Photo: Bloomberg.com
The airport said it was ready to pay the bills, which, according to experts, will amount to hundreds of millions of euros. The compensation applies to passengers who arrived at the airport on time for flights during the period April 23 to August 11, 2022, but missed their flights due to excessively long waiting times at security checkpoints.
Schiphol promised to cover a wide range of expenses, including surcharges related to rebooking flights, organizing alternative travel and living expenses. The airport management has not yet named the amount that, according to its expectations, the compensation scheme will cost. But you can guess. The number of passengers who missed their flights for three and a half months is in the thousands, and if all of them apply for compensation, one million Euros will definitely not be enough.
“Many people were really looking forward to their holidays abroad, especially after two years of COVID-19. We are very sorry that some people missed their flights due to long queues at security. They had to miss all or part of their vacation and we really sympathize with them, — Dick Benshop, CEO of Schiphol, commented on the situation.
However, the airport did not decide on its own for multimillion-dollar losses. He only acted after a popular TV program detailed the problems of tourists at the end of July. The editorial office threatened to file a lawsuit against Schiphol if he did not promise to reimburse the costs associated with the missed flights.
Passengers who want to reimburse the costs associated with the summer chaos at the airport will have to apply until September 30th.