And guess what? 18C/36R was of course closed for maintenance.

Very pleasant weather at Schiphol this afternoon, almost an Indian summer's day. Excellent visibility, the air much clearer than usual in Holland.

Johan

Departures 1 security
 

With time to kill while waiting for my ride this afternoon, I ambled over to check it out. The entrance is directly behind T1 check-in row 5. Had a chat with two friendly ladies tasked with policing access. They said it was their lucky day, as they had been assigned the sinecure station. Only two categories of pax were allowed to use this access point : Privium members, and those with departures shown as boarding. Everybody else had to use the regular or back door (i.e. Priority) access points.

Johan

Ah, thanks for getting the confirmation. Explains the discussion I've seen on Monday - a man and a woman travelling together, both had prio, but only one had Privium. In the end, they let them pass together.

Upstairs the queue normally still takes what, 45min? If your flight is already boarding, for non-prio pax I don’t think it will make much of a difference at that point to take this ‘shortcut’.

I would assume these pax get to skip the normal queue, if not the prio queue as well.

I think I'll give it a try next time, check how things are organized upstairs, and report back here.

Johan

Data point Friday 30 September 4PM: friends without status were queueing for 3hrs15minutes to clear security.

Friday 30th Sep, regular Y ticket, no (relevant) status, arrival 0645 by train, KL baggage drop and security took 2.5hrs. Not thát bad considering last months, but still ridiculous.

New dat point for Friday 30th September:
When I arrived at the NS station (6:20 PM) and went upstairs at Departures 1-2 there was a very long line for regular (non prio) pax coming from outside. There was no line at the Priority entrance behind the KLM SkyPriority check-in. I visited the Privium ClubLounge before heading to the security checkpoint behind check-in row 3, around 7:30 PM. As mentioned before, this only works when you have Privium or when your flight is already boarding. There was one kind lady checking eligibility, just show your Privium card. Security was a breeze, as there are no more than 5-ish pax in front of you. Still, very long zig-zagging lines for regular non-priority pax upstairs. (Downstairs it seemed manageable).

Right now I’m in the KLM Canteen 25…it is filled to the brim.

You meant to say prison canteen, right?

Johan

So for Privium pax, the entrance in Departures 1 is a better choice than up the stairs at Skyprio?

Data Point
 

A colleague's elderly and inexperienced mom arrived 18 minutes late in AMS on KL from MEX yesterday, Thursday. Her connection to BLL had been canceled, and she had been auto-rebooked AMS-ARN-BLL (last leg on SK) the next day (i.e. today, Friday). She called her daughter, who checked the options and found availability on flights the same afternoon/evening to both AAL and CPH. She then called KLM and after patiently waiting for ages finally got somebody on the line. The agent adamantly refused to rebook her mom on any of the available flights, claiming that this could not be done because the luggage had already been labelled AMS-ARN-BLL. Daughter informed mom, who decided to try her luck at a transfer desk. After standing in line for hours, the transfer desk suddenly closed, and all those in the queue were given envelopes with a sheet of paper recommending they try their luck online. Apparently no information about duty of care, EU261, etc. Mom called daughter, who managed to find her a hotel for the night. Today she flew back home via ARN, arriving over 26 hours late but . . . wait for it . . . without her checked luggage! So far, nobody seems to have any idea where it is. Update: the luggage was sent AMS-ARN on the flight she was rebooked on, but ARN then for some reason sent the bags back to AMS! I'm guessing they just assumed KL had loaded the bags on the wrong flight, and returned them without checking further. Once back at AMS the bags were sent to BLL, where they arrived today, Saturday. With any luck they will be delivered today too.

This clown show has gotten way beyond ridiculous. The reputational damage to AMS and KL must be huge, and is fully deserved. Any sensible customer who has other options should avoid both the airport and the airline like the plague.

13 colleagues and I flew to or from AMS yesterday. Four flying longhaul on QR via DOH or TK via IST has no issues whatsoever, apart from the joke that passes for security. Another had his incoming KL flight canceled and will try his luck again tomorrow. The rest just had to put up with the AMS mess and the usual KL delays.

According to Luchtvaartnieuws.nl KLM, the other airlines serving AMS, travel agents and tour operators are livid, furious, and up in arms after Schiphol announced further restriction through March. Can't blame 'm.

Johan

Flying in to AMS on Tuesday, from HUY, which I think gets bussed into the D pier from memory. Then got 7 hours (as they cancelled the mid morning HUY-AMS and put us on the 06.10. Am I right to assume (I hope) that its straight from D pier to the NS lounge, then off to the gate having eaten all the food I can find ? No passport check point or security post NS to NS ?

Correct. For arrivals from the UK connecting to a non-Schengen destination there will be no security check nor passport control.

Datapoint 10/01/22 T3
 

Arrived around 7.00 AM this morning at AMS. Way too early for my 11.15 flight, but I needed to drive and still had a lot of work to do. The SQ check in opened at 7.15 and I got my boarding passes around 7.30. Security and passport control took 20 minutes with Privium. This could be more fast, the staff pro actively offered a few times to bring me in front of another line. Because I was early I did not see any reason for that.

Regular lines obviously longer, but my impression is that today was quite "allright" in T3. So far, most things look fairly organized to me.