AMS
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Schiphol is one big terminal building under one roof, with long arms called piers (lettered B, C, D, E, F, G and H, plus a few M gates used by some flights) where the gates are. It is fairly easy to follow because the signs are yellow and there is a free app, but it is hard on tired legs: the walks are long, and the airport is split into a Schengen side and a non-Schengen side, so some connections need passport control.
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Your bags go through. You only change planes.
When you leave the plane, you can usually ignore the yellow sign that says 'Baggage Hall'. Schiphol describes that sign as the way to baggage reclaim for arriving passengers. On one booking, the airline normally moves your suitcase to the next plane for you. Exceptions (KLM): if you change planes in the United States or China, you probably have to collect your bag and check it in again. You also have to do this if your next flight is on a separate ticket with an airline that is not in the SkyTeam alliance. If your whole trip is on one booking, ask at your first check-in whether your bag is tagged 'all the way through'.
Look for the big flight information screens. Find your next flight number and read the gate number. Then follow the yellow signs that show that gate number. The free Schiphol app shows the same gate, the walking time and a map. If the gate changes, the app shows the new number in a red square. KLM closes its gates 15 minutes before departure. Other airlines may close earlier, so check your boarding pass and do not wait.
If both flights come from or go to countries outside the Schengen area, and you stay in the transit area, you usually skip passport control. If one flight is a Schengen flight and the other is not, you must pass Dutch passport control (Marechaussee desks or, if you are allowed to use them, automatic eGates). Follow the signs to passport control; staff will point you the right way. If you do not hold an EU passport, you may be photographed and fingerprinted the first time (see the passport note).
Some arrivals must go through a security check again, and some do not. It depends on where your first flight came from and where your next flight goes. Do not count on skipping it. If a sign or a member of airport staff in uniform sends you to a security lane, follow them.
If you do not have a boarding pass for your next flight, follow the signs to your airline's transfer desk. Staff there print boarding passes, change flights, and help if you miss your connection. Schiphol lists different desk areas for SkyTeam airlines and other airlines; ask any staff member which one is yours.
Do not leave the secure area to look for it. Sit down near a flight screen after passport control or security, and check the screen and the Schiphol app now and then. Gates are often shown only some time before departure. If you are worried, ask airport or airline staff in uniform, or go to your airline's transfer desk and show your boarding pass.
Tell the flight crew before you land, or any airport or airline staff member once you are inside, that you need a wheelchair or an escort to the next gate. If you asked your airline for assistance at least 48 hours before, a helper should be waiting. If you did not, you may wait longer. Do not leave the secure area to find a check-in desk: if you leave the airport side and come back in, you will need to pass passport control and security again. Do this early, not when you are already late.
You collect your bags and check in again. Allow much more time.
With two separate tickets, the airline does not move your bag and does not protect you if the first flight is late. If your first flight comes from outside the Schengen area, you will pass passport control into the Netherlands. If it comes from a Schengen country, you will not. Either way you collect your bag and check in again. Check the rules for your passport first. Some nationalities need a visa even just to change planes, and passing through border control to reach a Schengen flight may need a Schengen visa. The Dutch border police page does not list nationalities, so check the Dutch government visa page for your passport.
If your first flight comes from outside the Schengen area, follow the signs for passport control (arrivals). If it comes from a Schengen country, there is no passport control on arrival; go on to collect your bag. If you do not hold an EU passport, you may be registered with a photo and fingerprints at a kiosk or desk, then your passport is checked. Since April 2026, people with non-EU passports have waited 1 to 2 hours at Schiphol passport control in busy periods (reports from July and August 2026), and some warnings were for even longer. Waits may be shorter at quiet times, but plan for the long case. Schiphol has added 161 self-service kiosks, more desks and more border staff.
After passport control (or straight after landing, if you came from a Schengen country), follow the yellow sign 'Baggage Hall'. Find your flight on the screen to see which belt (the app also shows the belt). Take your bag. Bags can take a long time to arrive on the belt. If a bag does not come, go to your airline's baggage desk before you leave the hall.
Follow the signs from Arrivals to Departures. The app shows your airline's check-in desk and which of the three departure halls it is in. Blue self-service machines are for KLM and SkyTeam airlines; yellow ones serve many other airlines. Staff at the desks can help if you cannot use a machine. Drop your bag at the bag drop desk.
Follow the yellow signs that show your gate number to the right security lane. Everyone is screened here. If your next flight leaves the Schengen area, you will also pass passport control. Schiphol offers free 15-minute security timeslots, which you can book up to 3 days before, and there is a lane 'Reserved for timeslots'. Ask staff if you are unsure which lane is for you.
Check your gate on a screen or in the app, then follow the yellow signs. KLM closes its gates 15 minutes before departure; other airlines may close earlier, so check your boarding pass. Remember the walk can take 20 minutes or more, so tell a staff member early if you need a wheelchair or a cart (see assistance).
KLM's official minimum connection times (40 minutes Schengen, 50 minutes non-Schengen) are for one booking only. They do not apply to separate tickets. We found no official minimum for separate tickets. Add up the waits: passport control (non-EU passports have recently waited 1 to 2 hours), collecting your bag, checking in again, and the 2 to 3 hours Schiphol advises before departure. That can come to 5 hours or more, and longer for an older traveller. If you need mobility help, KLM suggests at least 2.5 hours between connecting flights at Schiphol, even on one booking. On separate tickets you need much more. Ask your airline how early to arrive at check-in. If you can, choose a long wait or an overnight stay, or book one ticket instead.
At Schiphol, passport control depends on your route, not on the airport. Going from a non-Schengen flight to a Schengen flight, or the other way round, you must pass the Dutch border police (Marechaussee). Going between two non-Schengen flights, if you stay in the international transit zone, you skip passport control. Since 10 April 2026, travellers without an EU passport are registered in the EU Entry/Exit System (a photo and fingerprints, no more passport stamps) the first time they pass; this is valid for up to three years. Schiphol has self-service kiosks in transfer areas where you can register before you reach a desk. Follow the signs for your passport type (EU or non-EU). Non-EU travellers are sent to a registration kiosk or a border desk, and staff will tell you if you may use an automatic eGate (eGates are for people aged 14 or over with a suitable e-passport). Some nationalities need an airport transit visa even without leaving the transit zone, and some need a Schengen visa to reach a Schengen connection. This page does not say which, so check the rules for your passport on the Dutch government visa page before you book. Queues can be long in busy periods.
Everything is in one building, so there is no outside bus or train between terminals, although one secondary guide mentions a shuttle inside the building; we could not confirm this. The gates are on long piers. Departures 1 leads to Lounge 1 (European flights; gates B, C and D59-87). Departures 2 and 3 lead to Lounges 2 and 3 (gates D1-D57, E, F, G and H). A few M gates, used by some flights, are reached from Lounge 3 or 4. Follow the gate number on the screen or in the app. Moving walkways run along some main routes. Distances are long: a 2024 study quoted about 1.5 km (1,460 m) from the departure hall entrance to the farthest gate. Travel guides give about 15-25 minutes between far ends of the airport (for a healthy adult). The Schiphol app shows the walking time to your own gate; allow more if you are slow or tired. Public buggies you can hop on yourself were not confirmed. Help with distance comes through assistance: staff from the assistance company take you by wheelchair or cart. Ask for it early if walking is hard. Since September 2024 Schiphol has also tested free self-driving wheelchairs (WHILL) for departing passengers in the non-Schengen area, but we could not confirm they are still running.
Ask your airline for assistance when you book, or later in the booking page of the airline (KLM: in My Trip), or contact the airline directly. Schiphol and KLM both say to ask at least 48 hours before departure. For a connection, ask on each booking if you have separate tickets. Tell them you are travelling alone and need help to change planes. If you did not ask in time and you are starting your trip, you can still ask at your airline's check-in desk or at a call point, but you may wait longer. If you are changing planes, tell the cabin crew before you land, or ask any airport or airline staff member once you are inside; do not leave the secure area to find a check-in desk.
Schiphol has call points (screens or phones you press to talk to a helper) around the airport; Schiphol says there are 27 of them and lists their locations on its website. Staff meet you there or at the check-in desk. For connections, helpers are expected to meet you off the plane if the airline passed on your request, but we could not confirm this on an official page. If nobody has asked for help in time, tell the cabin crew before you land, or ask any airport or airline staff member once you are inside. Do not leave the secure area to find a check-in desk. If you leave the airport side and come back in, you will need to pass passport control and security again.
Assistance at Schiphol is run for the airport by a company called Axxicom Airport Caddy, and Schiphol says it plans to take the service over itself in early 2028 (news of 13 July 2026), with nothing changing in the short term. Schiphol says you can use your own wheelchair up to the aircraft door; tell your airline in advance. Free loan wheelchairs are in the public area (Schiphol Plaza and the walk from car park P1), so they do not help if you stay inside the secure area. Ask for assistance instead. KLM says its airport wheelchairs cannot be pushed by the traveller, so a staff member or a travelling companion pushes you. If you use your own walking stick or crutches, you can take them on board with KLM at no cost and with no booking. Help at the airport still needs a request, ideally 48 hours before departure. Sunflower lanyards and KLM Cares are mentioned on KLM's site for hidden needs.
Schiphol replaced its staffed information desks (closed in phases from 2019) with self-service information points that work 24 hours a day. Through these points, or by phone, WhatsApp or chat, you can reach a Schiphol staff member. For harder problems a mobile assistant comes to you in person. Ask airport or airline staff in uniform. Information zones with screens are spread through the airport. Airline transfer desks handle boarding passes, flight changes and missed connections. Schiphol says its self-service points offer 17 languages. Arabic was on the list Schiphol gave in 2021, but Persian and Turkish were not. Ask staff whether someone can help in your language, or show the Dutch phrases.
There are benches and seats along the piers and in the lounge (duty-free) areas after security, and Schiphol says the 'lounges' are places to rest, eat and shop. Dedicated quiet rest zones with reclining chairs were mentioned by older guides, but one source says they were stopped, so do not count on them. Paid showers (open 24 hours) are signposted on the way to gates E and F; check the price at the door. Toilets are shown on the Schiphol app map near your gate. Schiphol says there are plenty of water fountains and that you can refill a bottle after security, at the washroom taps. The First Aid centre, with a doctor's post, a pharmacy and treatment rooms, is open 24 hours in Departures 2: by the stairs at check-in desk 16, or through Lounge 2 if you are already past security. The pharmacy there may have shorter hours; ask at the centre. In an emergency call 112.
Show this to a member of staff if you cannot say it. In Dutch (Nederlands). English is widely spoken at Schiphol and signs are in Dutch and English. The pronunciation help below is approximate; show the written Dutch to staff if it is easier.
Ik heb hulp nodig om mijn aansluitende vlucht te vinden. (say: ick hep hulp NOH-dikh om mine AHN-sluy-ten-duh vlukht tuh VIN-den; "kh" is a rough throat sound)
I need help to find my connecting flight.
Waar is de transferbalie? (say: vahr iss duh TRANS-fer-bah-lee)
Where is the transfer desk?
Ik heb een rolstoel nodig, alstublieft. (say: ick hep un ROL-stool NOH-dikh, AHL-stuh-bleeft)
I need a wheelchair, please.
Print this page, fill in the lines by hand, and keep the card in your pocket.
I am traveling alone. I need help to find my connecting flight. Please show me the way, or call someone who can help me. Thank you.
Ik heb hulp nodig om mijn aansluitende vlucht te vinden.
You can type the details here before printing. They stay on this device only.
Partly checked against official pages.
Airports change signs, gates and rules. This guide is general help, not an official instruction. Always follow the staff and the screens, and check with your airline.
Last prepared 2 November 2026.