Figure I would throw this out there.
My family is traveling through Schiphol Airport this weekend on a connecting flight. Curious to know if any one has traveled through the airport recently and are the operations just a nightmare?
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Figure I would throw this out there.
My family is traveling through Schiphol Airport this weekend on a connecting flight. Curious to know if any one has traveled through the airport recently and are the operations just a nightmare?
My daughter flew home from Amsterdam a few weeks ago. Chip all was great. No lines. No issues. Good food. Good shopping… If that’s what you’re into.
Its always a nightmare....every connection requires a pass thru passport control....and YOU WILL always pick the line with the slowest agent.
I went thru last week after Geneva Airport held the plane for an hour and I missed my AMS connection....by 2 minutes...plane still there but gate closed. First Class ticket didn't help. Spent day in lounge and night in a crappy hotel to fly out 20 hours later. Never again...Heathrow better IMHO.
Beware lines are long...farmers keep threatening to block access due to carbon laws. Priority check line thru their TSA was 1hr alone.
I hate Schiphol, have almost missed flights there several times over the years, though my data is not as fresh as Schind's.
Customs is badly run and there's a lack of flight info displays on the walkways. Maybe if you're flying from the EU it's not as bad, but coming in from the states has been a hassle.
I always try to avoid it.
If a stranger asks you to carry their bag on the plane while they go to the bathroom, just say no.
She had a non-stop. In my experience out of the large European airports Frankfurt, Munich and Heathrow rule followed by Shipol. CDG is the absolute worst,
We arrived 2 hours before our flight in early June and operations were impacted. Our flight was about 50 minutes late taking off so we had to run through Helsinki's airport to make our flight home. Made it by 5 minutes. Needless to say Mrs. L2S was ready to have a meltdown. Lesson learned, do not fly when the rest of the world is. Works for us, but not everyone.
Very busy airport and do not fly Air Chance, as relayed to me by a nice couple trying to get to Tunisia for a golf holiday. Air France lost my luggage (first and only time) flying to Dublin.Quote:
Originally Posted by schindlerpiste
Thanks all.
We've got three hours between flights on the way over so I think the cushion at 6:30 in the morning should be ok. Flight home following Sunday might be tight, but I am ok spending an extra day puttering around Amsterdam if needed. Big worry is losing baggage, but may just carry everything and leave the non-essentials at home.
WE did a 3 week holiday Stu and just packed our carry on bags. With a washer & dryer available to us mid trip, it worked perfect.
3 hrs probably ok. Anything an hour or less is iffy. I had 1 hr on way in and made it barely (luggage didn't) . 40 minutes on way home and just missed it. Delta....didn't have much choice however for flights as was booked last minute and needed 1st class availability.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu Gotz
1st class being packed along with lounges being full of families with toddlers tells me air fares are too low and money is still sloshing around in the world. We can use a good recession and a boost in airfares to push the riff raff back into their station wagon trips to jellystone park.
Unless I'm flying privately, when travelling to Europe on one of the major airlines I prefer to buy all my clothes once I am there. Or have them shipped to the various hotels directly from some of my favorite stores in Paris or Milan. It avoids the hassle of dealing with luggage and local fashion trends may be different than what we have here is the states.
While Frankfurt sucks, especially if you want to take a crap in a clean bathroom, there's a reason why I still take direct flights there and then take a direct ICE train to Stuttgart. I've gone to great lengths to avoid changing planes at all on any of my European trips. Or I have booked separate legs with a purposeful layover.Quote:
Originally Posted by schindlerpiste
Also, don’t say “bomb”.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timberridge
They hate that.
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On Drugs, Inc. that Amsterdam airport is a hotbed of illicit drug activity. Couple things I learned from the show though. 1) Don't be the last one off the plane, 2) Make eye contact with the agents if you get asked a question.Quote:
Originally Posted by AK47bp
I went through AMS last October (a different time, I know) and was a bit worried because I only had a 50 minute layover. It ended up going fairly smoothly. At passport control they had people going back and forth pulling out people who had short connections. I had gone through most of the line by the time they called out my departure time, but it still saved me a few minutes. I don't even think my connecting flight was loading yet when I got to the gate.
There's always some guy who claims to have driven the Long Island Expressway at some point and says "Yeah, the trip was ok, man. No traffic at all" and everyone else in the room deosn't know if he's fucking with them or if it really happened.
Just relaying a single data point. I was worried I'd miss my connection and it turned out not to be a problem.
I'm just saying if I were Stu, I wouldn't know who to believe in this thread.
LOL Ithink I got enough to know that the airport isn't burning down and with enough time I can get where I need to be.
I was worried with striking workers and limited staff that things might be unmanageable. My other option was to rebook through DeGaulle, but that doesn't seem to be any better.
Its a vacation though, and an adventure that goes sideways is still better than a day in the office.
Well good luck Stu and as they say in Spain "Bon Voyage!"
Every time I've been through they've had employees that are roaming the line pulling out people with tight connections. I had a little over an hour through there in March so I didn't get the line cutting privileges but made it with no issues.Quote:
Originally Posted by The AD
One time coming home AMS-IAH-DEN I had half of a 300 mg space cake left over from a night out with a friend that lives in Amsterdam.
Once I was sure I was going to make the flight but before going through customs, I ate the 150 mg dose with the intention of chilling on my flight back to the states.
There was an extra bag check at the gate where I was chosen for a random swab to check for explosive residue on my carryon. Somehow, someway my bag set of the explosive detector. They tested again, and then again. It was positive each time.
I was suddenly surrounded by all the security at the gate and then quickly surrounded by police rifles and a dog and a very tall guy in a suit who explained that he was from the Dutch equivalent of the Dutch FBI.
It was about that time the edible started to kick in.
I was questioned by multiple people for over an hour about why I was in AMS, where I had been, who I had been with, etc while my checked baggage was pulled off the plane. Was I traveling with anyone else? "No". If your company has an office in Amsterdam, what is it's address? Who are your coworkers there?The plane left. I stayed. At first it was right at the gate, but then I was taken to some back room.
15x a normal edible dose is, well, a ton. It took every bit of my concentration and mental strength to keep my shit together. I thought multiple times about coming clean about the edible to explain any erratic eye movement that I may have had going on, but thought better of it because of the risk of it complicating my situation.
I was presented with my baggage and told to scatter it throughout an empty room. A bomb dog was brought in. It sniffed everything, but never alerted.
I was released into the care (or lack thereof) of United airlines, who informed me I had 5 minutes to run more than 1/2 a kilometer across the airport with my baggage to catch an alternate flight home through IAD before the door to that flight was closed.
While running, a coworker who was originally booked on that IAD flight called me- "They're paging you at my gate. Are you on my flight?!"
I had the peace of mind to tell her to get on the flight an not acknowledge my existence until we were airborne. I'd explain everything later. I couldn't risk my story about not being with anyone else complicate my ability to get on that flight.
I arrived at the gate, was interrogated yet again by some of the same people who had somehow driven to the gate, and then was allowed to board the flight.
I was so fucking high I have no idea how I navigated all of that. I threw away the bag in question. No way could I risk that bag setting off a detector in a place like Jakarta or Singapore where I was regularly traveling at the time.
Holy shit Kevo. A 150 mg dose? :eek:
If you're continuing on to another EU destination I think you'll be ok. I'd be careful if you're traveling from another EU country and headed to the States, or some other scenario where you need to re-clear security. Especially if you're flying economy, and especially in the afternoon/early evening since things seem to just build throughout the day.
I had a KLM economy flight July 2nd from AMS to Stavanger. I showed up a little less than 4 hours prior to my 4pm flight having checked in online and only carrying a backpack. The line was 3km long and pure chaos. I was still 30 minutes from reaching the security checkpoint when the flight departed. They aren't allowing people into the terminal more than 4 hours earlier than their flight time so not sure what else I could have done. I would have considered an upgrade to business class to use the priority lane or using Schiphol's paid "meet & assist" service https://schipholmeetandassist.com/book/ if either was available.
Baggage claim is also a shitshow - I saw today that Icelandair is actually flying baggage handlers on each flight to staff their ground operations at Schiphol.
Good luck out there.
Wow. How the hell is this even possible?Quote:
Originally Posted by HellgateBasement
A couple friends of mine went to Portugal last month and I'm pretty sure they went through Schiphol. Their luggage finally got to them 12 hours before their return flight a week later. Not sure where the screw up was, but seems like a common experience this summer. Definitely carry on as much of your essentials as possible.
Its true. When I was there, the most often heard quote was "This is the PRIORITY line?"Quote:
Originally Posted by The AD
The regular line started outside, went up the escalator and out of sight. I could only imagine what kind of Disneyland weave that went thru. They wouldn't let you in the door if it was over 4hrs till your flight. I was there at 6:30 for a 9:50 flight and worried.
I've been high AF in Schipol, but I ain't ever been accused of having explosives.
Holy shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
10-20mg gives me the paranoid shakes and can’t sleep.
150mg seems outrageous panic attack zone for me, even sitting on my couch.
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Yeah. Line started in one terminal building, ran the full length, down a breezeway into another building. Then snaked an entire unused check-in area before running back outside through some sort of tent village, ending up completely outdoors. My bald head got a nice bronze. Back inside and up the stairs to the beginning of the "normal" full capacity security line. They did give out some water bottles and stroopwaffles, which was nice, since I saw one person collapse.Quote:
Originally Posted by sirbumpsalot
When we traveled to yurp this last April, we were advised by a couple recent travelers to not check baggage if at all possible. The wife and I made it 18 days with international carry-ons and (very full) personal bags. We did buy some clothes there to help get through and we were able to do laundry, but it worked pretty well. For the return trip we bought a 10 euro duffel and filled it with clothes we didn't care about and checked that back home.
I've always wondered about the bomb residue test. I had a reloading setup in my office for years and my computer bag was exposed to gunpowder, the shit was all over the place, but it never came up positive when swabbed.
We just flew through there last week. We originally had an hour and 40 minute layover which got reduced to an hour and 10 minutes and we made our connection with 5 minutes to spare. Passport control was a bit of a joke and then luckily a couple other workers lazily walked into their booths at the last minute. If you are feeling tight I would look for the bypass line for those with an immediate connection or scoot your way through the main line in a hurry and apologize profusely. Just glad we weren't coming from outside the airport as I've heard there are four to five hour waits for security sometimes.
yes. always a cluster fuck, but, despite thinking I would miss my next flight every time, I never have (probably a dozen times through that customs checkpoint/transfer on arrival). Last time was in late May. Just pay close attention for the attendants in vests that walk the line yelling out the next window of flights departing. if you are on one of those, go to the attendant and they will herd you to the front of the line. If you try to go to them with "Im not on the flight you just called but the one after" god help you.
Hopefully Stu won’t make the same mistake.Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
We cruised right through on our Norway trip….however after the holter or stories we had heard we flew in late afternoon, overnighted and got first flights out on the morning.
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I went through in March on my way to Munich. Had plenty of time and passport was fairly quick. My ski bag did get lost and I waited 4 days for it to show up. It came right before I went skiing. Luckily I had enough clothes in my boot bag to make it without hand washing clothes.
Why is everyone using this airport if it sucks? Or y'all just stopping in Amsterdam to get drugs first?
Yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timberridge
Also, living in the home of the world's busiest airport and Delta Jets, it seems I'm almost always stuck choosing between CDG and AMS.
Also, holy shit Kevo.
Yeah WTF Kevo. That story makes me physically uncomfortable reading it.
Not too many other options when flying from the US to Western Yurp. In the past I've always tried to fly through AMS instead of CDG as it was consistently less of a shitshow. The recent chaos is making me reconsider though...Quote:
Originally Posted by Timberridge
I flew SLC to Geneva in May and had to go through Paris. Before I even left the house I had already rebooked by CDG to GVA connection cause the flight out of SLC was 1.5 hours late. Got to Paris, had to go back through security for some fucked up reason. The line was hours deep and nobody was pulling people with short connections to the front. Tried to sweet talk some of the staff to no avail, just had to wait. About 20 minutes in I rebooked my connection cause I was obviously not going to make it. When I finally got through security I had 5 minutes to teleport to the gate and make the next flight. I got there with 30 seconds to spare but the gate agent told me they had already unloaded my luggage. She gave me the option to board anyway and send my bags on the next flight. I declined, I was flying with a bike and didn't want to risk creating more issues with an oversized item. She took pity on me and rebooked me on the next flight right at the gate so I didn't have to get in line at the customer service booth where entire planes worth of delayed people where trying to salvage their trip. If she hadn't taken care of me at the gate I'd have probably been stuck in line for another 2 hours and missed 2 more flights to GVA. As it was I ended up missing my connection 3 times by a total of about 5.5 hours. Both my bags made it at least...
Edit: 150 mg edible? What in the murderous fuck?? I'd be a puddle of piss and tears if anyone even talked to me, let alone pull me in a room following a positive explosive screen...