I went to Europe this summer and so did my suitcase. Is air travel getting back to normal?

I have spent a lot of time this summer writing about struggles in the airline industry. From pilot shortages in the U.S. to staffing issues of other kinds abroad, this summer has been one headache after another for many if not most air travelers.

I'm not immune to the issues myself, either. In August, I had a flight that got canceled and tweeted my way through a train journey from New York to South Carolina when the booking options my airline provided weren't feasible, and I realized working from the train was probably the best option.

This week, I had the chance to visit one of the epicenters of Europe's rolling aviation meltdown when I previewed KLM's new Premium Comfort class. That trip took me to Amsterdam and back, which this summer was a byword for long lines and lost luggage.

And I'm here, finally, with some good news: Things may actually be getting better.

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All told, my journey – even the checked bag part – went pretty smoothly. Things in Europe may not be perfect, but now that the summer travel peak has passed, airports and airlines seem to be catching their breath and more effectively continuing the work of getting things back to normal.

What's behind the problems?

There's no single cause of the issues in aviation this summer, but the COVID-19 pandemic is certainly a major factor. In the U.S., airlines got smaller earlier in the pandemic as demand for travel plummeted. Many senior pilots and other staff took voluntary buyouts or early retirements, and the airlines here are struggling to staff up again as passenger numbers have surged. Staffing issues at air traffic control centers have contributed to problems for the airlines as well.

In Europe, experts say the big bottleneck is more related to ground staff. Now, airport operators are struggling to hire new employees and get them cleared to work past security as demand to visit the continent snaps back to pre-pandemic levels (fueled in part, no doubt, by a favorable exchange rate for U.S. dollars).

Long lines? Yes. Lost bags? No.

I'd personally written other people's horror stories about losing their bags and getting stuck in hours-long lines at customs, so I wasn't expecting my trip to Amsterdam to be smooth sailing. With that in mind, I packed everything I needed in a carry-on, but checked an empty suitcase just to see what happened.

Checking in at JFK, the ticket agent seemed wary about my prospects but amused at how light my suitcase was.

For a summer Sunday evening, Terminal 4 didn't seem overly crowded, and I got through security pretty quickly with TSA PreCheck. The only line I wasn't truly expecting was the one to get into the Delta Sky Club, but I'd read enough reporting about that trend that I really shouldn't have been surprised.

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After a few hours, I boarded my flight and slept my way to Europe.

In the morning, I was greeted by a line for passport control. The customs agents and baggage belts were one level down from the gate, and the holding pen there was so full the airport staff had to keep turning off the escalator.

Not a good sign, I thought, as I waited to get to the real line.

Once downstairs, the crowd moved pretty steadily toward the border agents – though of course, I picked the slower of the two open lanes when the split came up. Typical, right?

After watching the very thorough guard question a bunch of people ahead of me, I made it through his scrutiny pretty quickly. On the plus side, I'd waited so long at customs that my bag was already on the carousel when I got there. I was pleasantly surprised to see it at all.

From the time I landed in Amsterdam to the time I got to my hotel was probably about two hours. Not bad!

The journey home

I knew a big part of Amsterdam's issues this summer related to screening departing passengers. Things had gotten so bad, in fact, that the airport is still limiting the number of passengers who can depart every day, and KLM capped ticket sales for itineraries that originate at its hub at Schiphol. Heathrow Airport in London implemented similar measures as well.

With that in mind, I figured the trip back would be a little rough, and certainly the signs were there. Stanchions and temporary shelters still line the sidewalk along the departures curb, where earlier this summer passengers reported waiting up to six hours to check in and get through security.

Our shuttle driver said he's seen traffic back up onto the highway many times in the past few months, but we didn't have to fight too many other cars to get to the drop-off point.

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Once inside, there was no line to check in, and only a very short line to get through security, which tends to be a little more efficient in Europe, anyway. Flying KLM's Premium Comfort, I did have priority security access, but even the standard line was not so long.

There was a bit of a wait to get through exit customs, but it took less than 90 minutes from the time our group left Amsterdam to get to the gate area in the airport.

After another smooth flight, I got to JFK and breezed through customs with Global Entry.

Then I saw an ominous-looking pile of bags next to the carousel, but they apparently had been unclaimed from a previous flight. After about 20 minutes, my suitcase slid into place and I headed home. The longest wait of the day may have been the one for the bus back to my neighborhood.

What does the rest of the year look like for airline passengers?

This summer was a low point for airline reliability and customer experience, but now that the seasonal rush is over, things are getting back to normal. Between now and the winter, airlines and airport authorities are going to keep working on building out their rosters, and most experts think the holiday travel season should be smoother than this summer was. By summer 2023, things may even be back to some kind of normal.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amsterdam Schiphol Airport wasn't such a mess this week after all