(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
Flight MH17
MH17
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.
Flight MH17
MH17
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.