notice as many as 14 unfilled seats on CityHopper services these days?

KLM is also proactively prioritizing delayed customers over punctuality (i.e. holding back flights to allow more connections to be made/to allow more pax delayed at security to board

Xandrios

Those unsold seats may/will be used to rebook pax that missed their previous flight due to being stuck in the security queue, right?

I wonder how they manage this from a booking system perspective. Those free seats are likely put in a booking class that’s not bookable through regular channels, however agents can use that inventory to rebook pax that missed their flight? In that case we should, theoretically, be able to see that reserved fare class through services like expertflyer. And with that, we may be able to estimate how many seats are actually available for rebooking after having missed your flight or connection.

Fabo.sk

Loaded flight sale capacity does not have to equal plane capacity. We see that with overbookings any random day, and after all C/Y split in single aisles is also moving independently.

Don't have to make a new booking class in any way. Just create a seating and apply coupon from a different flight to it.

johan rebel

Certainly not. I've seen the odd vacant seat in J, and as far as I could tell coach was packed on every single flight too, with perhaps the odd open seat here and there.

Johan

jerry_greece

In my latest flights on KLC I noticed that seat selection was not available for some rows, i.e. 3-4 rows were unavailable with the note that they might become available later. Not sure if this is what they mean?

maalloc

Usually, rows are either blocked for high-status pax, or for weight balance reasons (unlikely these days given how full cabins are).

So they might start neutralizing seats for stranded transfer pax…

johan rebel

Looking at a couple of bookings with KLC flights, I see an E75 with rows 19, 22 & 23 (12 seats) unavailable, and an E195-E2 with rows 30 & 34 (8 seats) blocked. J/Y divider between rows 5 & 6, as always until T-72. Mainline 739 flights show rows 31 & 33 as unavailable, but only seats ABC, so six in total.

Johan

westi2002

Datapoint 31-07 @15.30
It took me 30 minutes from rental car drop to lounge 25. SP security: 10 pax before me, all I could see was only 1 bag to secunday.

Line for Y was only at the upper floor, looked like some 20-30 minutes

cpworld

We made it through our AMS ordeal on the 25th, flying AMS-HEL. We never once were asked for photo ID -- is this normal? We had to show boarding passes twice to enter priority line for security. Then we had to show boarding passes to board the plane. Then when we landed, because it was Schengen there was no passport control. Seemed like someone should have asked somewhere?

mfkne

No, why? There is no requirement for ID checks for flights within Schengen per se.

ygkcastaway

Update from this morning - the hotel shuttle dropped me off at 6:15 and I was in the lounge by 6:35. I had to dodge the “four hours in advance” checkpoint by airport staff by using the stairs. Thanks again, Johan!

Also - the star alliance lounge reopened this morning!

Yoshi DUS

Datapoint for immigration 31.07. around 9 am from ORD with carry on: no lines at the automated passport control between NS and S. It took us only 15 minutes from deboarding the plane at D51 to our car at P6.

Xandrios

This is the beauty of Schengen: People may cross borders as they please, without controls. Just like in the states you can cross state lines without any ID checks.

Of course airlines will in some cases still ask for ID (e.g. to make sure you are traveling on a ticket that's in your name) but for the sake of efficiency that's not always done. Especially in case you did online check in and are using that boarding pass there typically would not be a reason for another ID check.
Wow that must have been some kind of record. In the best of times Monday mornings are typically the busiest of the week. Perhaps business travel is down a bit nowadays..

Also thanks for confirming about the *A lounge! Great news. I'll give that a try soon when flying *A from AMS in a few weeks.

malmostoso

Just dropped off friends at Schiphol. Arrived at 10 for their 14.00 VY flight to FCO. Queue was about 50m outside the end of the tent. I'll report back if they made it or not.

EDIT: made it in 4 hours, half empty plane, they held the flight for them. Madness.