There is unfortunately no more Privium specific security line as there used to be years ago (normally I don't care but in situations like this it would be nice. Anyway I'm glad I didn't get to go away on business this week! That's a first).
However for the future reference there is entry to priority security that bypasses the normal line from downstairs general area, you can either enter from KLM SkyPriority checkin area or from the Privium lounge side when you turn right after getting out. Since the reported delay for priority was actually getting to the priority scanners, I assume this would have been a lot faster.

 

I asked the check in agent, and then another agent by the (now blocked) stairs up to the first floor, and none of them appeared to know about that During the long line I asked other personnel and all told me sky priority had to make the line with everyone else, same to people ahead of me in the line who also asked. You are right that would have been a lot faster, like over an hour faster.

 

When I was at AMS this past Monday there was definitely a dedicated scanner gate and line for Privium, however the line to get to the gates (i.e. up the stairs) was somewhat shared, if you didn't have the wherewithal to skip ahead in it. I saw multiple people make use of it.

 

I've sent the Privium manager an email asking for clarification.

Johan

 

I departed from AMS last Sunday evening and used the Privium/Priority security in lounge two which you access through the escalator just right of Sky Priority checkin. It was busy but way way less than the normal security line. I was actually pleasantly surprised that there was a dedicated line for prioirity/privium. Probably took about 15 min to get through.

 

"Beste Johan,

Het is inderdaad een erg drukke periode op Schiphol en ik kan mij uw bezorgdheid goed voorstellen. Ik kan u bij deze geruststellen dat Privium niet is opgeheven en dat u derhalve gebruik kunt maken van de Privium poorten. Houd er wel rekening mee dat ook bij Privium drukker kan zijn dan u gewend bent.

Ik vertrouw erop u hiermee voldoende te hebben geďnformeerd."

As Upintheair also just confirmed, Privium has not gone into hiding and is still available to all members.

Johan

 

Schiphol is now asking airlines to cancel bookings for this weekend.

https://nos.nl/artikel/2426851-schip...s-grote-drukte

 

What?!? Have they gone totally mad?

If that article is to be believed, Schiphol has told airlines that they must cancel an unspecified number of bookings this coming weekend? And then they are instructing them to not accept any new bookings for departure from Schiphol the entire following week? Leaving aside that they cannot compel the airlines to do so, one wonders what they are thinking and trying to achieve?

Their temerity is astounding, especially given that this is coming from an airport that's increasing charges by 37% to make up for the revenue lost during the pandemic. KLM is taking Schiphol N.V. to court over that matter.

"Om de grote drukte op Schiphol het hoofd te bieden heeft luchthaven Schiphol vliegmaatschappijen gevraagd om maatregelen te nemen. Om het aantal vertrekkende passagiers te verminderen moeten luchtvaartmaatschappijen komend weekend een aantal boekingen annuleren. Voor de komende week wordt gevraagd geen nieuwe boekingen vanaf Schiphol aan te nemen."

This is truly mind-boggling. Think about it: Schiphol is asking the airlines to cancel existing bookings 1 to 3 days before departure, leaving the affected pax stranded and probably with very few alternatives, none of which will be appealing. Who is supposed to compensate them?

Johan

 

Yeah, that's pretty mad. My flight to AMS tomorrow was cancelled last night, and I can see at least a dozen or so other cancellations tomorrow afternoon listed at the moment. I've been rebooked on an interesting routing with LH via MUC connecting to my so far uncancelled KL flight back home from AMS, so looking forward to that adventure.

Currently happy to be scheduled to travel on EasyJet next week, which is not a good sign...

 

We Dutch have this hate-love relationship with Germany (due to soccer and some other historical reasons) but there are moments when I wished my country had a bit more of their gründlich planning capacities. Asking airlines to cancel flights since you did not see coming how many pax would make use of your airport....

 

I short while ago I counted 28 canceled KLM departures tomorrow (that could include some codeshares, I just did a very cursory scan). Over half of those are between 4 and 5 p.m., and a good chuck of the rest around 8 p.m. These cancelations could of course be for all sorts of reasons, but Schiphol will no doubt make a convenient scapegoat.

Maybe I'm just too stupid, but I don't get it.

Schiphol has asked airlines to cancel flights over the weekend, and to not accept any new bookings for pax departing from AMS all of next week. So the problem is obviously security for departing pax, with the resulting crowds also causing congestion elsewhere, such as the check-in areas. So how is canceling a bunch of flights supposed to help?

- unless airlines just tell the pax concerned to get stuffed (contractually not an option), they will have to accommodate them on other flights. For pax booked to depart from AMS, what options are there other than rebooking them other flights from the same airport? Putting the same number of pax on fewer flights won't solve Schiphol's problems, it will just move them around. Or rather keep them waiting in the same line but at other hours.

- a lot of pax on any canceled flights will be transfer pax (the majority in KL's case). They will by definition have to be rebooked on later flights, and therefore have to hang around at the airport longer. How exactly is that supposed to ease crowding? Some of these pax may even have to be accommodated overnight in hotels, which means they will have to leave the airport, and then come back again the next day, adding to the queues at security.

- every AMS departure canceled means a canceled return flight back to AMS. These flights would have carried pax who would just have walked straight out of the airport, and others just heading to the gate for their connecting flight. Many of the latter would not have to go through security. Canceling these flights would suck for the pax, yet do very little to ease congestion at the airport.

So what am I missing here? As far as I can tell, all Schiphol is doing is passing the buck to the airlines, hoping they will solve problems the airport should have seen coming, and should have tried harder to do something about.

As soon as I realized that the end of the pandemic (or the various harsh government measures to combat it, rather) would unleash a tsunami of pent-up travel demand, I decided to curtail my own travel as much as possible. Pretty successfully, but there are limits. Tickets for four AMS flights popped up in my inbox this evening. I fortunately rarely travel on weekends, but I'm not sure that will help all that much. I don't want to think about what Schiphol will look like when the Dutch school summer vacations start.

Johan

 

Maddening!

has something like this been ever demanded before?

 

I don't think so.

I just heard that two colleagues flying to MNL via IST missed their flight this afternoon. TK, so Terminal 3. By the time they finally made it through check-in, but hadn't even joined the queue for security yet, the departures board already said "Gate Closed". As luck would have it, it was the first TK flight from AMS to depart on time today! Fortunately, they had fully flexible tickets and got rebooked on another flight a few hours later. Not sure which routing.

The chauffeur who does our airport transfers, and who is at Schiphol almost daily, often several times, said he had never seen such a disaster zone. Huge crowds of people outside all the terminals trying to get in. At least it wasn't raining, and the wind wasn't howling. I know, not much of a consolation.

Johan

 

I don't think we're talking of the same thing.



I'm talking about the one in red, not one in blue. Unless it was turned off for some weird reason, it should let you in on the stairs coming from the SkyPriority zone - therefore bypassing all the non-prio pax
(note - this will only let Privium pax in, no other, even if you have a skyprio mobile bp etc. There is no BP scanner only Privium reader.)

If you're worried about this leading to non-Schengen, it doesn't, it will throw you out on the top level over transfer passport control, close to the Schengen lounges.

 

I also emailed Privium asking specifically about this access route, they confirmed that it is still available and operational.

Now all that is fine and well, but as long as you have to queue for ages just to get into the terminal building in the first place, it will still take you a lot longer to get through security.

Johan