BAA London Stansted Review

Meet & Greet car parking is NOT A REAL meet
& Greet. Easy jet bag drop chaotic as is security. Do not use this airport unless there in no alternative.

One of the better airports in the UK in complete Contrast to many reviews, the shops and waiting areas were fine there were places to sit and wait overall we have no issues, as frequent travellers abroad it is head and shoulders above airports such as Luton or Manchester which pale into insignificance. The one complaint I would have wouldn't be directly aimed at the airport but more at Ryan Air who insist on herding you onto a plane knowing there will be a 2 hour delay rather than allowing you to remain in departures then once your on plane all the flight attendants dissappear leaving you sat like lemons. If they could be honest with the passengers and let them know they are on the clock and only get paid when the plane doors are closed rather than feeding you full of rubbish about 'just found out that??'. Oh and make sure they move the plane before the two hour wait is up so they are not entitled to offer refreshments. Very disappointed that in this situation hourly rate comes before customer comfort.

Far far away from London, my last two flights were both delayed because there was noone to load the luggage. Both delayed by 3 hours. This airport is going from bad to worse.. avoid if possible.

Far too long to get through customs. Very hard on the elderly having to stand up for so long. Very stressful if they have to open your case. The staff tell you there will be an hour wait and you may miss your flight!!!!!

Horrendous experience for the start of the holidays. Overcrowded Airport with terrible service/user experience. On the scanners one person only checking the bags! One PERSON working whilst the others wonder around moving air and doing absolutely nothing. Queues that go for miles with only one lane working. Absolute shambles. Airplane was delayed by nearly two hours for who knows what reason. Will try my absolute best to not have to comeback here.

Worse airport ever!!! Security check for liquids only allow you to use their small plastic s bag. As well, Standsted Express is a scam, you can t use ur normal express credit card or Oyster card, as there is no touch point in the airport train exit (are they purposely make it and fine you n make money out of it), They said there are sign mentioned at the stations, no Oyster or CC, but I don t see it at all. Staff working at Standsted Express the counter are worse, super unfriendly, not willing to help or explain same as the staff working at security in the airport.

It s a great airport Fair like other airport in london

Worst airport ever! Security system... make you wait very long and most of workers are rude. Gate info, info about flights... everything needs to improve. Conclusion is... avoid flying low cost cause this airport is what it serves. P.S. queues are huge and they don t know how to handle it.

I fished at London Stansted airport at noon and I was immediately surprised by the size of the airport, I mean arrival and departure halls. In addition to the cubature of buildings, there is also aircraft traffic. This size in the surface of the airport and air traffic was confirmed at the outlet, where I arrived at the airport at 4.30 and here a lot of people. However, the queues moved smoothly. Friendly service answered my questions and efficiently directed me to the zones. Despite the size of the airport, I flew home smoothly. At the airport apron in front of the plane I was around 6.30 and I was surprised that on the runway waiting in line for permission to take off 4 planes and in quick succession one by one soared efficiently into the air.

Easy to get around. Drop off charges quite high at the airport. overall great service

Absolutely horrendous. I travel extensively for work and Stansted is getting worse. 3rd world experience in arrivals. An hour and a half to get through passport and pick up luggage. So sorry for foreign visitors this is appalling.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Not big as Heathrow or Gatwick. Easily reachable from the city centre (via bus)

The airport takes the concept of 'exit through the gift shop' to the next level. You have to walk through an endless maze of stores between security and the gates. Kind of like if IKEA designed an airport.

This was my first time leaving the airport and was a wonderful experience. Everyone I met was so lovely and friendly. The gates are confusing though and info boards very small writing and I misread my gate as A1 instead of 41. I took the shuttle train to Gate 1 and told (in an empty area) A1 didn't exist. Oops! But the staff were incredible and took me on a super adventure around the restricted areas of the airport to do their very best to get me to my plane on time.
To the wonderful security man who promised he would do his best just to see me happy, thank you from the bottom of my heart You were my hero yesterday.

Airport very quiet due to covid so an unusually pleasant environment. Unfortunately the cabin baggage checking area is poorly equipped and informed regarding the spread of covid. The official staff working there are protected with gloves and masks etc but nothing is done to prevent them from spreading it between Stansted airport customers. Ie they do not sanitise between touching travellers or travellers belongings. They could very easily do this with so few travellers currently passing through.

I been to this airport few times this is what happened on my long stay with my family at the airport. First we arrived at the airport London Stansted Airport from a awfull Thomas Cook flight it wasn't the same aircraft it was all white.

after getting off board of the flight we went to the the border security. Which had terribly layed out lines and lines of people they were infront and behind you and to wherever you looked.

After me and my family got through the security we had to wait for the buses and bus station to open. For either 1 and 2 hours.

While we waited we had to sit on wheelchairs because I have problems with walking. The ground crew at the airport taken our wheelchairs away. Even when we asked why they just didn't respond.

But saying about the ground crew staff taking our chairs. It was a awful experience never flying from here again.

In the end the information desk staff helped us get our wheelchairs back.

Average airport, security does take an incredibly long time.

Not a pleasant experience. The security line is very long, the staff are rude, and then you have to walk through an entire shopping mall to get to the gates. I would not recommend, and will avoid in the future.

started airport is a amazing place and i am going there soon it looks big

Impolite airline's staff on the check-in desk during the time I was traveling...

Lights and shadows. Excellent from the point of view of indications, cleaning, logistics, connections to central London, services offered and shops. The security checks at the gates impose long waiting times and queues, and the boarding areas are sometimes very far away, and to reach them you need to walk a long way through the shops; very dispersive, from this point of view.

Having used Stansted Airport many times ,it has extremely bad queue,s coming back into the airport passport control ,the new passport scanning machines don,t work properly , it took us over 2hrs from getting off a ryanair flight to exit through passport control ,whoever is in charge doesn,t realise or care that these new scanning machines rarely work ,allow yourself extra time if your being picked up from the airport or if you have connecting travel from stansted, its unacceptable

Very well organized airport. There is also a small subway to take passengers from the plane to the structure.

Not nearly as bad as his reputation.
Arrival Wednesday 07:10 Duration Passport control exactly 1 minute, duration suitcase issue 5 minutes. 30 minutes after landing we were already on the train to London.
Departure Saturday 19:30 Due to the reviews here four hours before departure at the airport, with the result of three and a half hours dead time. Suitcase over Ryabair itself abandoned, duration 10 minutes, then through the security control, duration 15 minutes. The shopping mall I think is not bad, on the contrary, in my case, this was still a nice pastime. Toilets very numerous and clean. The only negative is that the gate is announced 50 minutes before departure and then the go-go. Nevertheless, we did it well.

Machines and personnel-related waiting times that drag into the immeasurable.
The machine that was examining the hand baggage pieces pushed so many of the gray tubs plus contents onto an extra conveyor belt that the non-fast and slow employees barely managed to master in the overcautious machine.
The employee opened my "non-confidential" suitcase, looked in and makes him close again.
Security check 1.5 hours!
Then endless walks through the Duty Freeshops ..

Not a bad airport. Staff were all friendly and helpful that I spoke to. The security was a breeze and passport control and baggage pickup was very quick and easy. Only negative is that you're forced to go through the zig zag world duty free. No idea why other reviews are so bad!

The staff was so incredibly rude and racist toward my Asian friend. The worst airport I ve been to!!!

Absolutely terrible, over one hour now waiting for baggage at 2.30 in the morning...well done Stansted you are worse than Gatwick!!!

Worst airport I ve ever been to,rude and unprofessionall staff , horrible design,confusing parking

no point in filling out your form to return to uk , no one even checked it !!!! come on stansted up your game, our spanish health form was on the other hand was checked in arrival in fuerteventura

The waiting time in passport control was abnormally long and a friend of mine was almost interrogated by the staff before he was allowed to enter.
Although some signs were also in German, but even I did not understand what the German sentences should mean - Google translator says hello! That does not exactly make a professional impression.
It was not better when departing. You are led through an endless shopping mile, until you finally arrive in the waiting area, where it was too crowded and too loud to be able to wait and relax.
Next time I will definitely opt for another airport.

Too many stores, too few seats waiting for the flight

Bit of a trek foir me. But nice enough airport. Passport control quick and efficient.

So terrible that even one star is too much. Couldn't find a single charging point (it's 2018) and almost risked to miss my flight because of it.
Other than that is dirty, expensive, overcrowded, with rude staff and terrible services.
Worst airport I've been so far

serious security issues!!! what is the point of of doing a queue of one hour to check if we have any razors or blades.... after security checks there is a Boots where you can buy all the razors and other dangerous items you can!!!! Totally useless security.

Never ever again. Badly organized, crowds of people & delayed flights due to bad organsation. Partly rude stuff. Just avoid it.

People sitting on the floors, just everywhere. You have to walk among them in order to make your way to the gate.

Food and drinks are very expensive. Drop off is also expensive...

Very disorganized. Boarding is very late, no announcements. Ground staff runs only haphazardly through the area and gives no information. I fly a lot and have rarely experienced such a bad service. It is also not a cheap flight, but in a flight with Emirates.

Way too far from London. Will not use this airport again if possible.

its what you expect from an aiport i guess. we had a disabled person with us and requested assistance but they had noone to help so we had t push the wheel chair and hold all the baggage- defeats the point of requesting assistance!

Arrival: around 20 o'clock local time, entry was fast u. No problem, only the waiting for the luggage took ages, with the quite expensive Stansted Express (the train) it went in to London

Departure: Arrive at the airport around 5 o'clock local time, a lot of people on the way, security control took a while, because the metal scanner felt as if it had beeped every second and then had to do this for another examination including body scanner,
Hand luggage was checked a second time (liquids were probably very interesting), the hand luggage of my girlfriend was a second time (more or less meaningless, in the end without result) sent through the x-ray ring, way to the gate took a while

On the whole, but a very nice airport, very large, but well. Behind the security check many ways to shop and eat

Would not have a problem coming back, except that the trip to and from London is relatively long

They decided to close most of the areas overnight, making it difficult for those who fly early in the morning and have to stay at the airport.

Absolutely horrendous border patrol. They have no sense of urgency. They don't know the UK laws. The queue took well over an hour to get through. This is a truly horrible airport. Go to Luton or Heathrow instead.

Unpleasant staff as possible for the Fast track, fairly long check, but the customs waiting area is rather pleasant and a large choice of shops

Hello, that my first time at the airport for tourist reasons had high expectations of this airport and country, not to mention that it is very beautiful architecture I must say that the airport is a dump in chairs, they do not have baskets of garbage what causes that the high demand or transit of people have no choice but to throw the garbage wherever they want, then they do not have enough chairs for the number of people that visit this airport being this that they must sit on either side (floor, bathrooms, where find) the worst is that security prevents people from closing their eyes in moments of waiting for their flight specifically on flights that leave very early in the morning and the passenger must be in the early hours of the morning, there is no adequate heating all the area is cold almost the same as winter outside is cold, they have no connection to load European adapters, and the bad treatment of yellow vest inspectors, with this former experience I doubt very much have the desire to return, because this image is not worthy of such an advanced country concerned about society and people who want to know and invest in this country as promoting them in every photo taken with family friends etc,

Missed flight as I went to the wrong gate. The tannoy system does not cover the whole airport.

Good airport, Cheap flights, However parking is bad. You'll be driving back and fourth to find a space unless you're on quick drop-off.

Worst place to travel from. The size of airport is much smaller then the number of people flying from there. Horrible long ques at security and Ryanair desk.
There is a shopping district twice the size of the Airport itself. and the boarding gates are about a mile away from security.
I missed my flight because the Bus at Mid stay car park arrived 25 min late instead of advertised 10min.
If i can afford the time and money to take Stanstead into court i will do it. But its useless as there is no Law in UK where you can challenge these giants.

It's not going to be a great experience if you fly from here. It's fair for the low price ticket that you will buy, but you will have to face the fact that it's small not a lot of choice of shops and restaurants and the ones that are there are overpriced.

Worst airport layout and you have to pay the earth for parking and even if you want to drop someone off.

I swear to never use Stansted again ever and never recommend it to anyone !
Left wallet on plane and not one member of staff from the airport nor Ryan air would go back and retrieve it for me knowing full well where excatly I left it saying I Have to fill forms In and send online forms in for a PIR NUMBER ! It s a joke good bye wallet - hopefully someone hands it in
Utter shocking customer service and if I lived nearer I would have definitely been arrested for the absolute Carnage I would be causing inside the airport

Easy airport to get in and out of far from London city

I have not been to every Airport, but I am certain that it is the worst Airport in the World! People with obvious Mental Health Issues have planned this Airport. Very long ways to the Gates through a Labyrinth of Shops, with aggresive sales tactics like on a Turkish Bazaar! Avoid this Airport, that is nowhere near London, at all costs!

I had a good experience. The food was great while waiting for the flight. The chicken terriyaki bento box was a very strong option.

Family line no clear signage and I went to disable acces lane , I was send to the opposite side which was apparently the family lane but the problem was the rude lady who sat there !!!! She was patronaising how I went to the wrong lane and she sat there with no customers no signage what who her lane is for ??? Anyways I also work at Edinburgh airport and I have just found her very rude and inpolite !!!!

Sunday the 4th of march at 10:10am

If I could rate less than zero I would. I once spent two months of customer service calls trying to get sky to supply me with internet and Stanstead is even worse than that because at least sky let me talk to a human. Literally the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life. Like The Trial, but worse.

It's getting better over time. They've done works to renew the whole waiting area past the security check but they're still finishing them. The 4-star rating is based on the wi-fi service only being free for 1 hour

Nice airport, a bit small to walk around, not so many choices, but still a nice and relaxed place!

Worst airport in the country! There are not enough seats for people who need to arrive a few hours before their flights. People need to sit on the floor (see pictures) and we cannot use walls to rest our back on it, they say that walls are in the forbidden zone (see picture). Really, this airport is an insult for airline customers. The fancy architecture and the beautiful christmas lights are a big paradox to the way they treat people in this venue. Shame on Stansted Airport.

Very long ways, also forcibly through the shopping passage. Gate will be announced or opened 30 minutes before departure, closing 15 minutes before departure. (Walk to our gate 10 minutes)
The shuttle bus recommended and arranged by Ryanair came with considerable delays at the airport (1 hour before departure) due to the subway strike and the associated traffic chaos. The security checks were so slow and tedious that we were only a quarter of an hour before departure at the gate and were no longer let through. However, the few employees apparently had time enough to get our luggage out of the plane again. It took us more than an hour to get our luggage back.
In the requisite new booking Ryanair came to us in any way financially.
We would never choose Stansted Airport again.

Easiest airport I have ever been to. I was through security in 10 mins. Not much there but enough, food/coffee/beer.

A wonderfully renovated airport that, compared to 18 years ago, offers everything and also very high quality.

The staff is friendly and strives to meet your needs with answers as well.

Of course, it is not possible to expect a higher standard if we are already in-depth with the content.

It is also necessary to take into account the prices of flights with which we are at this airport.

Definitely more than expected.

I travel quite a lot and I am always really impressed by the speed and efficiency at Stansted's security check! And always smiling and helpful staff

Short stay wasn't this expensive just a few months ago!

I was so afraid after reading opinions about this airport but thanks to travelers' advices me and my fiance were able to avoid the long queues (we have a Biometric passports so our queue was really short) and after we had landed we needed only 0,5h to leave the airport.
During our return trip (07.06.2017) we needed maybe 15 minutes in baggage drop-off point and another 10 minutes to went through the security control (I must add that the security guard was pretty nice).
I agree that Stansted's Duty Free is enormous and you need a plenty of time to get to the Gates but it also gives you the opportunity to do something better than just sit and wait when you need to spend more than 1,5h at the airport, waiting for your flight.
All in all I was satisfied with my flight and airport experience even if one of my flights was delayed.

Horrible long queues for everything, complete chaos almost to go to the control. Long inessecary walk through many useless shops to go to the gates. The go through passport control/ UK border, you need to queue endlessly ...

I'M ANGRY!!! After coming to the brami it is not possible to return to the zones of restaurants and duty free shops !!!!! now I have to spend 5 hours only about peanuts from the bar at the gate. the staff has your ass More

Easy to navigate. Once passed security, felt like an age before I got to my gate. Had to pass so many shops and then eventually catch a train at the end of it.

Cheap flights from here and have been going through major refurbishments.

Staff friendliness varies..

I have never seen an airport with so few seats for waiting passengers.

Worst experience ever! Our flight was delayed and we had only 20min for a change of plane here. Airport staff was terrible. Nobody wanted to help us and they did not want us to go in the front. When other passengers wanted to let us go first, staff stepped in and putted us in the end of queue again!

I found the Ryanair check in folks and the Information folks very helpful and professional.