Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

✅ Trip Verified |   Airport was dirty with limited seating. Even the airport lounge was dirty—tables not cleaned, seats stained, food on floors. The passport check process was a chaotic nightmare with staff pulling people out of line at weird times. (For example, pulling folks ahead with departure times at 9:45am but then pulling people after that with departure times of 9:20am. It didn’t make sense to not go in chronological order…) And then boarding the flight itself was also a chaotic mess with people crowding the entire boarding area and no staff organizing folks or clearing space.

✅ Trip Verified | A reasonably nice, but huge, airport with poorly thought out protocols for helping people get around. After a week of travel I found that a knee problem that had been improving through physical therapy was just not up to the distance between our arrival and departure gates. There are lovely little shuttles that run all over the airport, so my husband and I flagged one down to see if we could catch a ride. No dice, the drivers evidently may not assist anyone along the way at risk of their jobs. Apparently, travelers must realize prior to departure that there might be an issue with the distance at the connecting airport and declare themselves ‘disabled’ at check-in in order to utilize a service the passenger doesn’t realize they need—until they need it, rather desperately. We were advised to go to a first aid station to get a wheelchair, and followed ‘red cross’ signs along a lengthy slog in the opposite direction of our gate, up an escalator and down a series of long halls, to a heavy glass door with a bell and a view into a mysterious airlock with a pay station, where people entered now and them from a waiting area on one side to talk to the cashier. A harried woman waved at us and disappeared into a back room. After 20 minutes outside the locked door reading signs about Covid testing, we decided it was more likely we’d get Covid than service. After going all the way back, we hailed another shuttle, whose driver was kind enough to point us in yet another direction to walk toward a different station, which did offer wheelchairs. While there was a sign on the wall above the station, there was no signage along the way to guide you there, but the nice shuttle driver did check back to make sure we found it (though they were concerned their boss might see them helping us). The station did, happily, provide a wheelchair, which my 79-year-old husband had the enjoyment of pushing while it was loaded down with me and our carry-ons, back to the main hallway and to the far distant end of the hall containing our gate. The gate for our fight was located in a glass cube chaotically packed with people and their belongings occupying every chair and window ledge, which seemed inadequate to hold a large plane load of people. At least I had the wheelchair to sit in. No longer willing to take a chance on my knee, I walked over and asked the airline staff to order me a wheelchair for the other end of the flight, which they put in the system but could not confirm. Along with everyone else, the end of Covid is also bringing back the leading edge of the boomer population to airports, which means many perfectly healthy and otherwise fit older travelers who are not ‘disabled’ but for whom the now-vast distances of airports may be problematic. Other airports offer shuttles which will pick up travelers who find they can’t make the walk, or whose connections are tight, and Amsterdam evidently sees no problem with transporting their own airport staff in these trolleys. I’m not sure what problem the draconian policy in Amsterdam is designed to address, but it’s certainly not a great introduction to the city or the country.

✅ Trip Verified |   I will avoid this airport at all costs. What a horrible representation of Amsterdam. We were stuck here for almost an entire day. Everything is made out of metal, the food selection was very limited. The absolute worst part was the temperature. It must have been at least 80 degrees in the airport. I am not sure what was going on with the air conditioning. There was almost no one to help. It was difficult to figure out what was going on at the gate. Almost no information shared and very limited information screens. Avoid if you can!!!

Not Verified | Plenty of signage, good shops, and a random check for drugs (this is the Netherlands, after all!). The only quibbles are needing half an hour to get through the Schengen Zone passport check (those with EU passports can do it automatically, in minutes) and the Polderbaan runway we landed on being located halfway to Belgium. This adds quite significantly to transit times.

✅ Trip Verified | By far the worst traveling experience is arriving, departing or connecting through Schiphol. Two and a half hours to go to passport control, retrieve baggage, recheck bags, go through security (they inspect 70% of the bags) and then passport control again. The airport is gigantic and they make you walk several kilometres to do anything. The signage is confusing and dubious, as the instructions from staff. This place is chaotic. Allow at least 3-4 hours to make it to your gate. I hope I never have to put my feet here again.

✅ Trip Verified | This used to be one of my favorite airports. But now it’s a disaster. 2 hours to get through security check and passport control. Passport check machine broke. Lines were chaotic. I will try to avoid Amsterdam in future.

Not Verified | Pathetic passport control. It took longer to go through passport control (65mins) than it took to fly here from Manchester (60mins).

Not Verified | Horrible experience. Total unmitigated chaos for immigration. Massive line down entire airport hall and around corner. At least 2 hours. Insufficient staff. Short connection line is only one moving and people from normal queue keep going to that one since it is taking so long and main queue not moving. Absurd! This is worse than Paris for connections

Not Verified | They are very proud of the “one terminal concept”, but it is hard to see why. Long walking distances, no screens with flight details anywhere in arrival, and functional, but imperfect signage. If they have to have two employees standing guiding people, then the signage is no good enough. And so easily solved for transit passengers by putting up screen with flight information. Airport is as clean as expected for a busy airport. But bathrooms are crowded, and often with wait times. Bottle filling stations are not working anywhere, and neither did three of the four self check machines in arrival. No lounge seating near the gates. A few options for eating, but almost everything is near the center. Wifi was good, free and stable. Security personnel was rude but quick. Passport control was super quick with self control machines for EU citizens, but lines for the rest (which after Brexit also includes the British as they have voted to not be EU citizens anymore). But completely fine for EU citizens. This airport is difficult to avoid because it is such a big hub, but bring own water and find a seat in the center (not near the gates), and it will be ok.

✅ Trip Verified | Apparently third busiest airport in Europe but highly disappointing for any traveller. Most of the staff is unfriendly ask personal questions and view you suspiciously. I was upgraded to business and no preference was provided at the time of boarding. Seemed highly understaffed and unclean. Moreover no empathy or consideration for children or travellers with children. the security staff frisked my 11 month infant and woke him up from sleep and opened his food boxes. Hope the airport administration learns some basics from airports such as Dubai and Singapore which handle much more traffic. Maybe they are too arrogant for that