London Stansted Airport

I have used Stansted for 15 years and how it has deteriorated. Trying to book car park when an offer was on and could not book - funny how I could book when full rate was applied. Border control on the way home really is upsetting, after sitting on a plane for hours, the last thing anyone wants is a queue for over an hour getting through border control. How come this doesn't happen in Spain? Seriously considering never to use Stansted again - Norwich or Southend may be getting my custom.

I thought we were lucky to be able to use this airport as it is so much closer than where we normally fly from - how wrong I was. It is running at far over its capacity. Immigration took us an hour during which there was no explanation or apology. Small children mixed with carry-on cases, average height people like me, slow people, fast people all thrown together in a claustrophobic space. Terrible.

Passport control is an embarrassment. Upon arriving from Egypt in May 2015 we queued for over 90 minutes from midnight. I had my 4 year old and a 3 month old, without pushchairs. We were told that the delay was because we got a cheap flight! A girl had flown alone from Hungary and had a ticket for the train which, by the time she got through, had ended for the day. She won't be flying to Stansted again. June 2015 we waited over an hour and a half to collect someone flying in from France. They won't be returning to Stansted again.

I arrived at Stansted Airport passport control on 27th May. When I entered the queue for non-EU citizens, there were not many people in front of me. However, the time which elapsed from my entering the queue to the time my Australian passport had eventually been duly stamped was 97mins. For the first hour there were two desks being used to process non-EU passport holders but this eventually went down to 1 counter. No one came and explained the problem nor at any stage apologised for the situation. Many passengers became angry and distressed and a number missed ongoing flight connections. Concerned and outraged at the longest wait I had ever experienced in an immigration queue at any airport in the world in over 45 years of travel, I took the opportunity to speak to a passport control supervisor when finally inside the airport. I received what can only be described as a most inadequate explanation, delivered in a highly supercilious and cavalier manner. Apparently they really do not care about the unconscionable delays and have no compunction in showing their contempt for those who do. Avoid this airport if you possibly can.

Having used STN over many years since the takeover it is now showing a marked decline in service. Outbound, putting all ready stressed passengers through a shopping mall before getting a waiting area that has little or no seating shows the contempt the owners feel about their passengers. Return, taking over one hour to progress through immigration is totally unacceptable immediate improvement are required before I will use STN again.

Arrived Border Control 01.40 on Saturday 20th June 2015. Had to queue 46 minutes to pass through. To the best of my ability I counted only 6 desks open and 9 closed. This is a disgrace.

The new Terminal 2 is overall very good, particulary if you are using the Main Bus Station. The staff were helpful at the automatic check-in machines and the staff at the combined Star Alliance desk checking luggage were professional if not friendly. Things go downhill when you enter Security. A young man bantered with a female passenger and gave me a cursary glance. I didn't feel that the staff were in any way to be trusted with fighting terrorism. I went into WHSmiths to pick up a few items. Three staff were lounging around the cash register chatting and the customers were struggling to use the self-service checkouts. I didn't feel like interrupting their conversation so I did the same. I couldn't scan the items and felt like walking out. A young man appeared and mocked me for not knowing how to use the machine. Customer service is being replaced by self-service which is hardly nice from the point of view of customers. Oh, and a point about the toilets, which I expect we'll be cleaning ourselves soon. I'm traveling. I have bags. I want to use a urinal. There is no shelf or hook or anything to put/hang my stuff on. So I use the dirty floor. I also checked the toilet cubicles. One coat hook but again no shelf or anywhere to place a bag. Is this to cut the risk of people leaving items behind or for security reasons? Again, it's not very nice.

I write this review on a National Express coach travelling from the joke that is Stansted passport control. I stupidly went the electronic passport route and it took at least 45 minutes to get through. The result being I missed the last Stansted Express train at 12.30pm for which I had a ticket and had to buy a coach ticket. It has added time and expense to my journey, but it was clear to all of us in the queue that the normal passport control check in was much faster than the supposedly quicker electronic check in. Infuriating. As other people say here, avoid the electronic passport Gates as you will regret it. Terrible boarder control. The worst I have experienced in Europe. Stansted, you are an embarassment to the UK. Avoid if possible.

Arrived this morning for flight to Berlin and as per usual security was manic. We are both oap's but were shouted at by very impatient staff who treated us like cattle. We were horrified and upset by this incident. We are very widely travelled and consider Stansted to be the worst airport we have ever used - shame on you Stansted

I arrived from a flight from Greece at Stansted on Tuesday June 16th at 23.30. I have done a lot of travelling around the world in my time but I have never seen a queue as long as the one I suffered at Stansted passport control. What made it worse were the monitors that advertised the wonderful things UK Border were doing for me. At one point it even said they welcomed feedback! Well look around. I am afraid that the UK is a police state in the sense that it prides itself on its security processes but treats its customers like their time is worthless. I will never use Stansted. I second another comment about the departure area being like a bazaar. It is so demeaning to have to struggle along a winding pathway through loads of shops before arriving in a limited seating area surrounded by high priced food shops. Why can't an airport be designed to make my travel experience as painless as possible.