London Stansted Airport

As always there was a long, long queue for security check-in and so I decided to use the fast track service. It is now an extortionate £5.00. It used to be £3.50 which seemed fair enough. Not only was I shocked by the cost but the two ticket machines to use this service were out of order and just an unfriendly guy taking the money and not even issuing a receipt. It is all rather reflective of 'grab the money and don't smile either' attitude that has become so typical of Stansted in the last few years.

This is the second time recently that I have used Stansted. The last time I said 'never again', but sometimes you dont have a choice. I arrived from Lisbon at 11.45pm and it took 20 minutes to get off the plane as there was a delay in getting steps to the plane and then everyone had to use one exit. Then you walk across the tarmac, up stairs down stairs round corners up escalators along corridors and eventually come to the arrivals hall, then the fun really begins. Wait in a crocodile line with another 2 or 3 thousand others and inch towards the e passport gate (there's a separate crocodile line if you like the personal touch). The staff treat passengers with disdain and continuously make disparaging comments in loud stage whispers. Now I know what it feels like to be beholding to those in power. There is a notice every 25 metre to inform you that they will not tolerate any form of dissent so be on your best behaviour. Finally get out of this shambolic situation at 12.45 am. But we're not finished yet. Head for the shuttle bus to the car park, the queue is 300 metres long and people are stacked into the bendy bus like sardines. Eventually get to my car at 1.15am and look forward to the 2 hour drive to get home, Finally got to bed at 4am. Absolutely outrageous, someone needs to take a long hard look at this chaos.

Have heard horror stories about Stansted but can honestly say it was one of the quickest London airports. Prebooked short stay parking online, allocated car park closed but able to park in different short stay. Purchased fast track through security in minutes. Plenty of places to eat or drink. On return through passport control within 10 minutes. Will be more than happy to travel from Stansted again.

After our dreadful experience at Stansted Airport in June of this year we were expecting the same problems. Outbound flight at 06:00 and return two weeks later at 19:10, and there were no real problems.

Hated the so called "shopping experience" but all else was fine. Can I advise to book fast track through security. Worked perfectly well. If you leave plenty of time it all works well. We had no problems. Coming back we were lucky and passport control was fully manned and we walked through. It was clean and no problems seeing screens and the toilets were fine. Maybe we were just lucky.

Stansted Airport wasn't as bad as I expected. Arriving at around 1 p.m., there were large queues as immigration, but they were moving quickly and all the electronic border gates seemed to be working. I got from plane to bus station in just 30 minutes. Flying out at 6:45 am, there were a lot of people going through security, but the lines moved quickly and the staff were helpful. It took about 20 minutes. In the departure lounge after the shops, it was crowded, there were hundreds of seats and an official going aroung asking sleeping customers not to occupy more than 1 seat. But everyone on our flight reached the aircraft (by train) on time.

Woeful. Huge queues at security with many closed X-ray machines. Surly staff and no sense of urgency. Once thru security it doesn't improve. Acres of soulless retail space that you're forced to navigate before you can start the long walk to the gates. Can't believe this place has pretensions to being a major London airport.

Total shambles. Long queues for search, overcrowded lounge with insufficient seating, too short timing for announcements of gates resulting in a mad rush and scrum to get to the flight. Coming back in to the longest queues of any airport I have ever flown into. We waited over an hour to get through immigration after a 1 hour 20 minute flight. Verdict - Go to any other airport.

I have travelled worldwide but I have never experienced such a shameful scrum as the nearly one hour line up to reach the security check. There was no order or indication of how anybody should proceed. I'm sure many people will have missed their flights. We were very early but the long delay meant we had to proceed directly to the gate instead of buying a meal and a drink. If I was a restaurateur paying a fortune for a pitch airside I would be furious that a totally inept security operation was loosing me a fortune. The salt in the wound is that most of the security lines seemed to be closed. I remember a time shortly after Stansted opened when it was a breeze to pass through but now its such a nightmare that I will try my utmost to never have to use this airport again.

London Stansted Airport. Seating in terminal dirty. Brought to attention of staff with little interest. But major problem is returning to Stansted during the late night "rush hour". Not for the first time we were stacked in a a corridor before immigration, then an hour and a half to clear passport control. Totally unacceptable and we won't be using Stansted again until they sort this out despite living 30 minutes from the airport.