V-Flyer

17th - 18th August 2009.
Work requires an overnight trip to our office in Rotterdam to replace an aging firewall server ; sadly KLM have stopped their flights direct to Rotterdam from LHR so I get to fly from T5 to Schipol (both firsts for me) and then take the train.

BA0428 is scheduled to leave @ 0705, so I turn up at the airport around 0545. Its difficult not to be impressed by T5 the first time that you walk into the big departures hall ; especially if its early & empty. Its a very big space ! However theres no time to appreciate it since the flight appears to be Boarding if the departures board is to be believed.

Hand luggage only & already printed my boarding pass, so straight to the North security which has two lines open & its going very slowly - holdup appears to be the baggage going thru the machine ; perhaps they are training or something since there are a lot of staff watching the monitors & pointing things out. Or maybe they have worked out how to get free porn, its difficult to tell. Still 20 mins later Im thru & stopping only to put my shoes & belt back on I find my way to the gate where theres no sign of anything going on. Time for coffee then!

About 0630 things start to happen & its clear that we are getting the mystery bus tour to the remote stand. Odd - I thought that one of the reasons for T5 was to avoid this sort of thing, but it doesnt worry me & I hang back a bit to let the first wave of people cram themselves on the first bus then take a seat on the second one in comfort. Long bus trip around the back of the airport & thru the underpass then off & up the stairs ; flight is about 85% full with some middle seats free.

Amazingly we leave pretty much on time & the captain comes on the PA to apologize for having to use the bus, this is attributed to some of the gates at T5 not being finished yet. About a 10 min queue & then we are up & away for the 45 min trip over to AMS.

Breakfast is served - choice of full English or continental for the three or four people in Club, a Ham or Cheese brioche for the rest of us ; I pass since I still have my espresso high & spend the flight looking out of the (greasy from someone elses hair) window.

We arrive on time & land pretty much straight away - might just be 'cos I was sitting right over the wheels but it felt like a hard landing & I was expecting a bit of a bounce but none came so perhaps it was the coffee. We get to taxi over the motorway at Schipol which was entertaining - must not wave.. must not wave.. Then off fairly quickly, 5 mins for passports & time to find where the trains are - oh - just over there - thats handy ! Lots of ticket machines with long queues; strangely they dont take cash for tickets & this seems to be whats causing the delay. Eventually I get a ticket & catch the Intercity to Rotterdam which is on time.

One long day later, the new firewall appears to be working so I get to go home. Frustratingly the ticket machines at Rotterdam station don't take cash or credit cards (only debit cards) it appears, so I have to wait for 20 mins in the ticket hall. Grrr.

Still - get to Schipol around 13:00 & wander around a bit ; feels more like a shopping mall than an airport to me - quite pleasant, although its a long walk to the gate for the return flight & I have to stop for a refreshing (and expensive - 5.10) pint of Murphy's stout along the way.

Plane gets in at 14:15 & is quickly turned around for us to board & leave on time @ 14:55. Again its about 85% full, but at least the window is clean this time. Only offered a cookie or some nibbles but it hardly matters since we arrive back at LHR 5 mins early & get to wait for the gate to become free. It quickly does so & we get to deplane thru a proper walkway this time; quite a long walk along one side of the terminal building, then round a corner & halfway up the next side to the passport control room, which is busy & theres a worryingly large queue for the EU passport people - but wait - Iris is open & its working ! and theres no queue! outstanding ! 10 seconds of the 'Iris Lean' & Im out.. must not wave at all the people queued for 'priority'.. tee hee.

Final thoughts:
T5 is impressive but as other people have noted its not obvious where things are the first time you use it - better signage would help - I wouldnt want to be in a hurry & have to navigate the place quickly, particularly if security is still on a go-slow. Having said that its clean & bright & I hope that BAA work on getting the other terminals up to the same level rather than letting T5 slip down to the shabby mess that is T3.

Schipol works very well it appears, particularly if you want to transfer to the trains ; only fault I could find were the ticket machines not taking cash although the ones at the airport did take Credit cards (and charged you extra - Grr).

Both the short haul BA flights I took were on time & pretty busy - good work by the crew on both legs, greeted by name on the way in etc. Good stuff.

No obvious sign of the global slowdown that the media keep talking about - perhaps things are not all that bad after all.

Thanks for the TR!

It does seem that the North security does let the place down with the time it takes to get thru security even fast track takes as long.[n]


However as I've only done an early flight, I would be interested to see how long it takes if you had a later flight (10am onwards).[:?]

Shame you're not nearer to LCY (I'm 20-25 mins on public transport), as you can still get a direct Rotterdam flight from there.

Unfortunately, when talking 'London', many airlines don't realise that it can take as long to get from London City to London Heathrow by road as it can from Schiphol to Rotterdam, or Frankfurt to Mannheim, for instance, because London is so congested and has a poor express road network.

(For instance, when LH cancelled their weekend ops out of LCY, they 'helpfully' reprotected me out of LHR. They may as well have reprotected me out of Birmingham!)

I hate it when I sit down and find a greasy window, whether it's on a plane, train, or bus. It's vile. Especially from all that gunk and crap people are wont to put in their hair these days. I have no hair, so it's probably some latent jealousy...

There is usually *one* (yes *one*) machine which will take cash at Dutch train stations. Finding it and finding it working is often the tricky bit! As you found, many only take Maestro, and not credit (or VISA debit). If you buy from a ticket window, you're also levied surcharge for being served by a human - and we thought our train system was nickel and diming us! All sounds a bit O'Leary to me!

As you say, it's a funny recession/downturn, this one.

Mike

quote:Originally posted by DarkAuror

It does seem that the North security does let the place down with the time it takes to get thru security even fast track takes as long.[y]




Our worst at South fast track has been 50 minutes[:0]

Thanks for your TR

cheers

alex

Very nice read, I like your theory about the slow luggage scans. Maybe they've got Bejewelled on it?

I was surprised that I couldn't use by Visa Credit or Debit card on Dutch Railways when I was there last year. But you live and learn.

Which is North and which is South[:I], left or right is easier. We used the Right hand (South I think) security lane (near concorde room entrance) on Sunday and breezed through it with no queues. The left hand security lane had large queues.

Iain

quote:Originally posted by iforres1
Which is North and which is South[:I], left or right is easier. We used the Right hand (South I think) security lane (near concorde room entrance) on Sunday and breezed through it with no queues. The left hand security lane had large queues.

Iain


North is to the left of T5 and South is to the right.

Whilst we're at it, I'd like to praise and criticise te Dutch railway system. I spend a lot of time using it.

PRAISES - excellent website - reliable travel - you can know six months in advance which platform you're going to go from. Also about 1/4 of the cost per mile of UK railways

CRITICISM - yes, you hit it on the head, WHY can't it take the World's credit cards? - I don't think it even takes ALL Debit cards...

On the one hand so civilised, on the other hand so backwards...

Err-Gosh!

Sorry if I used my Dutch railway prejudices to kill this thread - it wasn't intentional!

Lovely report! Schipol is a great airport, and I love the Stroopwaffeln shop where you can buy in bulk.

My biggest bug bear regarding T5 is the sheer number of times I have been bussed to the aircraft. I am really not sure of the problem as the satellite terminal is open.

Thanks,
Sarah

Great TR and an interesting insight into the Dutch railway system!

Interesting TR on both BA and the Dutch railways.

quote:Originally posted by OxfordNick

No obvious sign of the global slowdown that the media keep talking about - perhaps things are not all that bad after all.


Like H1N1, at least in part this is an age specific recession. It seems to be very difficult for those in their early 20's, graduates included.

Paul

quote:Originally posted by PeterStansfield
Whilst we're at it, I'd like to praise and criticise te Dutch railway system. I spend a lot of time using it.

PRAISES - excellent website - reliable travel - you can know six months in advance which platform you're going to go from. Also about 1/4 of the cost per mile of UK railways

CRITICISM - yes, you hit it on the head, WHY can't it take the World's credit cards? - I don't think it even takes ALL Debit cards...

On the one hand so civilised, on the other hand so backwards...


I agree with you - I use the trains into Paddington every day when Im working in London but always drive when I need to get to the airport for a specific time since we still get days when nothing works as it should ; the Dutch system seems to work very well once you get past the ticketing minefield !