Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

This airport used to be one of my favorites, but our experience at the end of May was a nightmare. We arrived from Tokyo and were sent to a security checkpoint where we underwent both a machine scan and a full body pat down. Our luggage was searched and I was nearly made to open a sealed Japanese sweet in its original wrapping. Then we couldn't find out way to Immigration and to leave the terminal. At least 3 arrival stations had been closed. Finally, after walking at least 2 kilometers we ended up in a mob of Chinese group tours being processed by only 3 agents. Our departure the next day was worse. The signage was confusing and the security search even more thorough. An agent made me take off my money belt and riffled through the bills. Another agent nearly opened the Japanese sweet but opted to check for dangerous chemicals. Then the contents of my carry-on suitcase was almost completely emptied. The reason? To find my tweezers, which the agent had declared was not the problem. I had all my belongings strewn across 4 large plastics trays. So I feel safer? The agents weren't interested in my computer, my camera, or a metal canister containing tea. And they completely missed the small plastic bottle of eye drops in a chiller bag in my husband's carry-on. By the way, I am a 77-year-old small woman with white hair. My husband has vowed never to go through Schiphol again. Oh, and when you exit the terminal, you are accosted by unlicensed taxi drivers. Don't take them, go to the official taxi stand or risk being overcharged.

Read reviews about Schiphol's new combined security area and I have to agree with most of them. I do not understand why check-in for all other airlines is near the D gates while my gate is in the B/C zone. It took me 20 minutes to get from the queue to the security area, only to be treated to one of the most humorous things I've ever seen at an international airport: a thorough (read: overboard) security check of an elderly disabled man on a wheelchair who was put through a patdown, body scanner etc, ala USA style. This, of course, further clogged up the security checks for other passengers, resulting in the security check being completed in 40 minutes from the minute I started queuing. Didn't even have the time to grab anything from the stores inside the terminal and had to rush to my gate in order to catch my flight. Can't see why AMS is rated as one of the top 10 airports in the world - it is certainly among the bottom 10 in Europe along with the likes of Heathrow and Paris CDG. I'll remind myself not to take depart from this airport again as there are other better managed airport with staff who have common sense in the Schengen zone.

Arrived in good time and was surprised at how pleasant and open the airport was. The toilets in the main concourse were spotless, and everywhere you went I was amazed at how open and hassle free it all was to negotiate. Schiphol is huge but by comparison with other UK airports it was a joy. Security was no issue with no queues to speak of and the waiting areas were okay. The lack of comfortable seating was a bit of an issue but otherwise I was very impressed. The annoying bit was the constant desire of the staff and info desk to push you down the expensive Taxi route. When asked where the bus (197) was, I was unhelpfully told in the bus station, but he had no wish to tell me something helpful like the stop number, but is this the airport's fault?

They have introduced a new security screening area at Schipol which is horrendously slow, causing massive queues right back into the check-in hall, luckily we had left plenty time to get through but we only just made our flight. I am sure many passengers will be missing flights or delaying flights due to the time this system is taking. We use Schipol quite regularly but we will avoid it for the foreseeable future and hope they sort this out. I would certainly not recommend Schipol at the moment.

Never again - our first and last time from Amsterdam. It was really a horror and a big mistake starting our holidays there. We arrived 2.5 hours before the flight - we had no chance to eat something, no chance to sit or to buy something. All our time was wasted in queues. The most positive aspect was dropping off the luggage and getting boarding cards - we waited only 5 Minutes. The horror started immediately after - we went to security and waited in a mass of people and no movement in sight. No information, after this procedure there was passport control - same long queues as before. Then running miles to the announced gate we got there 10 Minutes before flight took off. We should have been there 45 minutes before. You can use this place best as a shopping mall - but as a the "International airport of the Netherlands" it is a shame. Will never fly again from there and will look for a more comfortable alternatives.

I used to use this airport almost every week and, while not particularly liking it, found it to be efficient and quick. On 25th April, however, our experience was completely different. From checking in to getting through security took nearly two hours - the queues at all stages were horrendous and the staff officious and unhelpful. Luckily, we had arrived early, but for those who had left less time, there seemed to be no process for getting them to their gates on time. Although KLM is a convenient way for me to travel long-haul from Birmingham, I shall look for alternative routes in future.

Huge queues on 23 April. Baggage drop-off was backed up all the way to terminal 3, then join the queue to go up the stairs, where you get to join another long queue for the scanners. We arrived 2 hours before our flight, and the gate was closing by the time we got to it (at a run). Too few staff. Little sense of organisation or information. No toilets that I could see between bagage drop-off and the far side (airside) of passport control, which is something to bear in mind if you're travelling with a child. To be fair, the journey back was a breeze, but this used to be a decent airport. The combination of centralised scanning (used to be done at the gate) and peak periods seems to be sending it down the tubes. I would recommend avoiding it if you can, or arrive 3 hours early at peak times. I've rated seating, eating etc, but that's based on previous flights.

Avoid this airport if possible. Queues from moment of arrival to getting on plane. They did not keep to gates as shown on departure details screens. No announcements to let you know what was going on. Staff very unhelpful and would not engage in conversation. This despite having checked in online the previous day. When we eventually dropped the bags off we expressed concern that we might miss our plane. Simply agreed but offered no help whatsoever. The next section ie security was just as bad. Avoid this airport.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the finest airports I have been to. It offers a huge variety of shops, entertainment and restaurants. Free Wi-Fi is available (which used to be 2x30 min), so they have improved in this area. An airport which gives you clear directions, is clean and staff that are willing to help you in a friendly manner offering a huge number of destinations.

Arrived at Schiphol on Tuesday 12 April from London, airport was in lockdown. Staff were clueless as to how to manage the situation, no information was provided at all during the entire 3 1/2 hours where we were all left standing around unable to clear immigration. When we were finally allowed into the arrivals area, no one knew where the checked bagged could be collected from, I finally walked through endless corridors and found a pile of suitcases stacked up in a corner and located my own. A disgraceful demonstration of a complete lack of co ordination, given recent events in Paris and Brussels one would expect that Schiphol would have had a plan in place already. The only information we had was from accessing local news feeds via phones/tablets. If this was a real emergency, the situation could have turned out really badly.