Schiphol Queues Returning to Normal After Security Changes Led to Hundreds of Missed Flights
Wait times at Schiphol have dropped to around 20 minutes on Tuesday, a day after a much-delayed security reorganisation led to hours-long queues and hundreds of missed flights.
Schiphol Airport said on Tuesday morning that its security checkpoints were running smoothly again, with wait times of around 20 minutes, after a chaotic Monday in which hundreds of travellers missed their flights when a much-delayed reorganisation of the airport’s private security operation led to hours-long queues. The airport is still advising travellers to arrive well in advance and has put extra staff on standby.
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What happened on Monday
Monday, 18 May, was the day Schiphol formally moved from five private security firms to three, after a tender that had been years in the making. The change affected nearly 5,000 security guards. Many of them switched employer overnight to one of three new joint ventures with I-SEC, Securitas and Trigion, in which Schiphol itself holds a 25 percent stake.
That switch did not go smoothly. By Monday morning, queues at the hand-baggage check stretched far behind the check-in desks, especially at Departure Hall 2. Travellers told De Telegraaf they had to wait more than an hour, and some on social media reported waits of two to three hours. Hundreds of passengers missed their flights, with NH Nieuws describing queues at the hand-baggage check stretching all the way back to the check-in desks. Pushing, shouting at staff and visible stress were widely reported
Why it went wrong
Schiphol blamed two factors: an unexpected shortage of security staff on the floor, and IT problems early in the day that continued to affect operations into the evening. “We had a difficult start of the new security organisation due to a combination of circumstances, particularly unexpected under-staffing of security guards and ICT problems in the morning that had an effect throughout the day,” a Schiphol spokesperson said.
According to FNV trade union official Serda Karabulut, the under-staffing was partly self-inflicted. Many security guards had to apply for a new Schiphol pass on Monday morning because of the change of employer, which prevented them from getting to their posts on time. On top of that, large numbers of staff called in sick, citing the impact of the move on their working lives, including disrupted rosters and a switch from monthly to four-weekly pay at some of the new operators.
To cope, Schiphol deployed extra office staff to help out, and started handing out water to passengers waiting in line. By 7 pm Monday, the situation had eased: wait times for security had dropped to between 30 and 35 minutes.
Tuesday morning: a calmer picture
On Tuesday morning, the airport reported “good throughput at security,” with a maximum wait time of about 20 minutes. On its own website, Schiphol said that travellers “may have to wait briefly at security and passport control, but no long queues are expected.”
The airport says it has a “good picture” of how many security staff are on the floor on Tuesday, and has placed extra security personnel on standby in case the situation deteriorates again. Even so, Schiphol cannot fully rule out further problems during the day. “Based on what we experienced this morning, we don’t yet dare to say what the picture will definitively look like on Tuesday,” a spokesperson said.
Schiphol is again advising travellers to arrive well in advance, two hours before flights within Europe and three hours before intercontinental flights, and to check its website and their airline’s app for live wait times before leaving home.
A bumpy start to a 10-year plan
The new structure was meant to make security more stable, not less. By cutting the number of contractors from five to three and taking a 25 percent stake in each of the new operators, Schiphol aimed to reduce the kind of chaos seen during the summer of 2022, when staff shortages led to flights being cancelled and bags piled up. The contracts run for ten years and are worth a total of about €4.7 billion.
For now, however, the practical impact on travellers has been mixed. Tuesday looks more like a normal day at the airport, but as FNV’s Karabulut put it, “this won’t be solved in one go.”