One consequence of Europe's cascading airport woes has been airlines warning passengers to show up early at the airport to face long baggage and security delays, but Amsterdam's Schiphol, one of the hardest-hit, is now telling passengers to hold off arrival, at least until four hours before flight.
That's to limit the number of people crowding landside halls and shops as well as airside gates and corridors, crowds that have developed at Schiphol and elsewhere because of staff shortages and flight cancellations.
The staff shortages, which originally reflected a rapid return to business while staff who had left or been laid off during the height of the pandemic had not been replaced, have now also been affected by rising numbers of Covid cases among airline staff. Some airlines, including Aer Lingus, have now canceled numbers of flights they can't crew because of illness.
Schiphol authorities are now also begging passengers to limit their luggage: one bag if carrying on, please, and if you can please skip the carry-on and stuff everything in your checked bag. Other measures have affected flights; American Airlines, for instance, is selling tickets to AMS, but is not selling outbound for the month of July except as the return on an inbound from U.S.
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