Baggage rules feel complicated because they come from two directions at once: your airline decides how much you may bring, and security decides what may be inside. Untangle those two and the rest of the baggage journey at Schiphol is straightforward.
How many bags, how heavy and how large: that is written in your ticket conditions, not in any airport rule. Budget fares often include only a small item under the seat, with cabin trolleys and checked cases as paid extras. Check your booking, weigh your bags at home, and remember that the limits are enforced at the airport, where excess baggage is at its most expensive. Buying extra allowance online in advance is nearly always cheaper than paying at the desk.
Valuables, medication, documents, electronics with lithium batteries and anything you cannot afford to lose belong in hand baggage. Sharp items, tools and liquids over 100 millilitres belong in checked baggage; the full list of what may not pass the checkpoint is in our security guide. Power banks are a special case: they must travel in the cabin, never in the hold. Pack so that your hand baggage alone would get you through the first day of your trip; checked bags occasionally take a later flight than you do.
After online check-in, most airlines at Schiphol use self service bag drop: print the label at a kiosk or at home, attach it, place the bag on the belt, scan your boarding pass, done. Staffed desks remain for special cases: overweight items, sports equipment, animals, and travellers who prefer a person to a machine. Oversized baggage such as bicycles, surfboards and instruments goes to a separate counter; register special baggage with your airline before travel day, because approval and payment in advance is often required. Which hall your airline uses is covered in the departure halls guide.
After landing, screens above the belts tell you which belt serves your flight. Trolleys stand near the belts and are free to use in the reclaim hall. Large and fragile items appear at the oversized baggage point rather than on the belt. Once you have everything, you pass customs and walk into the arrivals hall, where your welcome party has been watching the arrivals board.
If the belt stops and your bag has not come, go to your airline’s baggage service desk in the reclaim hall before you pass customs. You file a report with your baggage receipt, and delivery to your address is arranged when the bag surfaces. Damaged bags follow the same route: report on the spot, because claims made later are much harder. Rules on compensation come from your airline and from international conventions; the desk gives you the paperwork that starts the process.
Baggage wrapping services operate in the departure area. Wrapping deters casual tampering, but remember that security can still open any bag, wrapped or not.
Schiphol has a baggage storage facility for day visitors and travellers between trips. Conditions and prices are set by the operator; check before relying on it for a long period.
Pay the excess fee, move items into hand baggage or a companion’s bag, or leave items behind. Weighing at home and buying allowance online avoids all three.
This website is an independent information site about Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and is not affiliated with the airport or any airline. Allowances and fees are set by your airline; check your booking conditions.