Amsterdam Airport - crowded af

[pixy0stix]

I don't think it's gross incompetence. Just like everywhere there simply are not enough people to fill the jobs to support the demand.

[dulcemariamar]

This year I took a couple of train trips... so much nicer and more relaxing. Hate air travel

[msmerymac]

Sept 12, 2022 16:59:16 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

Sept 12, 2022 14:52:35 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I’m glad that, when my flight from Copenhagen to Milan was canceled last weekend, I didn’t end up rebooking and flying through Amsterdam. (Flew from Copenhagen to Frankfort hours later instead, arrived late, missed the connection, so Lufthansa put us up in a hotel).

I was just on a bike trip and our guide is Dutch. He said that they had so much lost luggage in Amsterdam this year and so many staffing shortages that they’ve just given up on the backlog and are now having employees just try to concentrate on luggage that is being lost now, not reuniting people with the tens of thousands of pieces they have in storage.

We saw so many suitcases when we walked through there at the end of July. We had carry-on luggage but because we had bought some bottles of wine and didn't have a chance to drink them, we decided to check our luggage. Out of four suitcases, only one made it onto our flight, a second one arrived the same day but via a different connecting flight, the third arrived the next day and the fourth was nowhere to be found until it showed up and was delivered to our house five days later.

Our guide also said he had someone on a tour this year who didn’t get his luggage - with his bike shoes, helmet, kits, etc - delivered until 6 days into the trip. He went out and bought all new stuff in the mean time.

I hadn’t considered I would personally be delayed, so during my hotel stay I only had a pair of bike shorts, socks, and a t shirt. 😂 Thankfully i also had no-rinse laundry soap and was able to wash my merino wool dress and shelf bra and hang them in front of the fan.

[Nonny]

Sept 12, 2022 13:05:04 GMT -5 frlcb said:

Sept 12, 2022 10:20:35 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I've been kind of following this because I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to Portugal and Spain next spring and wanting to fly us through Amsterdam for several reasons. But the staffing issues definitely make me nervous.

We flew through Amsterdam 4 times this Summer, and my parents flew through twice on a separate trip. None of us had issues. The bigger issues are getting into the airport, so if you are just transferring it felt very normal.

It likely won't be transfers. My plan was to fly to Amsterdam, stay there for 2-3 days because we've never been, and that seemed more fun and better than a 7 hour layer in LHR, or having fewer/worse flight options out of Dublin. Then we'd fly to probably to Portugal first, then off to Spain, then back to Amsterdam, before heading home - but I'm not sure yet if we'd fly Spain->Amsterdam->Seattle the same day, or not.

But because of the budget carriers to get around Europe, we'll likely be doing carry-on only anyway, so hopefully that will make things easier.

[klingklang77]

Sept 12, 2022 17:46:27 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

Flying seems to be a mess these days. Makes me glad I’m flying through Frankfurt next month and not London or Amsterdam which were my other 2 options and what I’ve done in the past.

Frankfurt is no better. Germany gave a bunch of discounts over the summer (lowered gas prices and the 9 Euro train ticket on all trains except high speed trains), and they all ended at the end of August. We are getting an extra 300 Euro in our paychecks (before tax 🤣) to help with the soaring energy costs, but that is only for September. It’s only going to get worse because gas and electricity prices keep going up. 

Even though there are excellent benefits for workers here, the wages are not in line with energy costs and inflation. Fewer people will take these low-paid jobs. 

[ECB]

.

[Vespasia]

ECB can you remove the @ references?

[Michelle]

For reasons ... This spring is a key time to travel to Paris with a specific companion. Not a likely similar future opportunity. So I appreciate these travel warning posts. It has helped me feel better about the direct flight cost round trip on our specific dates. I'm going to go ahead and book and get travel insurance. And then my companion and I can split-pack our luggage so if one of our bags is lost, we still have some of the other clothes. And then key layering will go in carry-on luggage. Also apple tags. packing them in all the bags!

[Vespasia]

We flew home from Schiphol this morning and it was a complete nightmare. We spent just under 3 hours in the security line. They had it snaking throughout the airport and even outside through tents. We estimated that it was probably about a mile long.

We didn't clear security until about 5 minutes before our flight was supposed to depart. I'm shocked we made it. I couldn't imagine having to do that again if we'd gotten stuck there.

Reykjavik was even a mess on our layover, which is really unusual.

[msmerymac]

Well, I’m waiting for my flight from Copenhagen to Newark to take off, so fingers crossed that this return trip is smooth!