BAA London Stansted Reviews

The worst airport I saw in my life:

Staff is the the most rude in the planet
Queues for no reason
Absence of staff in the lounge area
Lack of speaker communication
Lack of facilities to sleep

20 people and our group lost a flight because the plane left EARLIER than supposed.

Departure screens will tell you only what is your gate 45 mins before and you have 15 mins to run around the airport.. Yes because 30, mins before is the last call.
No speaker and 1 big screen so it's a fantastiche picture of 500 people looking up awaiting for their time... Well thought The airport you'll feel like an animal being shipped ..

I though I was in UK but apparently I'm in a 4world country .

If you can avoid don't visit this airport!!!!

The only service that Stansted Airport workers provide bears remarkable resemblance to the prison service..

That fire alarm it.s so annoing... :@
Every 10 sec talking in 4 diferent luangages...

Worse airport ever you can take 2 hr only to go inside the airport
Is 6am and is only half of the lines open to go in
Pooled are waiting over 2 he only to pass the control!


Fly from Stansted outport and have a nice day

At the moment, Stansted is fairly quiet and poses less of a threat to health than when it was busy preCOVID. Better than Brighton beach, for sure!

Cramped, crowded airport with horrendous security queues on a Friday evening and an officious woman on the security belt insisting my liquids bag shut tight while ignoring the fact that someone had used a much bigger transparent pouch just More

This place feels like a post apocalyptic refugee centre.

Horrible airport, two border agents in non eu passport lane made us wait almost one hour on line. Avoid at all cost.

Tried to have breakfast at the Camden restaurant. Ordered food, but then had to queque 15 minutes for coffee. Food took 25 minutes to arrive, just as flight was being called. Tried to eat, it was awful. Fried egg es solid, sausages raw, and bacon over cooked. Avoid it, there are lots of better places to eat.

Bad safety standards!

There was a fire at the airport's main entrance last year. Airport staff were very unhelpful and confused on the day. A journalist should cover the way evacuation was handled on the day and how it was dangerous to public safety.

I also emailed the airport regarding this. They claimed via email the fire wasn't their fault, a bus caught on fire - which I can accept. I cannot accept their staff telling us how it is the airport's fault on the day of the fire, and how we'll get taken care of. Someone should take responsibility for what we were told by airport staff on the day.

I also cannot accept the airport not wanting to explain via email why they were evacuating us towards the fire/main entrance, and why they had some staff asking us to leave the airport - only for the staff at the main door telling us to go back in the building and go through security again. Very unorganised and dangerous evacuation on the day.

Their email customer service referred me to the Essex police on how evacuations are handled, but my questions on the way the evacuation was handled by their staff on the day remains unanswered.

Very good , we received help when we have needed and very easy and simple for checking

Orwellsches 1984 as Ryanair. A star for feeling like an animal in mass slaughter when coming to control. Really has a feeling of soulless mass processing.

Here only Ryanair has to say that, that is, one must repeatedly unpack his things. All bags were opened with us and checked even dirty socks.

We flew out of Portugal and luckily there Ryanair has nothing to say, that is control has decency. Gentlemen-like gives nothing there.

Furthermore:
- hardly any seats
- no overnight stay at night
- Prices for inferior food (Fra ...) overpriced
- Very long routes
- no service
- dirty toilets (men and women)

Good experience celon me smiling staff, nice etc a little waiting and you have to come in advance (min 2-3h) which is logical.
Good experience.

Far too big no organization like in Frankfurt am Main. Secure check bad.

I use this airport often because driving from Wolverhampton and parking up is still cheaper than flying from Bham most the times. But the electronic passport service is an absolute joke

Drop off charge is extortionate. Wifi is poor. And the lounges are jammed! Not a great experience, not as bad as Heathrow!

I enjoyed this airport very much...I liked the home for home feeling. I mean, it has everything you'd need. Toilets, coffe shops\cafes\restraunts, shops, seats for the plane etc.
You only need about 90 mins to 2hrs to complete the system\ and That's not even including the shops, whom there are over 80 of.
Security check with FastTrack was done and dusted within about 15mins...but with normal Security it would take at least double. I defiantly recommend FastTrack here. You can trust the staff but with us they weren't really needed.
Check-in was done within 5 mins, if not less.
They have a good bus service which got us from our Car to the terminal in less than 10 mins.
Hope this helps!
P.S despite the size this place offers more airlines and Holiday destinations than Heathrow Airport.

Arrived back from 1st holiday with my 7 month old baby. 8pm, freezing and my car wouldn't pull off or reverse. All the car park office staff were lovely, offered me a hot drink and washed up my baby's bottle. One officer, GRIUMALDI HASSIMO saved me with his knowledge, advised to rev really hard as from experience my tyres were likely frozen to the ground. He offered to come to my car to help but my husband managed to do it following his advice. I was tired, drained and in a real panic, he saved me a lot of stress and financial burden! Thank you so much, I appreciate you going the extra mile.

Wetherspoons down side getting through passport control

If you re flying into our out of London I would avoid this airport.



We arrived 2 hours early and were through security and bag check within 20 minutes, all due to me upgrading our Ryan Air flight to priority and fast pass. Doing these things made it easy to get into the terminal but without those 2 things I cannot say for certain if we would have gotten to our gate in time. Other reviews aren t kidding about the ridiculous amount of shops and duty free. It feels like you are walking through a shopping mall and not an airport. The gates for flights are not announced until 30-45 mins before your flight, which I only assume is to get you to spend more time at a shop than at your gate.

I will say, though, that if you absolutely need to go here, be prepared. If you can afford to fast pass and get priority for your tickets, you really are purchasing peace of mind.

In all honesty, I was completely dreading flying out of this airport upon looking at the reviews after booking our flight. But with a little research and foresight, we were able to make our experience comparable to other airports, but that s not fair to the customer.

Security need to remember that the passenger is a customer!!! Granted that when I went it was busy and granted they arw there to protect us all and do a good job of it but bring barked at like a naught schoolboy is not the way to treat customers.

Apart from that its a busy airport with plenty of shops but could do with increasing facilities

Stressful, chaotic and funny organized But maybe that's the case with the budget airlines

I dreaded my travels to London for a long time and at this airport I felt less lost than in Dublin. It is an airport and not a patient's couch, we are in transit and finally accessing the exit or the runway was easy and reassuring. In view of the number of passengers when I asked for directions or for information I received it. The only thing, when the difference in language and English reaches its limit, the interlocutor loses a little patience, which would be normal when a child babbles I am hungry and we do not understand why he is crying while he has just eaten ... so patience and respect for his people who are trying to manage thousands of passengers with thousands of movements and recommendations from their hierarchies to reduce the damage.

Travelled on the 21st June.. only one security lane open for the whole airport due to Coronavirus. Nearly missed flight. Shamefull!!

A small airport, well connected to London via train or bus

The worst airport in London, people at night have to sit on the floor because they closing 3/4 of the airport and can't provide enough benches for all those travelers and staff is not realy friendly...

AIRPORT SHAME .... TO BE CLOSED FOR WAITING TIMES, SMOOTHED CHECKS

Not enough people in the border so you have too wait about one hour and whit a baby is just too long

25 pound for 14 mins parking,
Make sure you come a week earlier so you won't miss your flight..... The security is so slow.... I think. They borough the security team from local sainsburys.

Crowded, a little heavy but ok for the amounts paid.

The recently renovated Stansted improves efficiency and makes everyone move a little faster and remain a little more relaxed while moving through security and checking in.

Overcrowded, need a second terminal. Security check took ages, must be terrible in the summer months. Long walk from check in to departures. Also charged just to drop off passengers. The plus side is the toilets were clean and baggage reclaim for our internal flight was very efficient

No night transport for London. Si you have to take a cab. It is more expensive than the flight. Will not make this mistake twice. Never choose this airport. It is a trap...

Waiting for baggage for over 30 mins. Four flights on one carrousel and not a single bag arriving. Entire hour after the flight landed we have our luggage

This airport uses the Las Vegas school of design and is targeted to separate you from your money in every way possible. Expensive parking (3 euros just for a drop off!) long lines, silly fuss over liquids that must fit in a tiny bag or be thrown away. Of course you can rebuy once in the rat's nest mall beyond security. Must walk through all the shops and be sprayed with perfume, and then be forced to wait until your gate is announced before leaving the shopping area. No seating, no water fountains. Once gate is announced it's a dash to get there. No wonder so many people miss flights. Allow more time than you think to get through it all and know you will pay dearly for your cheap flight.

This place should have the lowest rate while robbers like 'Moneycorp' currency exchange are allowed to operate in there.

Little information, you walk a lot until you reach the destination. The airport of Porto gives 10x0 in this.

The airport held my plane for 2 hours! Not only that but we had to walk ages to reach the border from where we were dropped off. My luggage was kept for more than half an hour and there was no staff updates along the way. I would give it 0 stars if I could but at least the dude at the border was nice. Even the airport in Tanzania was better organised than this.

Truly deserves a 1 star worst passport control system in Europe I try to avoid this airport out of choice rude staff unclean and a total disaster. This is not a one off review I used this airport frequently unfortunately and it gets worse each time. Car park prices beyond a joke.

I was about to lose my flight and the blame was not mine, I spend 30 minuts in the queue of ryanair check-in to leave my briefcase, plus 30 minuts in security control, security control has as well incredible large queues wen I was, the size of the airport doesn't suit such amount of travelers, security staff unpolite, I told them that I am going to lose my flight and dont care or they get rude and delay more, IF YOU HAVE SOME FEW LIQUIDS THEY RETAIN YOUR BAGGAGE AND THEY SPEND THE TIME THAT THEY WANT (you can be waiting for them 15-20 minuts) ,that happend to a lot of people.

The worst airport ever! In the middle of the night everyone has to sit on the floor because there just are no seatings!

I didn t want to fly, I wanted to take the train to amsterdam to cut back on CO2 emissions but the tickets were very very expensive as airports are subsidized by the government meaning low cost airlines can offer crazy low prices for travel.
This airport is dirty. The toilets were disgusting.
However good access if you are in north London

The most ridiculous drop off fees I've ever seen. Adds insult to the injustice of being such a terrible airport.

It has a large commercial area in the duty free, with plugs, seats, etc. But even to access this area, of grief, without even just seats. The prsonal, both outside and inside, friendly and correct in the deal. Your security concern remains a strong point, as I have not seen in any other

It is an airport so far no surprise ... Obviously the place is always a little stressful for everyone. The staff were very pleasant, far from previous comments. In addition, the French, please, stop going abroad to get upset about the fact that people do not necessarily speak French.

Good airport.
However, 1 hour late because the airport had no more kerosene.
That's not allowed to happen!

This airport is a total joke, disgraceful.

They have closed virtually ever coffee or refreshment shop before security.
Lifts regularly do not work.
The lifts buttons have been changed as have fun out of -1 buttons - how confusing.

The place is dirty and unwelcoming.
AWFUL PLACE !!

The airport has the most ineffective architecture in the world, everything is far from the bathrooms, the terminals, they did it with their feet.

Stansted is always a pleasure to use, certainly the best of the London airports by a clear mile. It's easy to get to and not congested and great access to Central London with public transport. The airport is clean, spacious and has a huge range of shops, bars, restaurants, cafe's etc. (and set to get even better with the new owners investing in a terminal development). Queues are always fairly swift and it's always a pleasant and stress free experience, miles better than Gatwick or even Luton. The only downside is that there's not many airlines using it nowadays other than Ryanair and EasyJet but hopefully that will improve in the future.

I'm happy with it as far as small airports go. Great food selections. Everything seems close together, so you can choose easily. The waiting area seems fine. I wish they posted the gates sooner though, but I know they can't really do that since they don't have many gates to begin with.

When I mentioned about London standard airport, everyone says it s a very bad airport. So I have prepared for it, then it turns out it s not so bad as I thought. Anyway, just a travel, try to get used to any situations.

The airport itself is best better still be fluent in English.

Coast duty free a lot of shops cheaper than in France, many choices
For restaurants or others, there are few, I'm a little disappointed

If flight took a flight with ryanair attention scam back on the luggage supposed to pass they charge you
Really I do not recommend this company, it's better to pay another 50th of another ticket from another company because in the end it costs more with rayanair

This airport has improved and grown year on year. Thanks to all the staff and management of course.

Incredibly rude staff. They took my sisters travel sized contact solution and saline and tried taking her contacts. This was the 4th airport this week and the only one that we had trouble with.
There are too many people and not enough space to accomadate them all. Overall it's a horrible airport; location, space, staff... I rather pay the extra money and go to a real airport.

My watch has disappeared in the security check. Up to 15 minutes on foot from the security check to an unfavorable gate, because the shopping arcades are deliberately built in such a way that you have to labyrinth through every shop.

40 Minutes in the Queue for Border Control when flying in to Stansted. Worse than Gatwick and Heathrow for queues. Reason being the E-passport barriers don't work. 4 of them were out of service and the one I used; the camera was so dark it took ages to let me through as it couldn't see my face!

One of the worst Airports ever. If you ever wanted to feel like you were in a cattle chute this is it. I cant even imagine this could pass any reasonable fire standard. Thousands are pushed into a narrow lane through the duty free which is a winding narrow lane. If there was ever a fire or a reason people would panic many would be crushed or unable to get out. I saw people who were running late trying to maneuver this route and even in a calm situation they could not get by. Then it opens into a large cattle pen where everyone is stuffed together till they announce a gate. Then you join new penned up lines to get on your flight this is just the worst airport I have ever been to. If anything ever went wrong, there would be criminal liability for those who passed these standards.

Purchased to go through Fast Track. On reaching the conveyor belt, I took all the relevant items such as Kindle, tablet etc out of my case to put in the tray. I was always led to believe that liquid up to 10ml was allowed, but any liquid make up had to be shown in a clear plastic bag.
A man dealing with this particular part of the tracking was talking to people as if they were no more than cattle. I am handicapped with being hard of hearing and didn't realise that when he threw a plastic bag near my case what exactly he was asking me to do. He eventually berated me for not listening to what he had asked me to do.
Eventually, another kind lady assistant came to give me a hand and explained that any lipsticks or creams also had to be shown separately and sorted it for me.
Why could the man not realise I was having trouble understanding and quietly and patiently explained.
If Ryanair flew from a different airport to the destination I frequently go to, I would certainle give tansted a miss. choose

Staff at the security checks are not always friendly and well trained. There is always some work ongoing and is a bit messy but there also nice shops. Due to the fact that gates are on display with short notice, all the people are packed in one area.

You have to feel like 37km duty free shops in curves instead of a straight path to the gates. If you mans then made it to the plane you wait forever until a vehicle is free to push the plane to the runway. Stand now 1 1/2 hours. Pilot has announced by announcement that the already lager runs like this ...

I have always found this airport horrendous in the early morning. It is always a struggle to find a seat to wait for ones flight.
The recent change in parking fees is scandalous and their excuse for the rises is pathetic given the poor service and continued delays of public transport.
I guess to sum up I'd say this airport is how one would imagine how Ryanair would run an airport.

Najgorsze lotnisko na jakim mia am okazj by wsz dzie brudno zawsze jest taki t ok w poczekalni e nie ma gdzie usi ostatnio przy bramce do samolotu sta am ponad 40 minut a po za tym toalety s brudne i jest bardzo duszno NIE POLECAM

It is the furthest one from London, although it has a fast transport service. Its parking is very safe and it is close to it but the waiting for the transport from the parking to the airport and the other way is quite long.

Definitely should have checked the reviews... but who thinks to check airport reviews (expect you, you champion). Theres not much more that needs to be said about this airports management. A few things that ticked me off I ll list below (all at the border check):
Waiting in the line for 2 hours 15 minutes (and not because there was a tonne of flights come in)
1 person servicing our line in excess of 1000 people. 0 people servicing at one point too! (Had to wait until there were no priority or hostesses and then get one priority service lady to help)
The EU line had 3 people servicing the line (I understand we are 3rd class customers in your eyes but there s no need to make it so apparent!)
There are 22 service windows.... why is there only 1 person servicing the longest line?
I stood in line for near as long as my flight took....
What are the managers doing here...it may not be easy but it s definately simple!! If there s a long line with only one person servicing it, process the bloody line!!
Missed my bus that I booked for an hour and a half after my flight... sort your system Stansted it s embarrassing.
In the end, people started cutting the line and getting angry so they put 3 people on to service the line to prevent a fight amongst passengers (how proactive!).

tight controls but too long for the number of people passing daily. Some gates are far away and you must necessarily take the train which fortunately often passes. Many shops but needlessly lengthen the path to the gates.

Having flown in from Malaga I was disappointed with the state of the place. Malaga toilets clean and fresh smelling, Stansted foul smelling and broken soap dispensers. Malaga outside areas clean and tidy, Stansted litter everywhere.Not a good introduction to England.

Stansted airport is a complete mess. The refurbishment clearly prioritised shops over basic waiting areas with no seating space available and huge crowds of people sitting on the floors everywhere. The toilets are disgusting and the entire airport seems to resend into chaos after 2 flight cancellations with no one around providing information or crowd management. WiFi doesn't connect and mobile networks are overwhelmed with the amount of people. A complete disgrace of an airport.

The plane is 6 hours late and it takes more than 20 minutes at the airfield b to put a sad staircase to go down. And we don't even talk about luggage. More than an hour after landing it still does not come out. Flight RYR FR9015 of May 4, 2018

Busy as always and please arrive early here especially if you are travelling with kids.

Easy to get through. Took only 10 minutes and the staff were very friendly and cheerful

After years of enjoying travelling from Stansted Airport the last two times which I admit have been after the work that has been carried out on the main shopping, eating and holding area, what a big disappointment the area is over crowded with too many shops and enough places to eat that they have neglected the traveler that simply wants to sit and take time to relax or read without feeling that they are in a cattle market, it was so uncomfortable I felt almost claustrophobic, should there be any hold ups because there is just not enough seats or room for people, whilst now the time between being called to the gate and flying is almost the same, so all the free space is left empty while people are sandwiched in like sardines downstairs, I know this is to increase the takings for the shops and restaurants but as a traveler I now no longer enjoy the Stansted airport experience.

Should be called Ryanair-port since when do you have to pay for plastic bags for liquids. What next ... pay to sit while you wait for the plane?

Airport monopolized by RyanAir, where they try to sell you anything. Very large and many activities and shops inside, the arrival at the gates is a bit tortuous but it works well ... it's out of town and you know that taxis cost a bang

This has to be the worst airport i have ever flown from. We got there 3 hours before i flight and it took 2 hours just to check in and get through passport control not enough staff to do checking in for a start. Then coming back we landed at 2.15am and we queued for around an hour for passport control then had to wait another hour and 15 mins just to find out what belt our luggage was going to go to. We eventually got away from the airport at 5.15 3 hours after we landed. Absolute joke of an airport would avoid it like the plague in future.