Amsterdam Schiphol is now offering pre-booked time slots for its security check to ensure a quicker and smoother airport experience.
The service is free of charge, with time slots currently available to those travelling to a destination within the Schengen Zone, though other destinations are set to follow shortly.
Time slots can be reserved up to three days before departure on the Schiphol website or app, with several suitable slots suggested – these are based on the departure time and expected crowd levels at the airport (the latest slot is 1 hour before departure).
Travellers will then receive a confirmation email containing a QR code. After check in, travellers should join the ‘Time slots’ queue where a member of staff will scan their QR code and direct them to the right lane.
Time slots are open for 15 minutes, and travellers are advised to wait at Plaza area if they arrive early as it may not yet be active. Those that are late, however, may have to use the regular route for security.
Note that customers can book one time slot for a group, such as a family booking, so that they can go through the security check together.
Schiphol says that this will allow the airport to “avoid a situation in which travellers arrive at the airport too early, causing unnecessarily long queues”. Nonetheless, travellers are advised to factor in enough time for check in and bag drop.
The service has undoubtedly been launched in response to the widespread disruption at the airport over the past year, with long queues and delays owing to staff shortages at security. Passenger caps have, therefore, been introduced and extended as a result.
Most recently we reported that the airport planned to limit annual flight movements to 460,000 through until September 2024, in a bid to cut air and noise pollution.
The plans were met by legal action from KLM, Delta and easyJet, and the Noord Holland District Court has now ruled that the process carried out by the government to cap flight numbers was against European rules.
The ruling comes a day after the airport published new proposals to limit night flights at the airport, as well as banning private jets and “the noisiest aircraft”.
Amsterdam Schiphol wants to ban late night flying and private jets
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