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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
After taking into consideration the cost of transport to and from Heathrow or Gatwick, plus a possible overnight stay near the airport and long-term car parking, the Amsterdam option can even work out less expensive.
Amsterdam airport consists of a single huge terminal. Several long piers radiate out from the central shopping area.
For small planes which cannot draw up to a gate, such as the connecting flights from British regional airports, a bus takes you between the plane and the terminal building. This system works very well and is not a problem at all. Flight times fully allow for the bus transfer.
There is some seating on the main level of the terminal, especially near the casino between "E" and "F" piers. There is also a large amount of seating available on the terminal's upper floor, together with a variety of restaurants including a self-service cafeteria and a McDonald's, but these facilities could be better signposted. The upper floor is in two sections; the section above the central section of shops has the seating, the section above the casino area has the cafeteria and the McDonald's.
Schiphol has introduced a number of very intelligent innovations which other airports would do well to copy. There are separate holding areas at each gate, with an adequate amount of seating (this concept is not unique to Schiphol, but it is sadly not yet universal at all airports). The gates for large planes at Schiphol have jetways which divide and connect to two aircraft doors, instead of the usual one, allowing planes to be boarded and exited more quickly. Also, passengers are issued with reusable colour coded cards which indicate which range of seat row numbers they are in, thus avoiding the usual rush when planes are boarded since it is immediately obvious who should be in the queue to board at each stage and who should not.
English is spoken almost universally in the Netherlands and certainly by all workers at Schiphol and on KLM/NorthWest planes who have contact with passengers.
Most of the year the Netherlands is one hour ahead of UK time. In the past the two countries were on the same time for a week or two each spring and autumn due to the change from summer time to winter time or vice versa occurring on different dates. However, I believe that the dates when times change has now been unified.
Prices in shops and restaurants in Schiphol are very expensive and bargains are few and far between, even for visitors from Britain with the supposedly high Pound. In the spring of 2001 all prices were quoted in Euros as well as Dutch Guilders. In the duty free shops two different prices are quoted - duty free (for passengers whose destination is outside the EU) and duty paid (a higher price, for travellers staying inside the EU, where there is no longer any duty free). I believe that payment is also accepted in US Dollars and possibly some other major currencies.
Every year that we have travelled via Schiphol there has been some building work going on and the summer of 2000 was no exception. Disruption to passengers due to building work seems to be fairly well planned and kept to the minimum. The building work at the start of "D" pier which was in full swing in the summer of 1999 has now been completed and the central shopping area between "D" and "E" piers is now being refurbished. The depressing, drab and poorly lit octagonal waiting room on "D" pier for flights to UK regional airports is no longer in use, but unfortunately it has been replaced by an even more depressing and bare rectangular room (also on "D" pier) which does not have sufficient seating.
Chicken McNugget Salad Meal (nuggets, fries and a salad but no drink) NLG 10.00 (Apr-01).
Soft drink NLG 4.95 (Apr-01).
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Most recently modified 30-Sep-03