Thanks for letting us know people are coming in droves WAY before checkin counters open in T3!
Seems i'll need to start camping out there.

Fortunately my next longhaul out of T3 is mid July so i am going to book the Sheraton at the Airport for piece of mind
To much uncertainty if by then:
the car/taxi can reach the airport from A4 highway ,
and/or reach the T3 departures drop off point!

Is that a known fact? Or just assumption? (I really don't know the answer but I'd actually suspect it's not that much difference in workload, could also be the opposite)
Remember that project managers think that if it takes 9 months for a lady to make a baby, then 9 ladies could make a baby in 1 month.
Real world doesn't always work this way.

Schiphol has more runways than I can count. The number of runways was never the main issue here (bar for a short period of time where they closed 2 at the same time for maintenance during one of the busiests period...)

What else do you suggest that KLM Cityhopper do with their 58 Embraer Aircraft? Not fly them at all? Fly them to unpopular destinations only? Trade them at the local costcutter for A340s? Surely it makes sense to keep them flying considering they have non interchangeable flight crews and must be put to use for something. I don't believe that stressing their heavy fleet to the max whilst relaxing pressure on the light fleet is going to be a valid solution at all.

In order for something to happen immediately, you need to take action a year ago. Obviously that's not going to happen, but I certainly agree with you that Schiphol must take action now, so that at least there's a chance that by Christmas we'll have more trained staff available to process flights smoothly.

As for KLM the action it can take directly are more limited. They are a captive client.

The issues at AMS at present are largely due to the shortage of security staff. Security is the bottleneck. The workload on these staff will not change or improve on the basis of any aircraft substitutions KLM might make, even if they had the planes and staff that would allow them to do so.


Preparing the aircraft isn't the bottleneck. And neither is the number of aircraft movements or runway congestion.

Again, it's the inability of passengers to get through security on time - and the corresponding delays in departure as some aircraft are held to allow a handful of extra passengers to board - that is the problem.


Aircraft may sit around for extended periods, but they don't have corresponding crewmembers sitting around, ready to be called into action at a moment's notice.

Cancelling 2 Embraer flights will add a nice gap in the schedules of 2 Cityhopper (WA) Embraer crews; but that means that KL would then have to find a "spare" KL Boeing *AND* crew to operate this flight instead. The crews freed up after this cancellation of 2 WA Embraer flights cannot just hop over to a completely different aircraft type and operate a KL Boeing flight.


That was indeed Schiphol's solution during the meivakantie at the start of the current crisis!

Schiphol calls on airlines to cancel flights to prevent chaos and crowds
Schiphol to limit flights this summer to avoid severe delays for travellers
Schiphol security queues will last through the summer: nu.nl

At schiphol now, my train arrived at 3:30pm, i was thru security at 3:40pm. No line whatsoever to get upstairs. Flying business on Finnair, checked in online, no checked bag and I was able to use the priority line once upstairs. Non-priority line has a wait time of max. 15 minutes. Positively surprised but now have lots of time to kill in the Aspire lounge (which is packed)…

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3eedda7af.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b1c873a3d.jpeg

It seems security +(pasport control) at T1/T2 and T3 all have their peak moments between 07.00 and 14.00 afterwhich there is a quiet period for a smaller peak between 16.00 - 18.00

The situation right now (4 PM). Only a handful of pax in Departures 2 & 3.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...25302d3eb.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8c6b70af0.jpeg

Arrived for my 20:00 flight to ZRH at about 16:00. Expecting the worst. Nobody at check-in. So done in 5 minutes. Security control almost empty. Also maximum 5 minutes. Went to Star Alliance lounge and saw it was closed. Sign there you can enter Aspire lounge. The first line today to enter lounge. En total from check-in to the lounge in only 25 minutes. Not bad. But the lounge is a joke. Completely full. No seats available. All occupied. We have to wait until something is available.

Confirming what was said before.
Had to switch trains at AMS and had 20 minutes to take a stroll around 2pm.

Departures 2 and 3 both super super empty. Schiphol is still marketing it as "peak day" :-)

Earlier today it was jam-packed, non priority lines were 3-hour long for many this morning, and I had never seen AMS so busy airside. KLM Schengen lounge was standing only, privium express at times had no spare seat either, and the general airport was packed. It seems very hit or miss, but what I saw today was not just insufficient staff also excess of passengers before and past security.

Tomorrow is the Ascension bridge holiday (long week-end/pont d'ascension) plus I think the Americans have something coming up. Could be a factor.

Hardly surprising.

Having been fed a media diet of Schiphol horror stories for weeks, lots of pax are turning up at the airport many hours earlier than they otherwise would have. If they then clear security faster than they expected, they pack the lounges instead. The lucky ones whose flights are delayed will then remain in the lounges even longer.

I was one of those fortunate ones yesterday. Company policy now dictates pitching up at the airport at least four hours before STD, and with a nice delay thrown in as a bonus I ended up spending 6½ hours at Schiphol, most of that time in lounges. I can think of better ways to have fun.

Johan

The KLM web page is showing an alert that says I can change due to the Schiphol operational issues if my flight is May 25-June 1. I will be watching this as I am scheduled to fly June 4 US to AMS, then connecting on. I would be happy to change to an AF flight through CDG. We will see if the problem is any better by then.

Thx everyone for the information and continued updates. Currently looking to plan an Aug/Sep family vacation from Los Angeles to Brussels, then returning out of Amsterdam. These photos are making me wonder if I should flip that and fly into Amsterdam first and then return home out of Brussels? Barring catching a lightning in a bottle, I'll most likely be in Econ class, so zero boarding priority.

According to luchtvaartnieuws.nl Privium now has a waiting list for new members…

Same here JorgeGomez sat on the floor for 4 hours and now waiting for the plane… wishing us luck 😉