hetismij2

If you are flying out of Schiphol this spring/summer the advice is to get there 4 hours before your flight. Due to the heightened security throughout the country, and particularly along the land border with Belgium there is a shortage of Marechaussee, the military police who deal with immigration, resulting in long queues. Increased security scans are adding to the queueing. There is a real chance you could miss your flight if you get there any later.
Worth bearing in mind if you have a long stopover and were thinking of heading into the city.

hetismij2

This doesn't apply to international transfers, but could be a problem for those transferring to or from a Schengen flight.

Odin

I passed through the land border between Belgium & Netherlands last Thursday without issue. The traffic line was not long at all, considering it was Easter & roads busy.
I'll see how it goes transiting thru AMS on my next trip in 2 weeks, which will involve transfer from a Schengen flight.

bilboburgler

I assume the bike paths and waterways are still completely open and without any checks. Both these are my favorite ways between the two countries.

Good to know guys thanks for the advice

hetismij2

For some reason, presumably to prevent huge delays, the land border checks were scaled down over Easter.
The small roads etc are checked, but not as conspicuously as the main border crossings. It would be impossible to have checks on every border crossing, and if they really got serious about it (which they won't, partly due to Schengen but also due to the expense and inconvenience) they would have to physically close all the small crossing points.

It is expected to be a problem at Schiphol for a few months, especially as the May holiday (end of April, beginning of May) is a popular school holiday to grab a week or two in the sun at slightly lower prices than in the summer. The summer break starts 9 July, with the central region (including Rotterdam, Den Haag and Utrecht), followed by North (which includes Amsterdam) a week later and south a week after that.

Odin

I transferred thru Schiphol twice last week, from Schengen to non Schengen and experienced no issues with lines in either direction. Bizarrely, there was less security than I recall couple years back and they have replaced the passport checks with automatic readers.

Dukey1

Obviously "expecting" something to happen and a guarantee that it will actually do so are two different things.

hetismij2

They have reduced the land border checks, and are also using some Marechausee in training at Schiphol. There is still a risk of long queues as the summer approaches. Schools are on holiday now and more people are flying out on holiday since the ids now often get two weeks and it is cheaper than in the summer, but in the summer it will be very busy too.
Security is now centralised rather than at the gates, and is just as effective, if not more so than before.
Yes they have been using the passport scanners for a while - we used them last year, but they can still result in big queues with people not knowing how to use them or having to still go through the more normal route (with children for example). Last August it was chaos around them, with big queues all muddled up. We opted for a queue and waited ages for people in front of us to work out how to use the machine. Some had to be extracted by Marechausee, which closed the machine down for a period too.

MyriamC

I live and work very near two border crossings BE-NL, I cross at least 4 times a week, and I have never, from March 22nd onwards, had a land border check.

Tulips

I only saw a border check at the border near Eindhoven shortly after 22/3. Crossed border at Eindhoven, Breda and Bergen op Zoom several times since then, no checks whatsoever.

hetismij2

Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there.
They did cause problems for a while, were removed due to the chaos of the Belgian toll introduction, but are currently being done by camera and random checks, not only on the motorways but also on the myriad of small border crossings.
Schiphol continues to advise allowing more time than normal for clearing security and passport control.
It would be a shame to arrive at the gate and see your plane taxiing away.

MyriamC

@hetismij2
I invite you to come look for them. They simpley aren't there.

topeater

Do you still need to get to the airport 4 hours ahead? We have a flight leaving around 11am to fly to Toulouse, France. Hate the thought of sitting around in an airport for that long!

laverendrye

>

But what better airport to sit around in than Schiphol.