Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

I was traveling to Toronto from Amsterdam Schiphol. The security clearance after luggage check in was very long. Waited 45 min to clear security. Good thing I came in 3 hours early. Still I barely managed to clear security on time. Amsterdam airport should implement a better and faster way to clear security.

With Jet Airways moving their hub to Amsterdam, I thought it would be a pleasure to travel through my favorite airport in Europe. Alas, not any more. My daughter and I flew in from Mumbai to connect to 2 different flights, my daughter to JFK and me to Edmonton. My daughter had 2 hours to transit but made it for her flight by the skin of her teeth. It took us nearly an hour in queue for security check in transit. The fast lane was closed, and just two regular lanes open. Once past Security, she attempted using one of the toilets, but none had a queue less than 20 deep, she gave up and proceeded straight to the Delta document screening area where another queue held her up for over half an hour, just about making it to the gate a couple of minutes before it closed. She had no time to even connect to the airport wi-fi to let me know whether or not she made the flight. The airport looks dated, it is clean with a good choice of F&B outlets, but is very very crowded. It has been a long time since I transited Europe for North America, thanks to the wonderful Middle East carriers and their fantastic airports I don't think I will choose to travel via Schiphol in a hurry. The airport needs serious reform.

Having travelled through Amsterdam Schiphol for the past 15 years I have always found the experience to be pleasant. However, since the introduction of the new "Centralised Security" in June of 2015 the experience has diminished into one of utter choas. Arriving on an international flight from South Africa we had only 40 minutes to get from F Treminal to D terminal. Prior to landing the Captain advised onward travelling passengers to use the fast track lane. Unfortunately the Fast Track lane was closed. Some of the comments received from staff were "We dont care, its not our problem etc". They were rude and arrogant. We submitted a formal complaint to the Airport Management who take every passengers comlplaints seriously. Our recent experience in October was no better. Herded like cattle at security for what amounted to complete mismangement and the delays were horrendus. Only 5 out of the 12 security lanes were open. Once again another formal comlaint to Management who take the views of their passengers very seriously. Really? And we the passengers pay for this privilage. Clearly things have not got any better as can be seen from comments submitted by other travellers. Schiphol need to raise its game. It never used to be like this.

Schiphol used to be a fantastic airport where Dutch efficiency meant that you could turn up 45 mins before departure and breeze through bag drop off, security and passport control. But no longer. New security controls have been introduced in the last year and now it's impossible to get from bag off to departure gate in less than around 90 minutes. The security checks invariably have huge queues, and there's never a point where they have all scanning machines open. Passport control is usually a massive scramble, with facial recognition machines not working and confused passengers being left stuck without help. In the meantime, one or two customs officials will be disinteresdly checking passports and ignoring and requests for assistance from people who can't get the FR gates to work. Coming back in isn't always better, as massive queues can build up as passports deskd remain unmanned. I'm not sure why the Schiphol authorities decided on these 'improvements', but it's turned their airport from one of the best in Europe to a bit of a joke. It can't be long before people start avoiding Schiphol as a transit hub. Moral of the story, if you must fly from Schiphol, give yourself at least 2.5 hours. Anything less and you may become one of the many who miss flights on a daily basis.

✅ Verified Review | I practically fly to Schiphol every week due to work, and I have to say it is one of the worst European airports. That is purely down to mismanagement of security checks and passport controls. First, passport control. Schiphol is the only airport where the automated passport scanners never work and passport desks are never fully manned. Airports like Heathrow actively measure and publish how long it takes customers to get through passport control, but not Schiphol. Queuing times in excess of 30 minutes at peak times are common, compared to about 5 minutes at Heathrow for example. When departing from Schiphol, they also insist that you go through passport control. Compared to many other airports where your passport is only scanned at the departure gate. Security checks are also slow and insist on looking at things like umbrellas, or if you have more than 5 coins in a luggage pocket. The same luggage goes through without any issue at Frankfurt and Heathrow, but at Schiphol it needs to be opened. Again unlike other airports, there is no measurement of queuing times. Lastly, you can buy a premier security experience called privium but surprisingly you can't enrol in that at the non schenegen terminal. This is just bizarre and another example of lack of attention to detail, which seems to be a theme at the airport.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam Schipol works perfectly well but allow for transit time. At least two hours. All connections are under one terminal (unlike CDG). Immigration and control can be also quite strict with roughness at times. Nevertheless, overall, plenty of shops, plenty of food and easy to navigate. Prefer it to CDG.

Appalling passport control at Amsterdam Schiphol. Herded like animals. Rude staff. No explanation for delays. I have missed connecting flights because of the delay in passport control. Despite having automated passport readers these remain closed and barriers that could be manned by 10 officers are manned by 2. Allow at least 90 minutes to pass through security and a further 90 minutes for passport control or you will miss your flight.

My experience from start to finish was disastrous. Enough so that I decided to submit a review (and I'm not someone who generally takes the time to do so). My arrival at Schiphol was met by the inability to find a bathroom that had a queue no longer than 30 minutes and didn't smell. Then it was off to passport control, who, upon seeing my citizenship (I'm EU), rolled his eyes and gestured to move along. On my departure, the layout of the airport was even more confusing. In a first instance, my friend and I took ages to find the departure gateway after checking in, due to poor terminal signs and directions. We had to ask to finally realise where it was. While security was smooth, the passport control was once again a disaster. The queues were poorly laid out. As my security check was at the furthest end of the hall, I found myself going straight and into a queue that wasn't actually a queue. The staff which saw me going straight didn't flinch or redirect me, so I assumed it was fine, until control made it sternly clear I was to re-queue. On second thought, I should have doubted the lane. But the staff who saw me weren't bothered to do their job and later I realised others did the same mistake. And THIS is the main problem of the airport (apart from a terrible layout) - its staff. They are unobliging and plainly rude. Won't be setting foot in this country for a while.

✅ Verified Review | Took roughly one hour to pass through security, then the girl scanning my hand luggage was so lethargic in the process that I forgot what I was still doing there and headed to gate, just to come back running and desperate to find if my bag was anywhere to be found. There was a french couple totally anxious, begging the staff to pass beyond other waiting passengers as they were very late but no one cared. The airport itself is nice but too big and terminals not really explicit. The ladys doing check in only spoke English or Dutch even though I was flying on a Portuguese carrier.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is my home airport. During last 2 years many renovations have taken place modernising the terminal, resulting in many improvements. Non-Schengen section is much better than the Schengen section of the terminal. Very good landslide and airside retail and F&B (except for F&B in Schengen section, which is poor in quality and choice and it is often very crowded here). Waiting times at security can be long if you are not a frequent flyer, especially in Schengen section. Security area is very pleasant and spacious, reducing stress level of passengers and staff. Self-service passport kiosks are good, but unfortunately not always in use. Walking distances are OK. Airport is clean, well-designed, easy way finding. Gate and F&B seating in Schengen section is limited. Accessibility via train is good. Although rail disruptions occur more often than one would wish for.