Schiphol warns on its own site for “peak crowds”. The airport advises travelers to arrive on time, but no earlier than four hours before the departure of their flight, as this creates extra crowds.
Yet that margin was not enough for Saskia from Waddinxveen to catch her KLM flight to Vienna. When she and her daughter got through security after a long wait, their plane had already left. “You can come up to four hours in advance, but that will not save you. And we are not the only ones who have missed their flight,” she says by telephone from the airside section of the airport. She is now waiting there for a replacement evening flight via Paris to Vienna that she could still book. On social media, people are also complaining about missed flights due to the long lines.
Schiphol has been struggling with problems for some time due to staff shortages at security and handlers. Last month, airlines had to severely limit the amount of passengers traveling from Schiphol to keep the situation manageable. But as of today, the airport allows thousands more departing passengers every day. A total of 73,000 departing travelers are now welcome every day. According to Schiphol, this was possible, among other things, because more security officers were hired. However, there are very long queues.
A Schiphol spokeswoman acknowledged in a response that the “occupation at the security checkpoint is less good than expected”. She emphasizes that travelers should not arrive earlier than four hours before departure, as this will only cause longer lines.
KLM, the largest airline at Schiphol, says that it will be busy at Schiphol again on Monday. For example, travelers are sometimes late for their flights, a spokesperson reports.
