Six things.

Six things.

[1] The Stansted Express train is ridiculously expensive.



[3] Signage is substandard in this airport. There's only one large departures display and the smaller ones are few and far between. When I finally got to the right part of the airport, my departure gate (6) was not clearly signed: I had to ask several times which direction to walk in and almost missed my flight in the process. On my return I found no clear sign for the (train) station and, once again, had to ask. Nor was it obvious on entering the airport's main concourse that I would have to walk several hundred metres to the left in order to find my way to departures.

[4] On returning to STN I had to zig-zag 6 times to reach the row of electronic passport readers, 3 zig-zags would've been plenty for the amount of passengers wanting to get through passport control. Hire someone to adjust the number of zig-zags: I don't visit airports for exercise purposes.

[5] Since departure gates are assigned rather late in the day (or at least they don't appear on the few displays until quite late), the general departures space is seriously underdimensioned. I'm over 70 and do appreciate a place to sit while I wait, preferably in a place where I can see a legible departures display.

[6] Having to meander through perfume, tobacco, jewelry and designer clothes outlets in order to get to a departure gate is a silly waste of a passenger's time and an insult to his/her intelligence. But that critique can unfortunately be levelled at most airports these days.