(CNN) -- Deep red roses, waxy white lilies and bright, cheery sunflowers; as single blooms and in large bouquets, they pile up close to desk 29 at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Twenty-four hours ago this was where Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH17 passengers checked in before boarding their ill-fated plane; bound for Kuala Lumpur, their journey would end far too soon, in a Ukrainian field close to the border with Russia. On Thursday, Suzan De Wit was chatting to many of those fliers. A customs officer at the airport, she helped them claim back their VAT (sales tax) before leaving the country.
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Signs of MH17 tragedy at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, where ill-fated plane took off
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Friends and complete strangers among those leaving floral tributes at terminal building
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Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH17 to Kuala Lumpur crashed near Ukraine-Russia border
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U.S. believes plane was likely shot down by surface-to-air missile
This extreme normality caused difficulties for at least one man, distressed and desperate to find out what had happened to his business partner, who he feared was on @placeholder, and who was not answering his increasingly frantic calls.
It says visiting the site where a plane came down has proved helpful to relatives in some previous cases, but the location of @placeholder's final resting place -- in the middle of a conflict zone -- makes this problematic, to say the least.