Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Amsterdam's airport was once again a very smooth and generally relaxed experience from check-in right to boarding the flight. The Dutch sense of calm and organisation prevails with helpful and courteous airport staff, good signposting and the use of modern self bag check-in facilities that was speedy and easy to use. Free wi-fi was also fast and reliable. The only negative aspect was a long wait at security. What a refreshing experience compared to other major European airports.

There is so much building and renovation work in progress that it looks like a building site but I am sure the finished job will be "spot on". My negative comment is the new central security passenger/bag search, I must say that I use this airport 2 or 3 times per month so I am used to the new system. Maybe its the staff not understanding the new body scanner system so the result is confusion and delay. Not every passenger departing speaks Dutch. Some staff are very negative. I recommend the police/military take over this role. I recommend at busy times that more trained staff are allowed to open more x-ray/scanner lanes. I recommend the EU self service passport is repaired to ease the passport queues, been out of use for 2 trips now.

I was always happy with Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. It was always a nice airport for transfers. Since they started the remodelling it is a bit of a pain. The walks are much longer, it still looks like a building site and the signage is not sufficient. Yes, I have to get used to the new. But it still does not look very welcoming at the moment. It is more walking than in the past and while you are on a short connection it needs some running. Lets see how it will work when the building is over.

I used to frequent Schiphol often and it was always a pleasant experience, but the latest changes (particularly to departures) make it an airport to avoid. Arrival: Immigration area was falling apart (ceiling panels hanging from one corner, wires hanging down). Red-faced elderly man shouting at passengers who didn't know which line to enter. A long, long wait as there was only one immigration officer available, and my flight was arriving at the busiest time for arrivals from North America. Departure: So inefficient that it was comical. To enter the KLM bag dropoff line, I had to show passport and boarding pass. At the end of the line, another agent checked my passport and boarding pass again. That gave me access to a self-serve bag dropoff that scanned my boarding pass again. After bag dropoff, there was an access gate that scanned my boarding pass. Again. Then up to the first security area, which looked futuristic but unfortunately was staffed by sour-tempered people who were making fun of passengers when they didn't abide by the exacting rules: Every piece of electronic equipment in a separate tray? Really? Even extension cords? Most humiliating security experience ever, and coming from the US that says a lot. At the beginning of the D terminal, there was a check of passport and boarding pass, and a question about why I was traveling. When that was done, I had to walk about 10 meters to another agent, who, you guessed it: checked my passport and boarding pass again and asked one more question. I tried asking her why those two jobs weren't combined, but she answered robotically that the USA demands this. Uh huh. Sure. Once through that silliness, I find that the gate area has about 20 chairs for a plane with 300 or so passengers. Everyone stood around uncomfortably. To get on the plane, I had yet another passport and boarding pass check (along with another question about my reason for travel), and then not 5 meters further down the row, yet another check of my boarding pass. Is this the current Dutch definition of efficiency? I will be flying out of another airport the next time, even if I have to take a train to the other airport first.

Due to ongoing maintenence at the airport for our 6 hour stopover, there were no comfortable seating areas in the restaurant, all hard chairs. Where the children's tv was located before, at the end of the restaurant near the casino, there is now a small smokers cabinet packed with smokers, without proper ventilation, so the smoke from the cigarettes floods the restaurant and causes secondary smoking to non smokers in the restaurant and to smokers in the cabinet alike.

A huge and spacious airport. Sometime I need to walk at least half a mile to get to my gate, but with absolutely no sense of being lost. Direction signs are clear and can be found everywhere. You'll need to try really hard to not know where your gate is. Large shopping area with considerable amount of stores, restaurants, cafes etc. Check in areas are well organised, huge and equipped with self check in service devices (very handy for travellers without or with just small cabin luggage). Self service passport-check ports are amazing. Efficient way to go through the custom. The facilities are constantly updated and kept clean. Rest rooms are available across the airport and in the vicinity of the gates.

The recent work at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has much improved the experience for transit passengers. Going from non-Schengen to Schengen (and vice versa) was much easier than it used to be, no security and passport checks took less than 2 minutes. My outward transit time was 50 minutes and in the past it would have been very stressful, this time I was at my departure gate within 20 minutes of getting off the first flight. The return took 5 minutes more. There are still annoying aspects to the airport - both my inward flights had very long taxi times and it can be a long walk between gates, but I don't think they can do much about that.

Having used some of the excellent Asian hubs over the last monts, every time I am at AMS-Schiphol it's a rather depressing experience. Most inefficient security check which is not passenger oriented, with very slow and unattentive staff. For a very short flight, I had to walk appx. 20 minutes to the gate. At peak hours one has to be there even for a short flight 30 mins extra in advance to cope with all this inefficiency. At arrival the Railway ticket counters did not sell tickets due to technical, problems, the excalator to the platform did not work due to technical problems. Wrong sign at platform so many travelers did think they were boardint the Amsterdam Train, which was in fact the train to Hoorn instead.

I was there for a flight within Europe. As the flight was operated by one of the low cost airlines, I only had the chance to be in the M terminal. The decoration was amazing there. I specially liked the water fountain in the terminal and how they designed the seats. There was an outlet below each seat which was great. The staff were really friendly.

Amsterdam Schiphol is a more and more depressing airport. The change to centralised security checks has led to long queues and getting anywhere requires long walks. From the initial entry to airside to my gate was a 20 minute walk, with some travelators only for the last few hundred metres. Staff are disinterested and the eternal construction work makes this an increasingly unpleasant airport and one to avoid if possible. It's just too big.