frauschlau2791

Hi everyone:


I will be traveling via AMS in July, I have 3 hours' layover.

I have read unfavorable reviews of KLM's Crowne Lounge that charges economy class travelers around $30 to get in, and then charges more for WiFi, while not providing decent food (judging by the reviews).

I have a quad-band phone and I wonder if there are prepaid SIM cards that can be bought at the airport, that would allow me to send some emails and browse the web from my phone.

And a recommendation on where to dine there for less than $30 would be cool, too.

Thanks for help!

bagold

I was just there last week and throughout the airport they were offering one hour of free Internet.

mrcamp

Unless you plan on returning to Amsterdan. Buying a sim just to use during a 3 hour layover may not be worth it. AS mentioned abpove, there was an hr. of free internet offered just recently. It must have been a special. I have passed through there several times, and the internet was not free. There was an hourly pass and a 24 hr pass that you can buy. Also, we are tallking of about 6 months from now. So things may be different then.

Dubai Stu

I use the Crowne Room all the time. My wife was through there this morning. She is asleep, but will be getting up in about two hours. I will ask her if there has been a change. (We are both Delta Sky Club Life Members so we don't pay).

The wifi password is posted once you go in. I have a hard time believing they charge extra for it. The password is the same for everyone in the room.

The Manzie lounge also sells day passes, but I think Crown Room is better. The booze is good in the Crowne Room, the lounges are massive in size, there are lots of tables. Showers are available.

There is is Communication Center on the second floor of the retail pods/areas/squares that sells wifi passes and Boingo roams on their network. It used to be Attingo, it may be TMobile. There are also some automated kiosks.

I haven't been generally thrilled with the cellular data speeds in Schipol during peek hours. It is fine for my iPhone, but when I've tried VOIP over 3g, I've been disappointed.

YYZC2

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

According to my Boingo Mobile iPhone app, there is a Boingo-affiliated hotspur at AMS.

If your phone has wifi, I would sign up for Boingo's mobile plan and roam on that network for free...

- Jeff (using my no-additional-cost roaming wifi at BRU)

Dubai Stu

I was talking to a stewardess from Delta who owned an iPhone and had Boingo on it. She said she had service in most European airports and made tons of phone calls with it.

KLflyerRalph

KLM Crown Lounge is only open to ST F/C and Elite+ pax. FB Silver members can pay €30,- to get in. Schiphol provides 1 hour free internet. Do you want more you can pay by CC or buy a prepaid card at the shops. Besides there are internetcorners available at a charge.
BTW KLM doesn't charge for WiFi. If you go and sit next to the lounge and the signal is strong enough. I can give you the code .
No idea how non status pax can think it's open for everyone willing to pay!

YYZC2

In Europe, it's a lifesaver. Wifi at my hotel was 20 EUR a day, but with Boingo it was free.

At BRU, a half hour of wifi is 6 EUR (!). Again, with Boingo it was free.

KLflyerRalph

For a dinner recommendation: in what part of the airport will you be? The Schengen or non-schengen?

ag024

Used boingo about a month back on my cellphone - made skype calls and it worked well at AMS. Had the mobile plan for about $9/month.