Took the Stansted express to the Airport, which was quite fast and on time. Security wasn t that busy so in 10-15 min max was ready. Lack of seating area at this airport which for flights it s cater to, they should address this problem as their top priority. Many choices of shops and restaurants to spend your money, Charging stations do not always work, had to go around a couples of places before I found one working.
Horrible system getting through this airport. You have to walk through a kilometer of duty free shops with tons of people standing in the walkways shopping. Gate information doesn't populate until an hour before takeoff, so everyone is forced to shop or clog the walking areas waiting. I hope to never fly in or out of here again.
I find this an easy airport. People say it s a hassle to get to but it s really not.
You can park easily for free nearby and it s rarely overly busy vs gatwick or Heathrow.
Clearly far lower airport fees which are reflected in the cheaper flights.
It s not all about cost but it does make a difference when it s just a short haul flight.
Just awful.
Passport control took hours.
Suitcase only arrived 2.5 hours after arrival!
First day of vacation thanks to you Versaut!
Very slow checks to last 2 hours and a half and make me miss the plane. Distances in kilometers between checks and tenders. Rude staff. I will never go there again. Better Gatwick.
airport OK,still new modern . but to busy now, boarder agency/ passport control rubbish need at least double the people, wait 1 hour at least, rubbish welcome to the UK. EVERY ONE HAS TO WAIT
worst airport!!!! flight 1hr reclaim bagage 2:30 hours...
There are definitely worse airports, but better ones can be found easily. Morning flights, just a massacre, arrivals of 7 aircraft at a time and waiting despite the goals for epassport takes forever. Always something to repair or rebuild, somehow I value London and City most, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted sorry but not
Waited 40-50 minutes to go through security - its a complete mess. The worst is seeing the security people chatting and joking around with their colleagues instead of working. I would not recommend this airport.
We flew as a family with 2 children aged 8 and 12. It s a while since we flew from Stansted and it felt like an airport operating beyond capacity. The airport was operating normally with no delays when we flew at 17:00 on a Monday. Every area was packed with people to the point where I felt our safety was compromised had there been an incident such as a fire or security related. Having said that it didn t take long to clear security and the staff were friendly,helpful and professional. Our experience was not great overall and i will be looking at an alternative airport next time.
Open more counters at the border you incompetents. My first time in this country and I was really excited to spend over an hour and a half waiting in line because it was too difficult to open more than three desks. The worst airport I have been to.
Was not crowded (Wednesday) most of the stores and restaurants were open. Good covid measures and guidelines.
Never a great experience, better than Luton but parking, drop-off, services are expensive and lines are long and slow
The worst experience here, the staff check my documents half hour and lead me miss the airline.
Sadly it is impossible to give no stars. Easily the worst flying experience in London. 45 minutes queueing in security followed by our plane "getting lost".
Small, no seats to sit and wait for flights, no outlets and to complicate even easier staff do not make it any easier to attempt to settle in the GROUND, since the airport does not offer any.
They still need to have some enforcement of Covid rules.....
Worst Airport I've been to. The staff is unfriendly and there is not enough seating provided at the gates and throughout the airport. Would not fly from here again.
Very expensive long term parking and appalling service
The airport is okay, the service is neutral but not rude, doing its job efficiently. Both after arriving and departing, I did not run into any problems. Well signposted airport. Efficient security control. A multitude of shops and restaurants, toilets approx.
The downside is the organization of space for people waiting to go out - few seats and those that are not very comfortable. A board displaying the numbers of the gates to which to go to check-in could be placed closer to the waiting area.
The worst airport I've ever visited. From 00.00 to 3.00, a large part of the airport is closed, you can only stay in a small part of the entrance hall. Security will not leave you alone, and any sleep is impossible here. The security tour reminds us of the prison (we had to push). In the departure hall insufficient both sanitary facilities and seating. If you can curb this airport avoid.
This is the worst airport I have ever travelled from and too, dirty and not capable of handling the passenger numbers also the web site for arrivals and departures is terrible as it contains no useful information.
literally so dirty, the staff is alright but you cant even lie down and sleep waiting for a long flight.
Beautiful airport, functional characteristic and full of all comforts. Recommended
Took one hour today from the time the plane arrived at the gate until the luggage finally got out. Unfortunately not a single incident at Stansted. Used to be a good airport, but now overcrowded and poorly managed. Avoid if you can.
Non-EU citizens are made to feel like second class citizens at Stansted. I'm a UK citizen but queued in the non-EU queue with my non-EU wife. It was appalling. They only had 2 out of 7 counters working and it took an absolute eternity. Late at night, people were literally wilting and being taken ill in the queue because it took so long. Meanwhile the EU queue counters were fully staffed and they were processing a huge amount of people very quickly. These waiting times were just unacceptable in the early hours and the discrimination shown against non-EU citizens made it all the more disgusting.
Addendum - my formal complaint to Stanstead
I arrived on the Pegasus Airlines 22:05 flight from Istanbul S Gokcen, arrival at 00:15 on 17/04/2018.
I stood in the queue for non-EU citizens because my wife is non-EU. I can honestly say that Stansted is making those from outside the EU feel like second class citizens. Only 2 out of 7 counters were even staffed and the waiting time was between 1.5 to 2 hours for a relatively short queue. Meanwhile, the EU queue was fully staffed and rattled along very quickly, processing a huge amount of people in a short time.
Given the early hours and the excessive wait, people (me included) were literally wilting and fainting in the non EU queue. This, coupled with the extreme disparity with the how the EU queue was dealt with, made one feel like a second class citizen and discriminated against in a most uncaring way.
I'm conscious that EU citizens probably need an accelerated process given the UK's EU treaty obligations, but the disparity was simply too extreme. Our obligations to EU citizens are no excuse for hanging out non-EU citizens to dry like this. I was embarrassed that non EU citizens were being treated in this dismissive and uncaring fashion
Stansted, please work out how to process non EU citizens a little bit more efficiently. We owe them a good welcome too. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, which was not apparent from my experience.
Departing Stansted last Sunday (2nd November) after a 15 minute delay we were taken from the embarkation desk downstairs to the runway exit. We were then left standing for a further half hour with no information. Then allowed to board the plane. not good enough surely passengers should be informed of the reason for the delay and given somewhere to sit!!! That was bad enough but on our return last night (November 5th 2014) we landed at 19-15 and were informed that we couldn't disembark as there were no steps available. Steps were eventually provided at 19-50 and we were then left to walk a fair distance into an overcrowded corridor. Then a message was broadcast that due to high numbers being processed by passport control we would have to wait, standing, in this area. We eventually worked our way through to passport control at 20-20 only to find that the epassport machines were empty while the non epassport area was jam packed. As we had epassports we were able at last to get through surely it wouldn't have needed a genius to segregate the epassport holders in the waiting area!! My wife and I are both pensioners and experienced travellers, having flown from most UK and several foreign airports but have never experienced the incompetency shown by Stansted management. This is the first time we've used Stansted and it will be the last. AVOID!!!!
Toilets filthy and broken hand dryers. 3rd rate travel experience.
Verschrikkelijke luchthaven
Te weinig personeel bij inchekken
Daardoor toestel bijna gemist!
Geen excuses bijna knokpartij door aso,s die dachten dat ze door onder de afzetting door te kruipen voorrang hadden!
Nooit meer via stanstead.
September 7
When traveling in Europe stick to the names you know best. We booked a flight to Budapest to see our son. I should have booked with British Airways but the flight was a little pricey so I went with Ryan Air. The website was easy to use. The options and pricing were clear. Judging from their professional looking website I figured the actual service would be similar. Professional, customer friendly, accommodating, you know, customer friendly. WRONG! Booking is the easy part. The website works super well when you are booking the flight and checking out.
It all starts going wrong when you need to retrieve your boarding pass. The website hiccups, glitches, etc. If you don't get that boarding pass before you get to the airport they will penalize you big time. There's a fine and then a line or two. You will probably miss your flight
unless you are very lucky. What looked great in the beginning ends up as a headache producing nightmare. What? You have an extra bag? They don't take money in the line where they take your bags. That is a separate line. Of course I was sent to the wrong line. Another lady took pity on us and walked us to the front of the customer service line. Magically, the lady who takes the bags was on a break. Of course no one else can take your bag, you have to wait for her to come back. I feel tortured reliving this as I'm writing it. Make sure you eat and use the bathroom before you head to this airport. The attitude of the personnel I interacted with at this airport was apathetic and jaded to say the least. I did not feel valued or appreciated as a customer. I felt like they were doing me a gigantic favor and I was at their mercy.
The airport is Stansted. Thinking small airport, should make things more simple. WRONG AGAIN! If you survive the check in process, the mis information given to you by airport personnel and security you have to make it to the gate. They don't allow lipstick, lip gloss or mascara through security unless it fits in a quart sized ziploc. They are nice enough to provide these. Hopefully you aren't like me. The bag was so full I was afraid it wouldn't close. I can appreciate the need for extra security but lipstick, really?
We thought we weren't going to make the plane as the monitors were flashing "boarding gate closing." Did I mention the gate was at the end of the airport? The tram didn't go in that direction. This airport is a large maze of retail stores. You have to get through those stores and crowds of people to get to your gate.
My poor daughter got a charley horse and was in tears by the time we actually got to the gate. We arrive at the gate and what? No one has boarded yet. WHAT? Why were the electronic boards flashing "boarding gate closing"? Just another wonderful feature to make you feel appreciated as a passenger. We didn't board for another 10 minutes. I'm just glad we made the flight.
Returning to London was better on the Budapest side. Not great but better. There are no dedicated counters. They rotate and everything is posted on a big board. You won't know where to drop your luggage until 2 hours before your flight. Once the counter is designated, there is a huge line. Survive this to get to security. Without priority boarding the line is longer. And remember you now have less than two hours to get through security, pee, maybe eat, and go through customs. But you through customs until they tell you the gate. They don't tell you which gate until 39 minutes before your flight. As soon as the gate is posted you are in yet ANOTHER line to get your passport stamped. This must be to make you have a more pleasant day and feel appreciated as a customer.
The gate was B17. Super confusing as that gate is behind glass and behind gates B15 and B18. Confused? Me too and no one made any announcements. NONE. There isn't enough room as these gates for lines either so everyone is stuffed in a small space hoping they are at the correct gate.
The drive from the airport to Whitechapel works best despite the late hour, the driver was competent. But the return transport from Whitechapel to the airport had pitfalls. Due to the daily market is not visible that there are 6 stops left and right side of the road and the designated station A is relocated due to repair. Furthermore, it is logically incomprehensible that the airport is the same direction as the airport and inquiries with bus drivers in the regular service, it was confirmed. Of course, the bus was gone and we had to use a taxi and this is very expensive
Shocking, words fail, appalling, gob smacked, I never want to use this airport again. The London tube train is better. The glamour of flying died here.
It is the airport of LCC. 30 Euros between Rome and London, what's the problem? Want better service to go to Heathrow on British Airways business. Ruian will remind you that you must check in online. If you can't see that you can blame others, you are making money that is not good for your eyes? The lounge is good
It has easy access despite being far from London. It has many cafes and shops in general. The staff in general very friendly but when leaving there, security makes a lot of trouble with liquids. They had us waiting for almost half an hour for a hand cream that we had already separated because they told us to take it out.
Worst customer experience ever. Customer Relations Team are robots. Probably the worst airport, not only in London or UK but in the Western World. Better to avoid when flying to London.
Rubbish only when you need the info of arrivals and departures you can,t load anything.But all payable adverts are there all the time.
Nice airport for a transfer, easy to arrive to with digital scanning of your passport on arrival (for EU and UK passports) which makes the process quicker
Use to be nice airport but 3 pounds charge for drop off ruined everything.
A lot of work has been undertaken here since I last flew from here. That is the positives taken care of, you could easily be in a shopping mall having to zig-zag through all the shops is not ideal . On the return trip the new style electronic passport scanners where a complete joke. Out of the 30 scanners, I would guess at least 10-15% of passports could not be read. After having your passport being scanned 3 times you look for someone for guidance, there is 1 person on duty! One is directed to the human counter where you have to queue up yet again. One person on duty, chatting with another female colleague about maternity leave etc etc does not portray a good impression and above all cannot be vigilant !!
Good facilities, went on a Saturday morning and didn't feel crowded at all, security was speedy, overall smooth experience. For an airport this small, the gates are surprisingly far apart from one another, though most are connected by an automated train, just remember to leave for your gate early if you're at a lounge or sipping coffee. Not sure why there are so many complaints, I found this already a million times better than Manchester where I usually fly out of.
Disappointed with stansted Airport.
Usually fly from Gatwick Airport, although it does get busy there, it is quite organised and you get through security quite quickly.
Stansted on the other hand could not cope with the morning rush.
We was told to put all liquids into plastic bags, then was told to put all gels, pastes and powders also into plastic bag. had to throw away some expensive makeup, which my wife would not have brought if we was told, that it was not just liquids.
Five stars for parking !!
Horrible experience my disabled child had to queue with others. People smoke on prohibited places, airport staff and police see this and aproched says, its not their problem. Additionally staff disrespect you. So if you must use it sadly prepare for not human experience.
Easy to get to... good facilities expensive parking
Pathetically organised facility, it's a shame to tolerate such behavior and anti-human organisation. Laws above the humanity, terrible customer service at some places. Some of the stuff should not be even close to their job positions. Get the names, file the cases, if you feel so, otherwise it remains like it is.
Very confusing, inefficient, if conditions permit, please choose other airports to enter and exit, even if the ticket is expensive, it is worth
It's an airport! We waited ages to disembark due to a lack of a bus.
Well organized. . very helpful staff plenty of sanitizer . And body scanners .and everyone was wearing masks . brilliant
I only come here when I have to fly RyanAir and I don't like flying RyanAir so not to keen on Stansted either.
Unfortunately a good half of their "contactless" exit drop off parking gates do not except cards. By the time you'll reverse into another gate, they will charge you double the normal rate.
not even a -1 star is worth ... inhumane complete ... with indifference and delay in checks .. we had a wheelchair disabled and instead of giving priority to us they kept 23 minutes in control so we missed the flight! !!
Although it was very fast and regular in days of Christmas holidays
Plus Point: Really efficient Security Check
The rest is Horrible Horrible Horrible
Worst Airport Layout
Unfriendly Staff
Too far outside of London
Never miss a flight at that airport, there ll be no one to help you
And they ll keep you waiting to get back through security if you missed a flight
If you are late, instead of helping you staff will waste your time and help you miss your flight
I loved looking down below from the airplane and seeing the well manicured farms
The negative reviews are all very true. This airport was the worst i have ever experienced. Of course as usual british are rude and STUPID...at security i had a 2 L bottle with very little water in it like 50ml and the idiot says that it was the container the issue...was too big!! i lost my flight cause of his stupidity and then i went to find a cab so i can get to the other flight and the traffic marshall called some taxi guy..he said he was the best and charged the least. I went from standsted to heathrow and was charged over 200 pounds. While uber would have been less than 70. Traffic was good. So the traffic manager piece of s*** and that immigrant taxi driver scammer can both go to hell, and i hope they get cancer and die for stealing money from a poor guy. That is london for you...city of complete ripp off and scams. London sucks and the british are so stupid...the brits who read this please stop crying that US think they are better than you...cause they are!!! you're country is a hell hole. I visited london 3 times and everytime something awful happened out of the ordinary...full of rude ppl who think they are better than you even though they absolutely are not. British scum who steal and have crappy teeth and rude as hell. Try to avoid this airport at all costs and if you wanna visit london do not...it is rainy, ugly, dirty, overrated, stupid rules, full of rude english, and they even drive on the wrong side!!! i waited at bus stop and bus passes you by that, they see you and pass by if they do not feel like picking you up is how stupid their country is! and i asked others if it is normal and they said ya...just stupid.
They need to open up more security counters, there is a queue as big as a football ground.
A long queue at the security check Then we were ripped off with First Track. (Which was not really one) There were a lot of fun and at the check pushed my box away ... I waited in vain ... only after multiple queries we were treated ,
The flight seemed unattainable.
Barefoot, I am through the never ending Duty Free Zone and then it took up to the gates again 10 min.
I do not know how long we ran ... I did not believe that we still reach our plane.
The service is close to zero.
The hatred of Germans felt. I could bet that at least 5 people would miss their flight this way ......
Not again !!!!
No smoking area after security checkpoint. No where to get fresh air. Boarded plane from outside on the ground. Couldnt see our flight on the screen when we entered so we was told we are too late to board our flight and had to wait 3 hours in the departure lounge without being able to go outside. Paid 200 pounds to ryan air for the next flight when we already paid 250 pounds. Not the best of experiences.
Car park charge are rediculas. Even charge for dropoff passengers for 1 or 2 min. Worse airport. Please use Gatwick or Heathrow if you can.
I may not have a whole lot of experience with airports, but Stansted definitely still makes a good impression on me.
Avoid as place to transfer flight. Due to some 'construction' (brexit) they force everybody to second check in, You are forced to throw away your stuff not fitting into small bag and then You can re-buy what You lost in great duty-free zone. Nice business plan but at my cost :(
Here you will find the worst customer service in the planet. As a frequent traveler who takes a flight at least once a week I have never experienced a worse treatment in any of the other countries across the world.
I have been using this airport regularly since it opened. It started out as a pleasant place to start a journey.
Nowadays it is nothing more than a one way shopping mall organised in a snaking path to disorient people and squeeze them together.
Pre security the choice of where to get a coffee has steadily diminished. Don't get me started on choices to eat.
The queues to get through security are legendary as are the robotic staff who are mainly devoid of empathy. If you've seen them frisk a 2 year old, you'll know what I mean.
Forget trying to find a seat in the waiting area.
I may sound harsh, but I'm a frequent flier around Europe. Many other airports manage to incoporate shopping and seating in a far more relaxed atmosphere.
Nowadays, if I can, I take a train in the UK.
Past two times, waited over an hour for bags on the return, and in departures there were very crowded lounges and dirty restaurants - need more staff!
Nice airport but really intense security control. The way through the duty free is never ending. Good free wifi.
The most disagreeable and miserable security staff I have ever encountered. I will give minus starts if I could. I will never comeback to this airport.
Penibil pentru Londra. Dac nu ai pa aport cu CIP po i sta la intrare cu orele. Nu au linie de prioritate pentru copii mici i gravide.
Frequented mainly by Ryanair, Stansted Airport is located about 30 miles north of London. The airport itself is modern and clean, but the restrooms were not as clean as I would have expected. The Stansted Express train takes passengers to London's Liverpool Street Station in approx. 1 hour. Unfortunately, the security check took relatively long since many bags had to be re-checked. Even though it took us about 30 minutes to pass the security check, the security agents were friendly. The way from security to our gate was strenuous as we had to pass numerous duty free shops and restaurants to get to the train that brought us to our gate. When flying with Ryanair, be sure to be at the airport approx. 2 hours before the scheduled time of departure - passing security, the duty free shops and restaurants and getting to your gate may take you some sixty minutes! I would fly to Stansted again, but other airports have a quicker service to central London.
stanstedairport.com