London Stansted Airport

An awful experience. Totally overrun and ongoing building work. You have to walk through a shopping centre before getting to your gate (adding 15-20 minutes), regardless of your desire to shop. Only 30 minutes free internet - then you pay. Food prices significantly higher then outside. The experience is a nightmare. The staff I encountered were great.

We arrived at 11.45pm with thousands of other travellers. The customs hall was overcrowded. We waited over an hour to get through the automatic system, with many machines not working, how has this happened? Why are so many flights landing at the same time? There has to be a better system, travellers with non EU passports sail through to the frustration of many. Perhaps our leaders should be made to stand in queues going nowhere for anything to be done. Try and avoid Stansted at night.

Simply terrible airport. No separation of passenger flows, opposite direction passengers just collide, long queues at each step, long walks to reach any point. All valuable central part is occupied by overpriced shops. I really like their application of zig zag to main passenger arteria when it comes to duty free shop.

What people have to remember is that airports are now less transport hubs and more massive car parks. Would be interesting to know what percentage of MAG's income comes from airline charges and what comes from car parking and retail. I think most people see the "airport experience" as a necessary inconvenience. Most people want to arrive for their departure, clear security, maybe eat and then depart, but are bombarded with poor quality restaurants and over priced shops. Compare the prices of say, Boots and WH Smith's in and out of the airport. MAG probably employ as many people in the "passenger experience department" as they do in the running of the airport. Can't see that anyone has mentioned the lack of toilets in departures, while the airport is an architectural masterpiece courtesy of Sir Norman Foster, he seems to have forgotten to factor in that people have to use the facility. For those that scoff about Immigration Officers commenting on the sun affecting the ability for them to see passports or for the e-readers to work properly, it is true. At certain times of the year and at certain times of the day, the Immigration Officers are blinded by the setting sun! Try Southend if you can.

Without doubt the worst airport that I have had the misfortune to use for both departures and arrivals into the UK. We landed last night at 23.30 and the arrivals hall was crammed full of people. It took an hour and ten minutes of chaos to get through passport control, there were 15 E passport machines but only 10 were working. The staff were panicking even though they should be used to this, staff were very rude and shouting to get each others attention. Our baggage ended up on a different conveyer belt to what the screen was showing, it was only by chance we spotted our very distinctive suitcase on the other side of the baggage claim room. When we notified the staff that the screen is misinforming people they did not seem bothered. I will not be using Stansted again.

We landed last night at 23.30 and the arrivals hall was crammed full of people. It took an hour and ten minutes of chaos to get through passport control, there were 15 E passport machines but only 10 were working. The ground staff said that they had a lot flights landing and no airport could cope with that volume of passengers! Where is the problem, didn’t they know the flights were arriving, planes don’t turn up unexpectedly? Surely someone is responsible for incoming flights? Stansted love to grab the landing fees from the airlines and to hell with the passengers. We missed our coach and just managed to catch another with seconds to spare, the next one was at 3am. The poor chap in front of just missed his too, he was told the next one to Milton Keynes was in 5 hours time!

Without doubt the worst airport that I have had the misfortune to use for both departures and arrivals into the UK. A few years back, prior to being bought, this airport offered an efficient, friendly and relaxed service. Now, on arrival you are forced to battle your way through a worm hole of bright swirling lights and 80's tack before being spewed out into an open space thronged with humanity and no place to sit. However they do offer an exercise regime by showing your gate number at the very latest time possible, thus ensuring that when your gate number blinks onto the screen there is a sudden panic and a human herd of people start running in all directions vainly looking for some sort of directions to where they need to get to in 5 minutes. Arriving into the UK at Stansted offers another unique experience. I think they are taking the spirit of an English queue just a little too far. Tired, hungry and dehydrated and just wanting to get home the airport security process has something waiting for you, but it is not a line of friendly smiling security staff. Rather you are faced with a long line of crushed people slowly shuffling their way down an airless and suffocating tunnel before you even get in eyeshot of the border control. 20 minutes later the blank stressed face of a staff member shouts in your ear if you have an e-passport and directs you to join yet another queue. Not sure where the airport have purchased their electronic gates from but I suggest they need to get a refund (shame they don't give me one) as normally only around a third of them work at any one time. Avoid this airport if you can.

Back again! This time in in the morning from Basel and out late evening for Edinburgh. On arrival I was delighted to see far more staff manning the border control checkpoints and more e-gates open. A really quick passage through, only stymied by waiting for our baggage for more than 20 mins. Some you win, some you lose. On my return, I was taking my first 'domestic' flight to Edinburgh. Once upon a time, domestic flights had a different part of the airport, and no security, but those days are gone. I was processed quickly and efficiently by security although the area was very busy. Having a lot of time before my flight I decided to investigate the shops, but wasn't tempted. There is a considerable choice of dining options and with a long wait ahead I enjoyed my meal at Giraffe. Once my gate was called, I had a new experience but not one that I'd care to repeat often. My flight was called to Gate 84, via a tunnel with streams of passengers walking in both directions with no separation of inbound and outbound passengers. Once in the gate area, there were no separations of the four flights due to depart - two to Edinburgh, one to Glasgow and one to Belfast. It was quite disconcerting to see people openly drinking from beer bottles and as there were no separation markers, it was very hard to find out where to queue (especially the difference between 'speedy' boarding and 'other' boarding in the case of my Easyjet flight). Passengers inbound from these aircraft simply walked up to the area where we were waiting and had to push their way through the throng of waiting passengers to get into the tunnel and back to the terminal. Is it always like this on a Friday night at this time? More security and segregation control is needed, too many people and not enough direction.

I hadn't flown from Stansted for a few years and after seeing a lot of bad reviews I was a little worried about my next visit, yet was pleasantly surprised. We did Meet & Greet car parking which I would definitely recommend. Security looked quite chaotic at first but moved through very quickly. The new duty free shopping and restaurant/bar areas are much improved and I think the new layout gives a better flow, do any shopping you want to do, then find a seat. The only people who complain are those who stress about securing a seat first then end up going backwards through the shopping area, which there's absolutely no benefit in doing. It did get quite busy with a slight lack of space in departures but I'm concious of the fact that a large area of the terminal is currently blocked off for refurbishment. Passport Control was far better than I expected at about 10 minutes queuing time and this was at 18.30 with still a fair few flights coming in. There's also lots of large signs and flight information screens about which can only be a good thing. In terms of getting to/from the airport, it's fairly easy and well served by good road and rail links. Overall a good airport and really not sure why there's so many bad reviews.

Delayed departing. Staff rude at airport as well as very slow and extremely rude cabin Staff. On arrival at our destination we were unable to disembark because absence of staff to open stairs/corridor to the terminal. Our return flight delayed take off yet again, dismantling even worse. Once in the terminal we waited at least an hour before our luggage reclaim. Ridiculously late home. Outrageously bad service. We will never use Stansted again as this seems to be a regular occurrence. We have now booked from Gatwick for our next holiday.