Coronavirus: 150 Hong Kong passengers in logistics nightmare after Amsterdam airport staff shortfall, tough quarantine rules in city leave them ‘scared, helpless and clueless’
- Passengers lost their baggage in transit or had to scramble for new flights or risk losing quarantine hotel bookings, with Amsterdam route into city hit by delays
- Some of the affected blame airlines for passing the buck and strict arrival rules in Hong Kong
An estimated 150 Hong Kong passengers were forced to rebook air tickets or lost their baggage after a flight route from Amsterdam into the city faced multiple hiccups this month, with the busiest airport in the Netherlands hit by staff shortages.
With mandatory hotel quarantine measures in Hong Kong, affected travellers had to land in the city on time or risk losing their bookings, while missing baggage meant those who made it lacked essential items in confinement.
Officials from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport had announced flight cuts over the summer on Thursday, citing too few security workers to screen passengers as demand skyrocketed amid eased pandemic restrictions worldwide.
The airport said in a statement that on average from July 7 until the end of the month, the daily passenger capacity that security staff could handle was already exceeded by 13,500 slots.
Apart from Schiphol, airports throughout Europe are also struggling to cope with staff shortages and pent-up demand after two pandemic years.
The cancellations at the Netherlands air hub at the height of the holiday season mean thousands of travellers are likely to be affected each day, but it is still unclear how many flights are disrupted.
Hong Kong residents such as Leon Lau found himself stranded in Schiphol for seven hours after his British Airways BA430 flight on June 9 was delayed by two hours, causing him to miss his Cathay Pacific connecting flight CX270 back to the city.