akarisch

Review of BAA London Stansted

Worst airport I ve ever been to. For one, it s lik...

Worst airport I ve ever been to. For one, it s like you re in a shopping mall from the time you go through security. They make you walk among the shops and it s often intentionally unclear where to go for the gates. Definitely trying to manipulate you into stopping to shop for a while.

After you escape the shopping labyrinth, you enter a cavernous space that can best be described as a corral for waiting passengers. There are no gates just a ton of airport benches/chairs surrounded by more shopping, with some food mixed in.

There are some screens with flight numbers and times, but beware, they only post your gate about 45 minutes before your flight time! So basically you just wait around in a huge herd of other people, not knowing where your gate is.

I had 2 hours before my flight, so I made the mistake of taking the train from the corral to any random set of gates, just to escape and wait in peace and quiet. I figured I could just ride the train back when it was close to my flight, learn about my gate, and be on my way. Not so! It s a one-way train! When I started thinking about finding my gate, I asked someone, and they said, you can t get back there you ll have to call the operator on the courtesy phone and wait for someone to come escort you. Keep in mind, I still don t know my gate number at this point.

So I call, and I wait for an escort. Meanwhile, there are several other passengers, who don t speak English (they never stood a chance in this airport least intuitive place in the world), who also can t find their gates, and also can t get back to the corral! So it s not just me this is obviously a common issue.

A guy came to pick us up, and drove us in a van, to another spot where we could access our gates. Once back inside the building, we were essentially going the opposite direction you re supposed to, so there weren t signs directing us, and we had to go through several restricted area / authorized personnel only areas, not to mention ask several employees about where to go.

I made it to my flight in plenty of time, but only because I was several hours early, I called the help desk to get my flight number, and then had to be personally driven to a spot where I could go through a maze of emergency exit stairwells and other adventures to my gate. Comically poor design. Probably extremely low-cost operationally, but terrible for passengers.

If you don t mind waiting among a cacophonous throng of other passengers and having only one shot at finding your gate in a poorly-labeled labyrinth, then you probably won t mind this airport. Oh, also it s a real hassle to get there from London, and there s no plugs or places to fill up my water bottle. At least it s been an adventure! I think in the future I might ride the train to the wrong gate again just to spite them and raise their operations costs after all, they ll still chauffeur me to the right terminal!

The employees were nice enough, but no sense of urgency for passengers who were about to miss their flights. It s worth spending a little more on your flight and going from Heathrow you ll make it up in convenience (tube) and normalcy of airport operations.