For the umpteenth time it is very busy in the queue for the security check at Schiphol. An editor of NH Nieuws stood in line for a flight to Madrid this morning and this afternoon and it took three and a half hours to reach security. According to a Schiphol spokesperson, there are no extra exceptional matters that cause waiting times to rise so extremely.
The by Schiphol measures taken to make the long queues flow faster usually hardly helps. There are still too few staff at security to guide the large number of travelers through security control without hours of delay. The measure to set a limit to the number of travelers allowed to depart from Schiphol every day also seems to have little or no effect.
Our editor witnessed riots, crying spells and rushing passengers today. “There was a woman on the floor screaming and people started to get aggressive,” he said. The journalist alone stood in line for three and a half hours for the security check. He was spared the queue for the check-in counters, because he had no checked baggage with him.
screens
Schiphol has also had screens showing estimated waiting times for several weeks. They were clearly wrong today: the 90 minutes shown were more than double.
New security guards
Until the end of July, a maximum of 67,500 travelers per day may depart from Schiphol. This measure has forced many airlines to cancel their flights and travelers have seen their holidays go up in smoke. Due to the influx of new security guards, 73,000 travelers will be able to depart from Schiphol every day in August.
Flight made it
The flight to Madrid did make it to the editor: “I ran hard, but the flight was still delayed due to crowds in French airspace,” he says with relief.
Former Russia correspondent Pieter Waterdrinker also stood in line for hours: