Long lines, frustration and a lot of stress because travelers threaten to miss their flight: Schiphol Airport, once the national pride, is again struggling with major problems this week. The airport failed to properly anticipate the revival in our travel behavior after corona. It results in long lines at the airport, for days.
People are expressing their dissatisfaction with the way things are going on social media. ‘Half of the line now, waiting for 3 hours’, writes one traveler. Although there are often messages about long waiting times, there are also messages from which people in the queue can draw hope. For example, a woman has already passed security three quarters of an hour after her arrival at the airport. “Don’t let the line scare you, it runs smoothly.”
Motorists driving past Schiphol can already see long lines of people standing outside. “Pity everyone who has to fly today and stand in line for so long, inside or out,” wrote a fellow passenger.
Text continues below the tweets.
A Schiphol spokesperson says that the airport is ‘doing everything it can’ to keep waiting times as limited as possible. The cause for the crowds are staff shortages ‘across the board’. “We will continue to deploy additional staff where possible,” said the spokesman.
It may be that some people can indeed walk quickly, while others stand in line for hours. “The peak times differ from day to day and moment to moment,” the spokesperson explains. “We ask the passengers to let our colleagues do their work safely and quietly. They do their very best to help everyone. We are very sorry that things are going the way they are.”
The spokesperson expects that it will be very busy at Schiphol Airport every day until the summer holidays. “Towards the summer there are comparable numbers as during the May holidays.”
Watch our videos about the chaos at Schiphol in the playlist below: