I was so surprised going through security in Schiphol Airport recently. I swear there were 3000 people in line, but they have like 30 security checkpoints, and everyone goes in the same line (maybe one per terminal?), so we were through in 15 minutes.

It was amazing. I also never realized how much I appreciate everything in that airport being connected by corridors until I had to navigate CDG and it’s stupid trains and buses.

My brother just went through Schiphol two weeks ago. Scheduled his connecting flight with a five hour layover just to be sure. Took him 5 hours and 20 minutes to make it through security.

Right now there is a crisis due to covid being "over" but allot of staff left/got fired and cant be re-hired as fast.

Schiphol is insane. I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago. Figured I’d go 5 hrs early just in case. Even without check bags I still missed my flight. I went 7 hrs early the next day and just made it due to departure delays. From what I heard they’re not letting people in until 5 hrs before their departure as the airport became too crowded.

I arrived in Heathrow yesterday 2.5 hours before my flight to a huge queue stretching outside the terminals into the parking lots. Mortifying to see. To my surprise I was past security in about an hour.

I was in that self same queue and also made it through surprisingly quick, only for my flight to Frankfurt being cancelled. Back at LHR now for round two.

Lucky you didn't go from Luton - there you'd have a bad airport time AND your flight cancelled (followed by more bad airport time).

Yeah, I understand that we got there at the exact right time. Arrived in the middle of Dutch holidays, left right after.

To be fair, those ridiculous delays had little to do with the layout of the airport, and everything with how it’s managed.

I'm sorry it is a national shame.

The security staff was seriously underpaid and they got fed up with it. During COVID a lot of them switched to better paying careers. It will take months for new staff to be hired and trained unfortunately.

Did he make the flight?

No, he missed it. He was trying to get to Porto, he ended up catching another flight the next day to Lisbon, and took a train from there to Porto.

Imagine having "spare" 50€.

Unless you're absolutely rich, you probably shouldn't default to using a cab in a city known for it's amazing public transport.

If you're doing business travel you can probably justify 50€ fairly easily.

$50 after walking off a $1200 flight, $60 upgrade to board early, and $12 in cocktails is not a substantial amount. Plus lunch/dinner on the way to/at the airport for $40. And you're gonna pay $8-12 to get downtown via public transit, then make a transfer to a bus and walk two blocks to your hotel. Fifty bucks for a taxi is a lot, but a rounding error on a transatlantic flight/trip, and will drop you off in front of the hotel, might even carry your bags into the lobby for you, or at least load them onto a luggage cart.

Your reasoning makes absolutely no sense. Either you have the budget for luxury, or you don't.

If you have the budget to eat at the airport, drink cocktails and pay for early boarding, then you're most likely loaded.

If you're not rich, but still pay for convenience services like that, I'd say you have irrational spending behavior.

You think you are rich if you have a spare 50$ ?

wow

Then I must be mega-rich.

by 'spare' I think he/she meant something like "ah, whatever, I don't care"

'not spare' would be: "50€ ? I could buy xy for that!"

1) Why though? FEX is really nice, fast and have only couple of stops, it reaches to central station around 30min.

Yup, 50 € sounds like a lot of money for a few minutes saved (not to mention that it depends on the traffic situation if you will actually save some time). Of course, depending on where your hotel is and how many bags you have, a taxi may still be the better option...

After arriving in a new city is it very mentally relaxing not having to understand ticketing pricing, zones, best way to navigate, understanding the differences between different types of trains/trams/buses.

Especially since airport <-> city is almost always a separate system as well than intra-city transport.

No idea what the issue with taking a train is. As a local, I'm certainly not taking a cab every time I use the airport.

What’s the big deal with the train? I always prefer it as it’s faster than taxi.