Travelers who want to fly at any cost can no longer use the VIP center. “Unfortunately, we are currently unable to accept booking requests from new guests,” said a statement Message on the airport website. Existing VIPs are still welcome.
Cost
As long queues formed at the airport this spring due to staff shortages, the VIP service quickly gained popularity. The airport handled at least 17,500 VIP passengers in 2018 and a record number of 20,000 in 2019 (until then). That record has already been broken in the first nine months of this year. As of October 1, 21,500 travelers have used the VIP service, a spokesperson told RTL Nieuws. There are so many that the airport is now stopping them.
A Schiphol spokesperson confirms that for the moment the Schiphol VIP service can only be booked by customers who have already used the service. “Due to the large amount of requests, we can only accommodate VIP service for our regular guests.”
Safety aside
The VIP service crowd is financially attractive to Schiphol. A VIP package costs more than 600 euros for the first passenger, the rest of the travel group can enter for 278 euros per person.
For this amount, VIP travelers are received in a special VIP center in departure lounge 3, with luxurious lounges and fine catering. Due to their own security checkpoints and even military police who show up in the waiting room to check passports, VIP passengers avoid long lines. When it is time to leave, they are transported by car to the stairs of the plane.
Former professional footballer Ryan Babel caught the special treatment on his Youtube channel:
Schiphol’s VIP service was one of the last options to avoid queues at the airport, after the Privium priority service was temporarily closed to new customers in the spring. The current 63,000 Privium members have priority in regular security checks and are welcome in special lounges behind customs. But in the summer they also had to queue on extremely busy days to enter the terminal buildings.
VIPs cost capacity
According to FNV, it is good that the VIP service is temporarily closed to new travelers to avoid this service requiring even more staff capacity than is already the case. “You always need a minimum of four security guards on the VIP service,” says FNV campaign manager Joost van Doesburg.
“More VIP travelers would do well at Schiphol Group’s entrances. But the queues for normal passengers and the workload of security guards working at a normal security point would increase, because then the security guards would probably have to be removed from there. to go to the VIP center. ” to go.”
According to Van Doesburg, there is hardly any abandonment among the security guards who have to check out the VIPs. “Allowing people to do their jobs normally with a clear number of passengers per shift is therefore the key to a reliable security system. Travelers benefit from this.”
Ministers
Most of the regular guests who are still welcome in the Schiphol VIP Center are cabinet members. If they use a regular scheduled flight for a business trip, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, it is standard procedure for ministers to use the VIP center “for safety reasons and for an efficient division of time”. This applies not only to ministers, but also to their closest employees.
Overviews of the statements show that ministers and secretaries of state have declared at least 71 stays in the VIP center since the summer of 2021.
FNV member Van Doesburg invites ministers to swap VIP service with regular terminals. “It would be good if even VIP travelers, including cabinet members, queued for four hours once. This gives them time to think about the reason for the long lines and in particular the too high workload and low wages of people who work at Schiphol. “
