Europe Travel - still chaotic in Amsterdam/London?

[redredwine]

My family and I are traveling to Europe in a few weeks. We're doing a multi-country trip, flying into Germany and flying out of London. We will be traveling via train for our trip at the recommendation of friends/family. 

I am trying to make reservations for the bigger legs of our trip, since some trains have reservations required. (I didn't realized that, otherwise I would have booked a few months ago) Our train leg from Amsterdam to London seems mostly sold out for any desirable times and the cost to fly that leg is actually cheaper than making reservations (or maybe I'm doing it wrong) so I'm about to book air tickets instead.

I'm worried the airport will be a disaster, because that's all I heard about this summer. Any update for how airports have been in Amsterdam/London this season?  ETA: we are bringing our 5 year old.

[dutchgirl678]

I think Amsterdam is a bit better now. This week was a big fall holiday but after that it should slow down. I would still make sure you are there with plenty of time to spare and avoid checking luggage if you can. We usually stay nearby the night before. Last time we were there, we stayed at the Ibis hotel Schiphol which had a family room and a free shuttle bus to the airport.

www.schiphol.nl/en/my-travel-day/today

[Vespasia]

We flew hope from Amsterdam 6 weeks ago and it was horrendous. It was over 45 minutes just to drop our bags and then 3 hours in the security line. Friends flew out the next day without bags and the security line was "only" 2 and a half hours. The line itself was around a mile long. It was incredibly stressful as almost everyone around us was in a panic by the time we were in visual distance of the security stations. We cleared security 5 minutes before our flight was supposed to take of and were lucky that we only had a 5 minute brisk walk to our gate. Other gates were 20-30 minutes away according to the signs. Luckily they held our flight but then it of course caused issues with our layover.

It seems possible you'd spend more time just getting to your gate than the entire train ride.

Depending on the ages of your group, the line could be particularly challenging. I couldn't imagine doing this with someone who was elderly or had mobility issues.

I don't know if Brussels is having similar issues but I basically plan to fly out of there from now on.

[mrsukyankee]

Haven't heard anything like what I was hearing this summer about Heathrow - probably because they finally capped the number of passengers going through and it's helped. It was fine at the end of September when I flew in and out of Heathrow.

[scout8]

I connected at Heathrow in early October and it was fine. It was a connection, but we still had to go through security and it seemed normal to me.

[redredwine]

Nov 1, 2022 13:20:10 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

I think Amsterdam is a bit better now. This week was a big fall holiday but after that it should slow down. I would still make sure you are there with plenty of time to spare and avoid checking luggage if you can. We usually stay nearby the night before. Last time we were there, we stayed at the Ibis hotel Schiphol which had a family room and a free shuttle bus to the airport.

www.schiphol.nl/en/my-travel-day/today

Thanks friend! This is helpful, and that website a great reference!

[agnes]

Nov 1, 2022 15:21:52 GMT -5 redredwine said:

Nov 1, 2022 13:20:10 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

I think Amsterdam is a bit better now. This week was a big fall holiday but after that it should slow down. I would still make sure you are there with plenty of time to spare and avoid checking luggage if you can. We usually stay nearby the night before. Last time we were there, we stayed at the Ibis hotel Schiphol which had a family room and a free shuttle bus to the airport.

www.schiphol.nl/en/my-travel-day/today

Thanks friend! This is helpful, and that website a great reference!

just a heads up, it wasn’t accurate the day we flew out of AMS in September.

[agnes]

This might be too old for an update, but this was my experience on September 12 pandce.proboards.com/thread/634433/amsterdam-airport-crowded-af?page=1

ETA: basically our 1.5 hour flight sucked up a whole day.

[agnes]

I would 100% take a train from Amsterdam over flying out

[mokes]

I flew into/out of Heathrow last week and had no issues at all. Wasn’t crazy crowded.

The last time I was in AMS security was so long I missed the flight (despite arriving super early). It was a nightmare to get rebooked.

[frlcb]

London is fine, Amsterdam is the crapshoot. Can you do a train from Amsterdam to Brussels and then Brussels to London? I would even add on a day or two in Belgium if possible, the christmas markets are great.

[womet]

We flew into Amsterdam last Friday and leave this Friday. Flying in, we had no issues. And I didn’t see seas of luggage that I had been expecting, or lines and lines of people either. I can let you know on Friday how it goes.

[pinotgrig]

I connected through AMS last week and it was fine. Was at my gate within 20 mins of deplaning. The lines I did see for ppl coming in (not from another flight) looked really manageable.

[frlcb]

Nov 2, 2022 11:23:33 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

I connected through AMS last week and it was fine. Was at my gate within 20 mins of deplaning. The lines I did see for ppl coming in (not from another flight) looked really manageable.

We had no issues this summer connecting through AMS (we did it 4 times I think) but the issues were people originating in AMS.

[wise_rita]

Transiting through Amsterdam I think is Ok. My sister did it Thursday last week.

Her flight was canceled and rebooked a week or so prior to travel, no doubt because Schipol was shrinking the number of flights/bodies going in and out at certain times.

She used AirTags, which I think are a must in this day and age (or better yet, carry on only)!

[dreamcrisp1]

It’s not that bad anymore. My mom left on Saturday and was through everything in like 30 mins.

[womet]

Nov 2, 2022 9:07:35 GMT -5 womet said:

We flew into Amsterdam last Friday and leave this Friday. Flying in, we had no issues. And I didn’t see seas of luggage that I had been expecting, or lines and lines of people either. I can let you know on Friday how it goes.

Quoting myself. We are here at Schiphol and it really was not bad at all. The number of people seems normal, lines have been short, and we’ve gotten to our gate quickly.

[dreamcrisp1]

November is a lull for holidays here in the Netherlands. It’ll pick back up again around mid December. Schools go on holiday on December 23 until January 8. Anyone with school age children cannot travel outside of holiday periods as it is illegal.

[midwestmama]

I have connections in Amsterdam/Schiphol at the end of November and early December, so I'm glad to hear there aren't (and likely shouldn't be) huge crowds when I'll be going through there!

How is passport/border control in AMS? I'm a US citizen and will be traveling for work.

[TR]

Nov 4, 2022 9:50:17 GMT -5 dreamcrisp1 said:

November is a lull for holidays here in the Netherlands. It’ll pick back up again around mid December. Schools go on holiday on December 23 until January 8. Anyone with school age children cannot travel outside of holiday periods as it is illegal.

You mean it's illegal to take kids out of school to travel or even if you don't take the kids you can't travel?

[dutchgirl678]

Nov 4, 2022 10:02:41 GMT -5 midwestmama said:

I have connections in Amsterdam/Schiphol at the end of November and early December, so I'm glad to hear there aren't (and likely shouldn't be) huge crowds when I'll be going through there!

How is passport/border control in AMS? I'm a US citizen and will be traveling for work.

Connecting flights should be no issue. It is just a problem with checking in and going through passport control if you are departing from there.

[dutchgirl678]

Nov 4, 2022 10:14:31 GMT -5 TR said:

Nov 4, 2022 9:50:17 GMT -5 dreamcrisp1 said:

November is a lull for holidays here in the Netherlands. It’ll pick back up again around mid December. Schools go on holiday on December 23 until January 8. Anyone with school age children cannot travel outside of holiday periods as it is illegal.

You mean it's illegal to take kids out of school to travel or even if you don't take the kids you can't travel?

You are not allowed to take the kids out of school unless there are special circumstances that prevent you from traveling during school holidays. In that case, parents can ask for permission with the school principal. There are more holiday periods than in the US because typically they only get 6 weeks during the summer but then there is a 1-week fall break, 2 weeks over Christmas, 1 week during the spring and 2 weeks in May. 

[midwestmama]

Nov 4, 2022 10:34:07 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

Nov 4, 2022 10:02:41 GMT -5 midwestmama said:

I have connections in Amsterdam/Schiphol at the end of November and early December, so I'm glad to hear there aren't (and likely shouldn't be) huge crowds when I'll be going through there!

How is passport/border control in AMS? I'm a US citizen and will be traveling for work.

Connecting flights should be no issue. It is just a problem with checking in and going through passport control if you are departing from there.

Thank you!