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Home  >  News • The Netherlands  >  Chaos Returns To Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
NewsThe Netherlands

Chaos Returns To Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Matthew Klint Posted onSeptember 13, 2022September 15, 2022 26 Comments

If your travel is originating at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) over the next couple of days, arrive early and be prepared to be patient, as the chaos has returned. The airport is experiencing a meltdown with security staffing similar to what happened over the summer.

Summer Redux: Chaos Returns To Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

I think this picture says it all:

This is the security line to enter Amsterdam Airport right now. Yes, you can see the airport…in the far distance.

The trouble began yesterday when several security staffers failed to show up. The airport issued the following statement:

“Staffing levels at security today are lower than what Schiphol had requested of the security companies. As a result, there is a shortage of security personnel and the number of waiting travellers is increasing, especially in Departures 3.”

As a consequence, the airport asked airlines to cancel flights and suspend future ticket sales between 4:00 pm and 11:00 pm, with KLM canceling a number of services (though the carrier did not confirm if this was in response to AMS being overwhelmed).


> Read More: Chaos At Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, With KLM Suspending Ticket Sales


The airport is also asking passengers to show up early…but not too early. If you turn up more than four hours before your flight, you will be turned away. But if you show up any later, you stand a decent chance of missing your flight.

If you are traveling from Amsterdam this week, consider changing your plans. However, those passengers who are merely transiting through the airport should not feel the impact.

CONCLUSION

Amsterdam Airport is just a mess right now. Until the airport can come to grips with its staffing needs, I am staying away. If you can avoid AMS this week, do so. If not, arrive early…but not too early. Remember, if you are just connecting here, it won’t be nearly as problematic.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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26 Comments

  1. Malik on Wall Street Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 2:44 pm

    I just want to say that the KLM flyertalk forum has a dedicated sub for Schiphol and tells people what to expect. The advice I see on there was really helpful for me when I was traveling through Schiphol two months ago.

    Also, I want to add that if you’re Skyteam Elite Plus or have a Privium card/membership, you can access the priority security line that saves possibly an hour of waiting in line.

  2. rich Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 2:50 pm

    It seems to me that the airlines should be responsible for airport security. I’m probably wrong but wasn’t it that way at one time?

    • PM Reply
      September 13, 2022 at 6:04 pm

      It just doesn’t work like that unless you have separate terminals for airline groups/alliances. Most airlines flying to AMS won’t have more than a couple of employees based in the Netherlands. You can’t realistically expect them to get to grips with local employment law, payroll and social security systems etc, invest in management resource, obtain dedicated space etc just to support a couple of A320 flights a day.

    • Aaron Reply
      September 13, 2022 at 10:19 pm

      The airlines pay a hefty fee to land/take-off from airports. That fee goes towards the cost of security, among other things.

  3. Jan Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 3:31 pm

    Also I just want to bring up that transfers, including to and from Schengen zone, hasn’t been too bad. So If you’re a DL flyer, and it seems like every damn thing in a Europe itinerary is being routed through AMS (and a smaller amount through CDG), I don’t think this meltdown would affect you that much if you ‘re just transiting.
    It really is just the security and check-in that has been a royal pain in the neck.

  4. David Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 4:15 pm

    Maybe it’s just me, but if I ever arrive at an airport and see anything like that, I turn right around and get the hell out of there.

  5. Stuart Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 4:40 pm

    While other airports in Europe have experienced issues, nothing has been as dramatic or frequent as in AMS. Which leads you to believe that this is more than just staffing issues but rather a complete failure at the management level it fix it. Even Heathrow has been relatively fine as of late. Airlines should not have to suspend sales and cancel flights over and over like this because a few security personnel called in sick. It’s clear there is more at work at here cresting this mess.

  6. Aharon Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 5:48 pm

    Key part for me: ‘Schiphol had requested of the security companies’ – What happens when you outsource and contract out critical security staff to third party vendors ,who often win these bids by slashing staff wages and benefits, particularly for new joiners…and then face issues recruiting, given there contracts allow little scope or margin to increase wages without becoming immensely unprofitable or having to renegotiate the entire contract. Not saying this is what happened, but would be interested to see if any difference would have occurred if Schiphol kept its security staffing decision in-house , likely making it much easier to filter down any wages, benefits decisions to attract new hires.

  7. PM Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 6:08 pm

    I am starting to regret my ‘prudent’ decision to fly to AMS the day before an intercontinental departure that I’ve got from there next month. I am hoping that things will have improved by then.

  8. Santastico Reply
    September 13, 2022 at 6:53 pm

    My family was at Schiphol last month as we used it as our entry and exit point in Europe. When we landed coming from the US we saw the same exact line showing on this picture. On the way back we had to overnight in AMS meaning we had to go through security next day. It took us less than 10 minutes to go through security and it was amazing to see they allowed us to bring our own bottles of water (full). We also saw mountains of bags just sitting there which was crazy. It is such a great airport to connect so sad to see their issues have no being fixed yet.

  9. Arthur Reply
    September 14, 2022 at 6:22 am

    I flew out of there a few weeks ago, and it was back to normal then. Tents for those lines were still there, but you could walk right in and go to the check in. I had skypriority and the border control and security lines were pretty fast. Obviously, the problems have come back.

    Before that, I considered trying to re-route to take the train to BRU or CDG and fly out of there, but didn’t do it. If I was making plans right now, I’d probably do that, but if my flight was in the future, I would probably wait and see. (And the KLM thread on flyertalk is the place to get current info on AMS.)

  10. Edward Baker Reply
    September 14, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    I was at this airport on September 13th for a connecting flight. Good thing I went through the Rome Airport security. I definitely didn’t see this though.

  11. FA Reply
    September 14, 2022 at 6:06 pm

    I was at AMS airport to catch a short haul outbound flight on 12th of Sept. It took me 3 hours and 50 minutes just to go through the security line which, as per my phone app, was almost 4 km long. Never ever I am flying from AMS again.

  12. Manoj Reply
    September 14, 2022 at 9:00 pm

    I could have missed my flight from Amsterdam to India in a split of a second in Schipol Airport, the epitome of bad security staff management.

  13. Doug DeNunzio Reply
    September 14, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    It is important to know how to travel properly.

  14. Max Weber Reply
    September 15, 2022 at 3:43 am

    This appears to be a labor action. Is the union negotiating?

  15. Z Reply
    September 15, 2022 at 9:05 am

    Did no-one else notice the spelling mistake.

    “Amserdam Airprot is just a mess rihgt now.”

  16. Zz Reply
    September 15, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    Spelling mistake and tons of grammar. Come on dude. Do better. It’s a great article and you screwed it up

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      September 15, 2022 at 12:40 pm

      Sorry, this is my weakness. Can you point out the errors? I don’t see them.

      • Tony Reply
        September 18, 2022 at 6:10 am

        Good article. Have you any ideas is there a separate line for people with disabilities. My wife is 80 and is flying out of AMS in October in half term week. She has booked disability pick up but obviously cannot just go to the front of the queue.

    • Wong Van Schmitt Singh Reply
      September 17, 2022 at 8:34 pm

      It is 2022 and you still worry about English grammar? Is it not enough that international audience is using English as a common medium. Why do we fret over grammar and spelling!? Did you not understand the article?

  17. Sharon Milner Reply
    September 15, 2022 at 3:13 pm

    Well times have changed. I lived in Amsterdam for 8 years and never had a problem at Dchip. Maybe go through The Hague or Rotterdam if possible. It is still a wonderful city,

  18. Tim Reply
    September 15, 2022 at 4:27 pm

    This must be dreaded by anyone everywhere not knowing if their airport suddenly fails management of security, artificially creating a ridiculous queue just to enter. I’ve seen this at my home airport, New York LaGuardia when something goes wrong with news media showing people scrambling on foot from every direction to get in. I don’t remember what the reason was for this incident as I was visiting a local park over seeing the airport last year or the year before in summer weather.

  19. D Reply
    September 16, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    I was at the airport this Monday flying from AMS to DFW on American. Checking in was easy, but it took us from 8 am to 11 am to get to the gate. I was (until a month ago), an operations researcher for a major US airline. My major observation was that 4 out of 6 machines were operating due to staff shortages, and then one suddenly slowed down and did not move for 45 minutes. People were so upset that they were not allowed to transfer to other machines so they began to jump queues. The design of their queues is all wrong. They should have one queue that only splits at the very end. Instead it is some kind of jumble where queues were split on the left and right stairways, and then more splitting later, but far from the end point. What this means is that the people stuck in the line that died don’t ever move for a long time and get angry. Thus every airline will have a percentage of customers that just never turn up for hours. Luckily American chose to wait an extra 2 hrs for 38 pax, and pax were pulled from the line in order to get through. The reason they waited was because removing the luggage would have been a huge delay, and costly in hotels for a once/day flight. They probably figured pax chances of rolling over to the next day were not looking good. My daughter was flying from AMS to LHR on BA that morning, and BA chose to leave without its missing passengers. They did this as they had more flights/day and expected passengers to roll over. She waited maybe 5-6 hours in the line, got on a 6pm flight that was 20% full. I don’t understand why they don’t design the queues better. Anybody who has been in a bank would know how to do it.

    • GV Reply
      September 18, 2022 at 9:52 am

      Totally agree. Queues are a big contributing factor. Had several incidents while departing in Sept 15 where queues were split too early and resulted in long delays for some while others went through more easily. This occurred at checkin desks and security. Strange …. As you note, it seems so easy to see and remedy. May not solve all problems, but would help!

  20. GG Reply
    September 17, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    I took two flights out of Schiphol is past two weeks. One was within EU and other to the US. In each occasion it took us 2.5 hours to get thru security. I had done online checkin and I did not bring any bags to checkin. If there are so many passengers passing thru the airport, they should be able to hire more staff at top dollars. But the said staffing issue is just an excuse it seems. Airport is being managed by completely incompetent people it appears. I was pleasantly surprised how patient were all the passengers and also the overburdened staff!! I never saw any fights breaking out or people cutting lines excessively!

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