Anyone who has to be at Schiphol tomorrow must also take into account extra crowds as a result of today’s strike. Schiphol warns about this tonight, after earlier today it called on travelers for some time not to come due to the chaotic situation.
“The image I now have is that 110 KLM flights have been cancelled,” a Schiphol spokesperson told NH Nieuws. “Some of those travelers have been rebooked to tomorrow’s flights.” Those travelers are therefore on top of the travelers who would already leave tomorrow, which means extra crowds.
The spokesperson advises travelers to keep a close eye on flight information, and to check until shortly before departure. The crowds are not a reason to ask travelers to report to the airport earlier: for flights within Europe, the advice is to be present two hours in advance, for intercontinental flights three hours in advance. “But it may be that shortly before departure, the company still asks to be present earlier.”
Work outsourced
The chaos is the result of a so-called ‘wild strike’ by about 150 KLM baggage unloaders. They stopped working outside the union to express their dissatisfaction with the outsourcing of their work to the company Viggo. In addition to the more than a hundred canceled flights, many were also delayed by the work stoppage.
Due to the many canceled flights, passengers in the terminal quickly piled up. That got so out of hand, some exits of the A4 were closed and Schiphol called on travelers with flights until 3 p.m. not to come to the airport anymore. That request was withdrawn a few hours later.