Allow plenty of time at the Amsterdam Airport

[luvs2travl]

I wanted to relate our experiences in traveling to and from the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to the city of Rotterdam:

 

We are just off the Westerdam, (Aug 26th, 2010), which began and ended in Rotterdam. We flew into and out of Amsterdam as we could not get connections to & from Rotterdam from Houston. We had 3 days pre-cruise in Rotterdam before our cruise.

 

We took the Schiphol Travel Taxi from the AMS airport to the Rotterdam Hilton at a cost of 70 euros for DH & myself. We had booked this service through the Schiphol Airport website. We left the airport at 2:00PM and were at our hotel in Rotterdam by 3:00PM. No problems whatsoever, and I highly recommend this service.

 

Coming off the Westerdam after the cruise, we had booked the HAL shuttle service back to the Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) and that was a whole different experience. We were flying out the following day, so we only needed to get to the Schiphol Airport to call the shuttle to the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. We were in no hurry.

 

Please, if you intend to fly home the same day as debarkation, get a flight AFTER 12:30PM! Our luggage tag color was called to disembark at 8:00AM and we left the ship at that time. By the time we got our luggage in the tent at the cruise terminal, and made our way to the shuttle bus, it was 8:35AM. The bus left the cruise terminal at 8:50 AM. It was Thursday and rush hour traffic was in full swing (driver said rush hour was 7:00AM- 9:30AM daily). It took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from Rotterdam to Amsterdam Airport. There were 2 couples on our bus that had an 11:15AM flight back to the States. I'm pretty sure they didn't make it. They were extremely upset, but why they booked a flight so early when they knew they had to travel an hour or more to the airport is beyond me....:confused:.

 

We were back at the Schiphol Airport at 9:45AM the following day to take our return flight home. It took us about 30 minutes to get our boarding passes and get our two checked bags taken care of - then we were on to our gate & the security check-in. Our flight to Houston left at 12:45PM.

 

Going through security at Schiphol was quite different than anything else we had experienced. Security procedures were initiated at the individual gates rather than at one specific entry point. The gates were cordoned off and each passenger was taken into the area individually. My husband was not allowed to go through with me.

 

My passport was taken by a security official and he went to a separate computer area with it; he was gone about a minute or maybe two, and when he handed my passport back to me, it had a blue stamp on the back cover. He then proceeded to question me about everything from how long I had been in the Netherlands, to where I had been to when was the last time I'd seen my luggage to who had taken it from me-----and about 5 or 6 other questions like that. All in a very low voice and all the while never breaking eye contact with me. After that, I was sent through the baggage screening area and was allowed to walk through the scanner machine thing and then was asked to be seated in the waiting area.

 

That whole procedure (which included the standing-in-line-to-get into-the-gate-area time) took 45 minutes and we were the 11th and 12th people in line. By the time we got through, the line for check in was really, really long!

 

That is our experience, and the couple with whom we cruised had the same experiences. They flew back to FLL the same day as disembarkation, but their flight did not leave until 12:55PM. They were able to make their flight, but said that they only had about 35 minutes to spare. They had the same luggage tag color & number as we did, so we all disembarked at the same time. They were on bus #2 and we were on bus #3 and their bus left about 10 minutes before our bus did.

 

If you plan on leaving from Amsterdam, PLEASE make sure you get a flight AFTER 12:30PM if you plan on flying home the same day as you disembark. Otherwise, plan on staying overnight and going home the next day. We usually do that to avoid the rush and have never been sorry we did so.

[HeinBloed]

I wanted to relate our experiences in traveling to and from the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to the city of Rotterdam:

 

We are just off the Westerdam, (Aug 26th, 2010), which began and ended in Rotterdam. We flew into and out of Amsterdam as we could not get connections to & from Rotterdam from Houston. We had 3 days pre-cruise in Rotterdam before our cruise.

 

We took the Schiphol Travel Taxi from the AMS airport to the Rotterdam Hilton at a cost of 70 euros for DH & myself. We had booked this service through the Schiphol Airport website. We left the airport at 2:00PM and were at our hotel in Rotterdam by 3:00PM. No problems whatsoever, and I highly recommend this service.

 

Coming off the Westerdam after the cruise, we had booked the HAL shuttle service back to the Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) and that was a whole different experience. We were flying out the following day, so we only needed to get to the Schiphol Airport to call the shuttle to the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. We were in no hurry.

 

Please, if you intend to fly home the same day as debarkation, get a flight AFTER 12:30PM! Our luggage tag color was called to disembark at 8:00AM and we left the ship at that time. By the time we got our luggage in the tent at the cruise terminal, and made our way to the shuttle bus, it was 8:35AM. The bus left the cruise terminal at 8:50 AM. It was Thursday and rush hour traffic was in full swing (driver said rush hour was 7:00AM- 9:30AM daily). It took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from Rotterdam to Amsterdam Airport. There were 2 couples on our bus that had an 11:15AM flight back to the States. I'm pretty sure they didn't make it. They were extremely upset, but why they booked a flight so early when they knew they had to travel an hour or more to the airport is beyond me....:confused:.

 

We were back at the Schiphol Airport at 9:45AM the following day to take our return flight home. It took us about 30 minutes to get our boarding passes and get our two checked bags taken care of - then we were on to our gate & the security check-in. Our flight to Houston left at 12:45PM.

 

Going through security at Schiphol was quite different than anything else we had experienced. Security procedures were initiated at the individual gates rather than at one specific entry point. The gates were cordoned off and each passenger was taken into the area individually. My husband was not allowed to go through with me.

 

My passport was taken by a security official and he went to a separate computer area with it; he was gone about a minute or maybe two, and when he handed my passport back to me, it had a blue stamp on the back cover. He then proceeded to question me about everything from how long I had been in the Netherlands, to where I had been to when was the last time I'd seen my luggage to who had taken it from me-----and about 5 or 6 other questions like that. All in a very low voice and all the while never breaking eye contact with me. After that, I was sent through the baggage screening area and was allowed to walk through the scanner machine thing and then was asked to be seated in the waiting area.

 

That whole procedure (which included the standing-in-line-to-get into-the-gate-area time) took 45 minutes and we were the 11th and 12th people in line. By the time we got through, the line for check in was really, really long!

 

That is our experience, and the couple with whom we cruised had the same experiences. They flew back to FLL the same day as disembarkation, but their flight did not leave until 12:55PM. They were able to make their flight, but said that they only had about 35 minutes to spare. They had the same luggage tag color & number as we did, so we all disembarked at the same time. They were on bus #2 and we were on bus #3 and their bus left about 10 minutes before our bus did.

 

If you plan on leaving from Amsterdam, PLEASE make sure you get a flight AFTER 12:30PM if you plan on flying home the same day as you disembark. Otherwise, plan on staying overnight and going home the next day. We usually do that to avoid the rush and have never been sorry we did so.

 

I am surprised to read all the experience.

 

Experts like Ine warned about the rush-hour between Rotterdam and Amsterdam and it could be very time-consuming to take the roads.

 

The safest way would be to take the train to Amsterdam which goes in 45 minutes (if you take the fast Fyra train) to Amsterdam Airport.

 

Amsterdam is a Delta Hub which means many many Delta-Flights and all the high security measurements are due to request of the US-government.

 

The European request only the first security point and the immigration point.

 

The rest is only for the US-flights.

 

So if you are flying out of Amsterdam ot other destinations but US it is more relaxed. Especially if your are flying to other Intra-Schengen destinations like Rome, Venice, Barcelona, Athens, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Hamburg, Milan, Genoa, Naples, Malaga...

 

So it's not generally the situation in Amsterdam - only in your case if you are flying back to the US.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[luvs2travl]

I am surprised to read all the experience.

 

Experts like Ine warned about the rush-hour between Rotterdam and Amsterdam and it could be very time-consuming to take the roads.

 

The safest way would be to take the train to Amsterdam which goes in 45 minutes (if you take the fast Fyra train) to Amsterdam Airport.

 

Amsterdam is a Delta Hub which means many many Delta-Flights and all the high security measurements are due to request of the US-government.

 

The European request only the first security point and the immigration point.

 

The rest is only for the US-flights.

 

So if you are flying out of Amsterdam ot other destinations but US it is more relaxed. Especially if your are flying to other Intra-Schengen destinations like Rome, Venice, Barcelona, Athens, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Hamburg, Milan, Genoa, Naples, Malaga...

 

So it's not generally the situation in Amsterdam - only in your case if you are flying back to the US.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

 

We had looked into taking the train, but had way too much luggage for that mode of transportation. It would have been impossible to travel on the train with each of us toting a back-pack, a carry-on and a large checked bag. Where in the world would we have put all of that and who would have helped us get it on & off the train? Then there is the matter of getting to and from the cruise terminal......We are 63 and 71 years old respectively and could not possibly have done that ourselves. :eek:

 

We did use the train for sightseeing as we went back to Amsterdam from Rotterdam, and also took the train into Delft. We saw no one carrying anything on board larger than a computer rolling bag or briefcase.

 

We were not complaining about the time constraints as we had done our research before we left to become more informed as to exactly what to expect. We allowed plenty of time. I was merely trying to pass along to other passengers that may be travelling back to the US to be well aware of what was involved, and to be sure and NOT book a morning flight.

 

We loved the Netherlands very much and hope to return to spend more time just touring the beautiful countryside and seeing more of the great cities.

[HeinBloed]

We had looked into taking the train, but had way too much luggage for that mode of transportation. It would have been impossible to travel on the train with each of us toting a back-pack, a carry-on and a large checked bag. Where in the world would we have put all of that and who would have helped us get it on & off the train? Then there is the matter of getting to and from the cruise terminal......We are 63 and 71 years old respectively and could not possibly have done that ourselves. :eek:

 

We did use the train for sightseeing as we went back to Amsterdam from Rotterdam, and also took the train into Delft. We saw no one carrying anything on board larger than a computer rolling bag or briefcase.

 

We were not complaining about the time constraints as we had done our research before we left to become more informed as to exactly what to expect. We allowed plenty of time. I was merely trying to pass along to other passengers that may be travelling back to the US to be well aware of what was involved, and to be sure and NOT book a morning flight.

 

We loved the Netherlands very much and hope to return to spend more time just touring the beautiful countryside and seeing more of the great cities.

 

I just want to pointed out that this was not a general situation at Amsterdam Airport as the subject of the thread might let it suggested.

 

It's always good for some like you who can afford to spend another day before flying back.

 

But many cruisers cannot afford to spend another day before flying back because of the budget of money or time (I guess you do not have any vacation days anymore with your age...).

 

I just show the option how they could avoid such a situation and get better prepared your way to Amsterdam Airport if you do not have the time. But you are right: train is not an option for everyone especially with the current situation at Rotterdam Central Station with the big changes and without escelators and elevators.

 

Furthermore as said that is a specific situation for flights to the US with many additional checks which you do not have for other destinations so no need for other to waste their time at the airport if you do not fly to the US.

 

But anyway I hope that you had a great time on WESTERDAM like we had. We were just there End of July for a 7 nights. And I loved it.

 

I had very bad experience with the Schiphol Travel Taxi as I never was refunded as I had to cancel. But that's like your good experience my individual bad experience with them.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[MATHA531]

Here's the deal on this...remember the Xmas underwear bomber came through Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and there was an outcry. Through all European airports today, at the insistance of the US government BTW, there are all sorts of extra security on flights to the USA...special gates have been set up at Heathrow for example for USA flights. You go through the same security as anybody else (Heathrow is pretty thorough) and when you reach the gate, you are asked the same questions (was your baggage with you at all times etc....then there is a security man...some passengers either randomly or not so radomly are chosen for a thorough check of their hand luggage and wanded and whatever...I've gotten that treatment once or twice, other times not. Again, this is only done on flights to the USA and it is done at the insistance of the US government. Now of course some people like this feeling you can never be too secure but that's simply the way it is. As I understand it, Amsterdam is waiting for those scanning machines which show your very private parts in graphic detail ever since the xmas incident. If you're flying to the USA, this is what you're going to have to put up with no matter where in Europe you leave from.

[luvs2travl]

Thank you, Heinbloed. We did indeed have a fabulous cruise on the Westerdam and enjoyed her very much. We love all the HAL ships, but are very, very fond of the Oosterdam and the Westerdam.

 

We also think that the train system, as with all the transportation systems in Europe, is wonderful. It is so very easy to get anywhere one needs to go utilizing the trains, undergrounds and buses. I only wish that we had something similar here in the US. Unfortuntately, we don't. It is so easy to travel when one wants to go sight-seeing around Europe and the British Isles. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

I'm sorry that you had such an unpleasant experience with the Schiphol Travel Taxi. They gave us outstanding service and our guide gave us a great "tour-guide" lecture en route. We completely enjoyed the drive.

 

In hindsight, I probably should have titled my thread "US Travellers: Allow Plenty of Time at the Amsterdam Airport". I thank you for pointing out the fact that the delays were for US travellers and not necessarily for others.

 

Best to you as well,

 

Nancy :)

[Sauer-kraut]

The OP's situation at the airport describes how it was flying out of Frankfurt over 8 years ago. Always had independant check-in people asking the questions and applying a sticker and then RE-ASKED at the check-in desk. And they paid attention to what color sticker we got on the passport. And then the x-ray security for all general passengers and then once again at the gate for the U.S. bound plane and again with the questions.

 

I think this system is based on the Israeli Airport Security system, which has been touted as being the best there is. I wonder why TSA doesn't adopt it, we still seem lax over here, and I fly internationally quite often.

[rsquare]

I just came through Amsterdam last week coming from a Celebrity cruise which docked at the Amsterdam Passenger Terminal. Celebrity handled the transfer differently than HAL in that our luggage went directly to the airport, and was waiting for us outside of T2, arranged by tag number (all the same color, since we were early departers, off the ship at 6:45am). Our gate (G4, as I recall) had the fancy scanner, which was nice since no one had to remove their shoes (but I did have to take my belt off).

 

Inspection at the gate must require a huge budget for duplicated machines and personnel, but is much easier on the passenger who doesn't have to worry about getting to the gate after perhaps being delayed in security. And as to the colored stickers on the back of my passport, I kind of like them; they immediately say "seasoned traveller," whatever else the colors may signify. Most of my stickers say "Security - ICTS;" does anyone know what ICTS stands for?

[Ine]

The reason why security takes place at the gates and not in a central area is because Schiphol has many passengers transferring from one flight to another.

To avoid possible problems with weak security in other airports, it is of course better to (re)check at the gates.

We all realise why this is necessary.

Indeed I often point out that the highway Rotterdam-Amsterdam is one of the busiest and often has traffic delays.

[Globaliser]

I wonder why TSA doesn't adopt it ...

Because air travel would grind to a halt! Better to concentrate resources on the areas that are high risk - and it seems that flights to/from the US remain high risk, judging by the incident on a Chicago-Amsterdam flight just four or so days after the OP's passage through AMS.

Most of my stickers say "Security - ICTS;" does anyone know what ICTS stands for?

Possibly these people?

[captgeo]

The thing we noted about Schiphol last April was how far it was from check-in to the British Air gate -- we were flying Amsterdam to Gatwick, thence to Tampa, Florida. For a couple of old folks (mid 70s) we thought we would never get there. Then, when you go through security at the gate, you can't get out again to go to the rest room, magazine stand or to get a drink or bite to eat. Security at Schiphol was minimal, but security from Gatwick to the USA was another story -- numerous checks from terminal to the gate. Bottom line these days is to allow yourself lots of time no matter where you are coming from or going to.

[MATHA531]

I don't know all the specifics here as I haven't flown out of Schiphol all that often in recent years but let me try to explain one possible reason for the long walk...there is an agreement called the Schengen agreement between various European countries which does away with border controls so there is no passport control on a flight say from Amsterdam to Rome as both the Netherlands and Italy are part of this Scvhengen agreement. The UK is not a party to this agreement...hence flights coming in from the UK as well as non European countries such as the USA have to be in such a position in the terminal that arriving passengers and departing passengers go through passport control which probably meant these flights had to be put at the back part of the terminal when these regs came into effect (only about 20 or so years ago). It caused a lot of changes in European airports.

 

Just my speculation as to why the AMS-LGW flight would be in the far reaches of the terminal.

[HeinBloed]

Very simple:

 

in my childhood Schiphol was very easy... but due to expansion and you have one Terminal instead of several terminals like other airports like London-Heathrow, Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, New York John F. Kennedy, Los Angeles, Chicago O'Hare etc.

 

All airlines are under one roof and all flights can be reached without leaving the building.

 

This advantage bring the disadvantage that some piers are far far away.

 

And not everywhere you can find moveable walkways.

 

There are not so many airports in the world which handle so many flights in just more or less one big building.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Globaliser]

I think that HeinBloed must be right about this: the issue arises simply because of the terminal design philosophy of keeping everything within one terminal. It makes some things easy, but it means that the single terminal is vast. Other airports split this size of operation between several terminals.

 

I don't think that Schengen/non-Schengen can be the answer, because flights to the UK are non-Schengen, and the Schengen part of the terminal is by far the smaller "half" of it.

 

The idea of having security at the gate is that you should clear it just before you board the aircraft, so there is no need to go outside again. It doesn't sit happily, though, with many travellers from the US who seem to want to go to and be at the gate a very long time before the flight departs.

[MATHA531]

I think that HeinBloed must be right about this: the issue arises simply because of the terminal design philosophy of keeping everything within one terminal. It makes some things easy, but it means that the single terminal is vast. Other airports split this size of operation between several terminals.

 

I don't think that Schengen/non-Schengen can be the answer, because flights to the UK are non-Schengen, and the Schengen part of the terminal is by far the smaller "half" of it.

 

The idea of having security at the gate is that you should clear it just before you board the aircraft, so there is no need to go outside again. It doesn't sit happily, though, with many travellers from the US who seem to want to go to and be at the gate a very long time before the flight departs.

 

What I meant is that when the Schengen agreement came into being, the whole terminal everywhere had to be re-designed to separate (both arriving and departure) Schengen from non Schengen so it made logical sense to put the non Schengen in the further reaches of the terminal as you have to set up a passport control for arriving and departing passengers depending on Schengen or not.

 

So for example if arriving at AMS from London, it has to be set up in such a way if you are entering the Netherlands or any other Schengen country (Germany, Italy, France) you have to pass through passport control and therefore the connecting flight would have to be outside the passport control and if flying outside Amsterdam to another Schengen country, no passport control needed while if flying say to London, you have to go through passport control to officially depart Schengen. Just speculation of course.

[HeinBloed]

If you have a Non-Schengen-flight you can walk the through the security for the area B, C and D for Schengen-flights and then change to the area for E, F, G, H and M.

 

But the Non-Schengen area covers 2/3 of the airport because you need more space. There are not so many wide-body aircrafts used for flights within Schengen-area. And for all Non-Schengen flights you need many many space for the widebody aircrafts.

 

So if you want to go to Canada or Asia or Africa or South America: why should you make all the safety-checks you only need for US and UK???

 

Therefore it's good to have this special dedicated controls only for them.

 

So it's no wonder that you have to walk and walk and walk before you reach your gate and have many loss of time due to additional checks on the way to your aircraft.

 

And additionally it's hub of Delta - so you have many US-flights more than you might have on other airports in Europe.

 

Just have a look yourself:

 

http://www.schiphol.nl/web/file?uuid=6a211cf9-6592-4641-b973-45b354bab162&owner=538afd9b-cd43-44c2-9d0a-3a05132efc4e

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Globaliser]

What I meant is that when the Schengen agreement came into being, the whole terminal everywhere had to be re-designed to separate (both arriving and departure) Schengen from non Schengen so it made logical sense to put the non Schengen in the further reaches of the terminal as you have to set up a passport control for arriving and departing passengers depending on Schengen or not.

But Schiphol isn't set up like that.

 

Have a look at the terminal map here; page 2 shows you the gates level.

 

The B and C concourses, in the bottom right hand corner of the map, are Schengen, as (I think) is the upper level of D. Concourses D (main level), E, F, G, H and M are non-Schengen. The immigration border is marked by the dotted red lines just by the entrance to the D concourse.

 

So there is no question of the non-Schengen area being "in the further reaches of the terminal", particularly as non-Schengen accounts for a much larger part of the terminal than the Schengen area.

 

At one stage, I wondered whether captgeo's experience was caused by the fact that there was a time when BA's Amsterdam to Gatwick flights used the H concourse (also used by low-fare carriers). That is a very long way from the centre of the terminal building. However, having a look at Schiphol's website today, it looks like the Gatwick flights now use D gates like the Heathrow flights have always done.

[Cazz]

I've flown through schipol a number of times, to the US, Canada, and various European destinations, and I understood that KLM (the Dutch airline) had the benefit of all the nearest, more central, gates.

 

The length of queues at the security gates can be so daunting. I once had to use the 35mins or less queue, but it still fed into the same scanner machine queue after the passport check. I made the flight but my luggage didnt, just as well I was flying in the day before the cruise. It arrived at my hotel during the night!

 

I have a tip for the central security queues - but let's keep it to ourselves - go to the leftmost queue, the one alongside the 35mins one, and keep left if it splits, it seems to move a lot faster than the others.

 

:D

[jocap]

My favourite story at this airport was a stupid flight arranged by NCL- Barcelona to Newcastle (should be about 2 1/4 hours), changing at Amsterdam. We left the KLM flight, walked and walked, until we reached the gate, where I stupidly said:"All that walking, and we're getting back on the same plane!"

I was immediately surrounded by security, who wanted to know how I knew it was the same plane, where was I coming from/going to etc...All because I'd seen the number of the gate we'd arrived at, and the plane was still parked there....

The flight took 8 hours from Bcn to N/c doing it this way....:eek:

Jo.

[UKBayern]

I don't know all the specifics here as I haven't flown out of Schiphol all that often in recent years but let me try to explain one possible reason for the long walk...there is an agreement called the Schengen agreement between various European countries which does away with border controls so there is no passport control on a flight say from Amsterdam to Rome as both the Netherlands and Italy are part of this Schengen agreement. The UK is not a party to this agreement...hence flights coming in from the UK as well as non European countries such as the USA have to be in such a position in the terminal that arriving passengers and departing passengers go through passport control which probably meant these flights had to be put at the back part of the terminal when these regs came into effect (only about 20 or so years ago). It caused a lot of changes in European airports.

 

Just my speculation as to why the AMS-LGW flight would be in the far reaches of the terminal.

 

Yes, you are absolutely right. I worked at AMS from 1995 to 2006 and saw all the changes regarding expansion and Schengen-implementation. They had mind boggling problems how to get round the Schengen problem. When I started in 1995 B-busgates and G, H and M were not there yet. There is a more or less logical system: generally all intercontinental flights leave from E, F and G (bigger gates for wide body aircrafts). All budget flights from Easyjet, etc leave from H. All European Schengen flights leave from B, C and the high numbers D, whereas most European non-Schengen flights leave from the lower numbers D (sometimes from E in the exceptional case it is a large plane).

 

One of the problems KLM (and other airlines) has is that they have flights coming in from Schengen destinations, departing to non-Schengen destinations and vice versa. It takes far too much time to tow an aircraft to a different gate, and that would hinder traffic too. They have these so-called "switch"-gates on D-pier. The same aviobridge is connected with an upstairs and a downstairs gate. So D47 downstairs is also D77 upstairs, for example. It is theoretically possible (and it actually happened to jocap) to get off at D77 upstairs, walk all the way back into the terminal, go down the stairs, through security and passport control, and walk the same way back and find the same aircraft at D47.

 

@Cazz: other airlines whine that KLM has the best gates, but in practice it does not work that way. AMS has always had a shortage of gates and they are planned by the minute. Until about 15 minutes before landing, the pilot generally does not know to which gate he will taxi. It drives the ground staff crazy. There you are at D83 as scheduled and then suddenly the gate is changed to B24: no way the staff will make it to the new gate in time.

[rsquare]

AMS has always had a shortage of gates and they are planned by the minute. Until about 15 minutes before landing, the pilot generally does not know to which gate he will taxi. It drives the ground staff crazy. There you are at D83 as scheduled and then suddenly the gate is changed to B24: no way the staff will make it to the new gate in time.

 

So this would explain that most frustrating of airport experiences: you've landed, taxied to the gate, the two bells have sounded and everyone is in the aisles retreiving their carry-ons, and someone comes on the PA to explain that we will not actually deplane for 10 minutes or so, as there is no jetway operator. I'm usually the one standing in the aisle wedged between other passengers fuming "it's not as if they haven't known for months that this flight will be landing here at this time."

[Globaliser]

"it's not as if they haven't known for months that this flight will be landing here at this time."

Even if there isn't a gate change, the ground crew might still be dispatching their previous aircraft if it's departing late for some reason, or something like that.

 

There's a tendency amongst some passengers to think that because the flight they're on is the only flight they're on, their flight is the only flight - "so why are they late for us?" Of course, that's illogical. The ground crew are busy running around from one place to the next all day, and there are bound to be times when the ground crew are running late, just as anything else in any transport system will sometimes run late.

[UKBayern]

someone comes on the PA to explain that we will not actually deplane for 10 minutes or so, as there is no jetway operator.

 

Not all ground staff in airports are allowed to operate the aviobridges. It is an insurance matter. If they bump the jetway again the plane, the damage to the plane and the jetway could be $$$$$$. There is a small team that goes from gate to gate to connect the bridges.

[Peteymil]

I just came through Amsterdam last week coming from a Celebrity cruise which docked at the Amsterdam Passenger Terminal. Celebrity handled the transfer differently than HAL in that our luggage went directly to the airport, and was waiting for us outside of T2, arranged by tag number (all the same color, since we were early departers, off the ship at 6:45am). Our gate (G4, as I recall) had the fancy scanner, which was nice since no one had to remove their shoes (but I did have to take my belt off).

 

Inspection at the gate must require a huge budget for duplicated machines and personnel, but is much easier on the passenger who doesn't have to worry about getting to the gate after perhaps being delayed in security. And as to the colored stickers on the back of my passport, I kind of like them; they immediately say "seasoned traveller," whatever else the colors may signify. Most of my stickers say "Security - ICTS;" does anyone know what ICTS stands for?

May I ask what time your flight was?