What to do once at the airport

[Linnet]

My dd and her friend are flying to Amsterdam on Monday. They have already checked in online and have printed out their boarding passes.

The last time I flew you still checked in at the airport so we're a bit unsure of how it works now.

Do they just go straight to security when I drop them off or do they have to wait until "check in" opens? They fly at 1pm and I'll be dropping them off around 10am. Will there be information on the boards that early or will they have to wait around until it appears before going to security?

As I say it's been a while so I'm not sure what to advise her.

They will need to go to the bag drop desks to get rid of their suitcases and will,need their boarding passes and passports. They can then go to security

We done this a few weeks ago-you get there and go to the check in desks so they check your passports and take the suitcases, then you go through and get your hand luggage checked, you then go through to the duty free shops etc and wait for the board to show the flight, normally about an hour before you fly and then go to the correct departure lounge and wait :-)

And the boards should give the info on which desks to take the bags to and the status of the flight

You go to Departures then you're kind of guided through. First I think they ask you about liquids then bags and you go through machines etc. Then check boards for gate numbers.

Will they have any cabin bags, or just hand luggage? If cabin bags, they'll need to go to their airline's "bag drop" first. If hand luggage only, they can go to security and wait "airside" for their gate to open.

I always tend to go to security as soon as I arrive as you never know how long the queue will be! They can get food & drink, plus have a wander around the shops whilst waiting.

Forgot to say, the boards will say "gate info available at X time" and then once the specific gate is known, it will change to "go to gate X"

Sorry forgot to say they will just have hand luggage. So they won't need to drop off suitcases.

So they'll be ok to just go straight to security?

Yes - they will just go thru security if they only have hand luggage. 3hrs prior to flight with hand luggage only is a long wait, unless they want a lot of shopping time. Drop off 2hrs prior to flight will get plenty of time (I just hate waiting around at airports!)

Once they get thru security the boards will tell them what gate to go to, usually about an hour before fly time. They just need to keep an eye on the board for their gate.

Before the gate no is displayed it will state what time the gate number will be displayed.

Thanks everyone.

We live about an hour from the airport, traffic being ok we'll be there about 10am. I don't want to leave too much later Just in case the road is especially busy or there are traffic jams. I'm sure all will be fine but I'd rather they got there early than having us panicking about missing the flight if we are delayed.

There are shops and cafes when you first go into the airport so they can always grab a coffee and mooch about the shops for a while before going through security to waste a bit of time. Are there usually shops once you go through security as well?

There are masses of shops after the security check. There's the duty free, probably Boots, WHSmith, Claire's accessories, Costa Coffee, Sports ( designer ) wear.... you get the idea!!!

This is good for the return journey

m.youtube.com/watch?v=e9yEKek-TKU

Thank you all again, I'm feeling much happier about it all now. I know that they'll be fine but I'm a worrier.

I fly every couple of weeks into Schipol and out again. It's a great airport. Flying with handluggage only and already checked in you go into airport and can go straight to boarding card check and security. Do the whole liquids and x ray stuff and then sit around in lounge waiting for your gate to be called. At Schipol you then go through passport control (at Cardiff sometimes they check passports sometimes not). Then you go in lounge/ shops/cafes etc and wait for your gate to be called. Then to gate, show boarding card and passports again and then into plane. At Schipol you usually get put on a bus that takes you to the plane.

I would pre warn them to get to find their gate at Schipol on the way home as soon as it's on the board. I grossly underestimated the mahoosive walk to mine and fannied around for ages wanting to avoid the huge boarding queue.. and nearly missed my flight home

Omg how did I miss all that at schipol last year? Will be going again next year will have to make extra time to find it all!
I altready found it amazing as when you get off the train you are in a shopping centre before you go anywhere near check in.

Yes to all of the above. Definitely tell them to go straight through security as there's plenty to mooch around on the other side but also, in my opinion, much safer (sadly) hanging round airside where people have been through security than in a massive clump of people in the bag check area. When we flew from Gatwick recently there were loads of armed police and sniffer dogs milling round the bag check area where people had cases, unchecked bags etc for exactly this reason. Also agree go straight to gate once it's indicated as it can be a way away, e.g. at Schipol, Charles de Gaulle, Heathrow T5 etc.

Sorry that wasn't to worry you, just good practise I think.