Leedsflyer

I can confirm I had noproblem going NS -> S with no S BP in October 2022. (In fact no BP at all as I had arrived in S with no onward BP -- the machines failed to give me one so I went to the NS Crown Lounge who couldn't do it either, who sent me back to the S Crowne Lounge who were able to give me a BP so I went S -> NS and NS -> S without a BP. As I recall the e-gates were closed so this was all manual passport control (with an S passport).)

Digicola

When crossing the border the passport you use is very important. Non-EU citizens really get the whole check when trying to cross the NS->S border.

I usually just wave my passport, it goes into their scanner and boom I’m in without a word. But show a non-EU passport and get ready to get all the questions. I routinely see it happen when queuing. I don’t doubt they check the BP of any non EU citizens.

jerry_greece

I confirm that for NS->S check, they might just ask where you are headed to. But no BP asked. For S passport.

HalconBCN

Some data points from Sunday Feb 5. I landed at 2pm on Etihad and had to collect baggage before checking in again to a KLM Barcelona flight (separate tickets).

Moving stairs around the whole airport are still under maintenance. No idea why those haven't been fixed yet. Only about 1 in 4 were working.

One of the exits to the baggage hall from the NS gates was shut. At the other the exit was roped off and pax were being let down in batches. I am assuming the queue downstairs was massive. So I decided to exit via the Schengen gates going through passport control, as I had a KLM boarding pass on my phone.

Passport control: no machines open. One officer dealing with EU passports, maybe 2-3 for non-EU. Small number of people in the queue however it moved slowly because each passenger was being grilled about where they came from and where they were going.

It seems the border control staff is being poorly managed as there were three of them waiting in an empty arrivals lane near my Abu Dhabi flight, asking me where I had landed from. Upon hearing Abu Dhabi they waved me on. They must have been targeting a different destination. Either way, it seemed illogical to have 3 staff doing nothing when the rest of the airport is chaotic.

After checking in for Barcelona I had to go through security again. That was relatively quick this time - maybe 5 minutes wait. Small number of passengers but an incredibly high percentage of bags seemed to end up in secondary screening. It made me wonder if not getting people to remove laptops and belts is actually slowing things down rather than speeding them up.

All in all, the passenger experience at AMS has become painful, unpredictable and shoddily managed. An airport that was once a paragon of efficiency has become an embarrassment to the Netherlands. I never thought I would see the day where I land in Barcelona and think "wow, it's so efficient here". But since Spanish airports didn't fire all their staff during covid, they were ready when tourism started to pick up again, and they now look like models of efficiency.

joorinainen

Someone obtained my boarding pass and got on my flight


Im sure this whole situation would have been avoided if the original flier had some unpaid parking tickets or speeding fines

sehgalanuj

Ok, this will be something to try I guess in the future. I've usually found that the staff tends to be poorly informed (or just doesn't care) about the Privium card. That's why I got concerned about the long lines.

This is what I considered as an option. Depending on where I arrive from, I could potentially pass transfer security control, cross NS->S border and then down to arrivals. Do you know if the baggage hall is common for the NS/S arrivals?

With Privium at least this wouldn't be a problem. No one looks at your boarding card in that scenario.

Fabo.sk

Baggage hall is common. I don't know if you can get through transfer security without onward BP though. I was assuming a secure arrival since that's what was described.

Brendan88

On the morning of 4 Feb it was not possible to go down the passport checks from the D gates. Had to do the long walk. Wait was not too bad(5min) for EU passport. Non EU was according to the screens 55minutes. Could not used the electric gates or Privium as I had the kids with me.

Ardecos

Very slow non-Schengen-Schengen about 1 pm today for both EU and non-EU (EU queue back along the corridor) passengers. However around 1:45 pm some border guards either came on duty or returned from luch and the e-gates plus several booths were opened and that spec things up massively.

BobbyDavro

Well we dumped some bags in lounge 52 and headed down to passport by the F gates... the queue was huge, luckily we could see it was huge before we went through and joined.

Instead we headed back over to the D gates where the queue was more reasonable (about 15 minutes in all).

Travelled in to town just fine and had a nice lunch and a couple of beers- it was a really nice afternoon.

On return we popped into the Sky Priority checking area and then nice lady at the stairs waved us up to the priority screening and passport. We were back air side in no time at all.

So my top tip for anyone travelling non schengan with non SP guests in to tow is to head to the SP checking desks and try your luck that way

irishguy28

In my experience, that exit has been closed every time I have arrived in Schiphol in the past 2 years

b12e

Not really for this thread but wanted to share and not create a new one..

Stuart Little has migrated from the KL lounge into the landside Privium lounge. Let's welcome the little fella by leaving some cheese out.

MichielR

We now have definitive proof that the food is better in the privium lounge than the KL lounge.

squawk

I've got what was a leisurely 2h20 connection from the UK via AMS to Switzerland today, which has shrunk to 35 minutes due to a delay to the inbound aircraft. That's tighter than I'd like at AMS at the best of times (I've not experienced the issues since last spring myself directly) but the assistance desk at my departure airport said that minimum connection time at AMS is 20 minutes - which seems implausible with the Schengen border!

Two questions:

1) does anyone have an update on non-Schengen to Schengen border delays today?
2) Is it possible to ask for a proactive rebooking to another flight, either to the same destination or within a certain distance?

There is a later flight to the same Swiss airport today, but it will make my onward travel very tricky and there's no guarantee I'd be put on it anyhow. I'm very unfamiliar with KLM's disruption recovery processes: the airside airport (non-airline) staff here at my departure airport cannot rebook and are just advising people to go to AMS and deal with it there. Are there any better proactive solutions?

dkeng

Until you actually miss the connection it will likely be very difficult to change anything. 35 minutes is still perfectly achievable if that’s what it ends up at.

if you do miss it, then you should have a reasonable chance of changing destination if that suits you. I have had that done several times (including today due to the strikes on Friday in Germany), also in the time of no status.