London Stansted Airport

I am forced to use Stansted in order to fly to Ancona in Italy, however, my experience is so awful that I am now searching for any other way to go rather than endure this airport again. In short it has to be the worst airport on planet earth with queues for everything and even worse, unless you run and fight to get on the satellite shuttle, you will miss your flight as I did on one occasion. Don't even think about going there if there is an alternative

Charged £3 for drop-off. How is that fair? The departure on 20th Sep to Bucharest was OK which lulled me into a false sense of security for our return on 23 Sep. Massive queue with no order just a sea of people. Children crying, tempers frayed as people looked to gain the best advantage of the disorder. No provision for families, except one person that tried to redirect them when spotted. My partner and I were separated (a bit like a football crowd) as we were eventually directed along different channels despite having the same documentation (ID cards?). Utter chaos. Don't use Stansted if you have a choice and drop-off outside the short-stay car park (second turning at the last roundabout).

London Stansted is, quite possibly, the worst airport in Europe. Do not use it if at all possible. The queues, especially with small children, are impossible to navigate as everyone pushes in as they are worried about missing their flight, which makes more people push in, which makes more people push in, etc. There is no form of crowd control and it is absolutely "every man and woman for themselves". It is dangerous and overcrowded with staff who are more interested in getting out of the dump (which I completely understand) then helping passengers. Avoid - especially with children. If you have to use the airport, get to the car park at least 4 hours before - and even then you still might not have enough time when you have to allow for 30 minute trip from the long term car park, 30 minute check in, 2 hour trek through security, 30 minute trek to the gate. Dismal experience.

✅ Verified Review | Horrendous time, spent 20 minutes at passport control with my British passport, rest of family through in 5 minutes with their national id cards. Then had to go all way out and back thru security - never seen queues like it, 40 mins, half the belts shut. Missed flight, so had to pay £100 for another. Surely they can tell when is the busy times, they have lists of flights so why do they not open all the security lanes and passport lanes, doesn't take rocket science to work out. Anyway that's me done with Stansted, should have gone through Amsterdam or other airport.

London Stansted is terrible. Queue for security scanners is at least 50 mins. People all around me crying as they are slow motion missing their flights. Total disgrace - if this airport makes a profit it would be a scandal as serious money needs to be invested in staff and infrastructure.

I used London Stansted to visit a friend who lives nearby, then went on to Germany. Arrival (from France) was OK, departing somewhat bizarre. After going through security you have to walk through a big duty free shop while staff spray fancy perfume into the air or on you, then down a long walkway with endless shops then you arrive at a waiting hall with a lot of overpriced eating places and few places to sit. This all seemed very strange to me as this airport is mostly used by Ryanair and EasyJet, budget airlines, are their customers really going to splash out on Chanel and Dior perfume and quaff champagne and caviar whilst waiting for their flights? They do not tell you what gate your flight is going to leave from until 15 minutes before departure, when the gate number appears on the board, Then there is a mad dash of hundreds of people to get to their gate, but to my frustration I found you have to take a monorail thing to get there, I have never experienced such a system as that before in extensive travels. It is all very stressful especially to visitors from overseas who have never been to this place before and are getting worried about missing their flight.

What a fantastic mess. I have never ever encountered such a dysfunctional dis-jointed set of passenger processes in all of my travelling career. Having worked in the industry for many years I had thought my first journey through Stansted since MAG had aquired the airport would be pleasurable and as such would use the airport again. All I can say is avoid it like the pit it is. No seating, no customer service from airport staff especially security, no signs of any real use, dirty toilets, dirty check-in areas, sullen staff and then a forced walk through shopping areas post security like lambs to the slaughter. Add this to car parks and an expense you can avoid by getting a taxi from london its cheaper believe me, and which numbnut dreamt up the forecourt toll charge what a rip off. If there was an easier faster way to travel abroad do it. Never again Stansted.

I have tended to avoid where possible this airport other than collecting or dropping off relatives who have to use it for flights to Derry. I was not expecting too much but we decided to give it a go for a quickly arranged trip to Alicante. The traffic flow has been completely ruined. We used the airport meet and greet which in itself compares badly with say purple parking at LHR or meet and greet at LGW. We arrived in the main terminal to be met by people walking in all directions as we tried to make our way to security. That area although it looked grim was ok. We were then taken on a protracted maze which I am sure went round in circles through a maze of shops and food outlets. Seating areas were jammed packed and very limited even though we were there at about 3pm. I got the impression that this was a deliberate policy so that if you wanted to have a seat you were forced into a food outlet thereby justify the rents they are charged. We went as we had planned to the escape lounge which would have cost £25 if we were not using a pass which we have. Most lounges are attractive with views over the airport but this appeared to be a converted cellar and fairly depressingly decorated. There were only 2 loos for this area. Food and drink offer ok but here as with the rest of the airport the staff seemed to be working hard to overcome the ludicrous conditions the senior management had given them to operate. We departed from gate 87 which tends to be used for mainly domestic flights and when I used to fly to Derry this was the area we generally used. I noticed that all the seats in the centre of this area had been removed. As frequently happens with Ryanair we were passed into a corridor before the doors were opened to allow us to board the aircraft. It was a warm day but the airconditioning in this area was not on. All in all it was a very depressing experience and not one I will rush to repeat. Fellow passengers were telling me that on returning immigration is still a mess but I will await that experience in a weeks time. My rating would be zero were it not for the efforts of the staff to overcome the obstacles senior management have imposed on them. It is a lesson on how to ruin a perfectly good airport. Thanks MAG for ruining my local airport!

This airport is a machiavellian masterpiece designed to antagonise, frustrate and disappoint in equal measure. We arrived early one morning in August to stand in a check in queue for over 45 minutes before moving onto the living hell that is security. The staff there are obnoxious, and aggravate an already hellish experience barking orders at hordes of people jostling for space. Our belongings were separated and despite having to wait for them to come down the belt we were told to "get out of the way" and "get your bags off the floor". Some 90 minutes after arriving in the airport we were finally through to airside with a little time for refreshments. So the new retail experience is well-documented. I can't add a lot more save to say that it's all true. A path wends it's way to the comparatively tiny restaurant and seating area where it's so full of people you'll only eat if you're very quick spotting a table. As for the duty free - I don't mind shopping in the airport but it's impossible at Stansted as you simply don't have time to get back there after eating. I imagine the retailers are losing fortunes watching people prioritising getting to the food outlets or their departure gate without stopping. The departure gates are fine - plenty of space etc but you'll spend no time there as by the time you've made it through the previous war of attrition it's time to board the plane. Getting back is no better. Stansted is an overwhelmingly grey, dull and cheerless place to arrive home with another miserable security experience. Families are herded into a long queue which is horrible for young children but this is paradise compared to the ordeal of going back to the long stay car park. We reached the back of a long group of people that waited 20 minutes for a bus. Clearly by the size of the queue many had been waiting much longer. Not the 15 minutes promised. At this point all the usual British queuing etiquette disappeared with people barging their way onto a dangerously packed bus. I can scarcely believe drivers are happy ferrying people about in this way. From arrival on the runway it took over 2 hours to get to our car - nearly as long as our flight. I would love never to use Stansted again. But it's an airport not a supermarket and sadly we're limited by choice and geography.

✅ Verified Review | Departures was not a pleasant experience at all. Passengers are funnelled through duty free shops by force, you cannot bypass this area even if you're in a hurry. The terminal is also so overcrowded you can't get past people and even if you do, there are no seats available in the waiting area. Only at the gates are there seats available, but by the time you get there you're boarding your flight so it's irrelevant. Also, there is poor signage of the fact that you cannot travel freely between different gates (e.g. if you want to see off somebody on another flight than your own) and there is a ludicrous and cumbersome process of having to call for a person to escort you through the terminal if you need to get to a different gate. Overall the airport appears designed to make money from shopping, and everything else (passenger comfort, ease of use) is sacrificed in the process.