London Stansted Airport

I arrived at Stansted at around 8 pm on Wednesday 22nd April. While Stansted airport is in itself quite adequate the arrangements at arrival passport control are a national disgrace. Whomever installed and passed as fit for purpose the new electronic scanning system should be ashamed. The system simply does not work properly. In my experience not only has the queuing time been extended but when one eventually arrives at the scanning "stalls" the scene is chaotic. Some of the machines were seemingly out of order a "sergeant major" type was valiantly but not always successfully directing people to available stalls creating an atmosphere of near panic; once in the stalls many people including my wife and myself could not be successfully scanned. In my own case I'd all but given up after three scans and had called for assistance when the gate unexpectedly let me through. My wife was not so fortunate and the scanner failed entirely in its purpose causing yet more delay when she had to reverse out of the stall and go through a manual check point along with others who had experienced the same problem. I should perhaps say that our appearances have not changed from our passport photographs which were issued recently.

What have you done to the duty free? After waiting ages to get through security at 8am having to take boots belts coats etc off then put them all back on again all we were aiming for was a coffee and breakfast. We then had to walk for what seemed ages through the duty free to get to any restaurant. After breakfast we intended to buy perfume and after shave but quite honestly couldn't be bothered to walk back to duty free. The girls working there seemed bored as nobody seemed to be stopping to even look. A big mistake as I am sure you can tell by your drop in sales? The design and layout is completely flawed. I am sure I am not the only one with this opinion. We use this airport purely because of the location to where we live.

In my experience Stansted airport is without doubt the worst airport in London. Being a regular traveller having used this airport on several occasions in the past two years since Manchester Airports Group took over its ownership the quality of service and efficiency have deteriorated markedly. Understaffing particularly at security combined with high passenger volumes means the queues are lengthy snaking out into the check in area. This situation exists at all times of the day often with several hundred people waiting. I have spent nearly an hour just to get through security particularly at early morning when many flights depart. In addition the staff are rude and dismissive to passengers shouting at people and being disrespectful. After passing through security passengers are herded like cattle through a seemingly endless narrow winding path forced to pass shopping aisles on either side. This creates a bottleneck by slowing passengers down ensuring there is no option to speedily get to the gates. Manchester Airports Group seem hell bent on doing everything possible to increase revenues by cutting costs through understaffing and turning this airport into a shopping mall. If I want to go shopping in an airport it should be my choice. Why should I risk missing my flight because this company thinks an airport should feel like Oxford Street in the week before Christmas all year round. Once you have escaped this and boarded the plane you can look forward to your return to the UK arriving to massive delays at immigration. Also the electronic passport gates often are not fully operational and those that are open do not work properly. I would not be surprised if they use this "opportunity" to place shops there while people queue to leave. By comparison Gatwick airport is a model of efficiency. It is well organised with courteous staff even when busy. I have flown in and out of Gatwick over a dozen times this year alone with no delays or problems departing or arriving. Today my destination in Asturias Northern Spain has only one direct flight a day unfortunately from Stansted. If there is another choice of airport it is worth avoiding Stansted if you want a relaxing stress free journey.

What an awful place! Our flight landed from Italy at 23.20 on Sat night 18th. We finally arrived in baggage hall at 01.00 on Sun morning 19th! Took 1 hr 40 mins to get through passport control. Hundreds of passengers herded in a corridor for over an hour - totally unacceptable at midnight to keep passengers standing for that length of time many of them elderly or with fractious toddlers and babies. There has to be a huge safety issue with this. Then when we leave the corridor and arrive into actual passport control hall we have to join hundreds more passengers queuing. The automatic checking machines are a disaster there were more red crosses than green arrows. It took forty minutes to get through there. If Stansted cannot cope with these volumes of passengers (and clearly from reading previous reviews it cannot) then why oh why are so many flights allowed to land at the same time? I don't hold a British passport but most of the passengers around me did to think they had to put up with these delays to get into their own country where they live and pay taxes - ridiculous carry-on.

At 2356 hours on the 21st April there are 400 people or more standing in the hall ways leading up into the terminal. Wait to get to official passport contr area around 1 hour. If Stansted have visibility of all inbound flights why is the business intelligence not being used to cater for the incoming travellers. The knock on effects to additional journeys home cat parking fees and general exhaustion should be transparently compensated for. This is the 2nd time in a month I've used this airport both times similar experiences.

Totally unacceptable. What do we pay taxes for when desks are not open in peak time school holidays? Returning to UK from Spain at lunchtime Saturday 18th April. The passport control queue was consistently around 400 people served by only 14 desks open. We were herded like cattle and it took 40 minutes to get through. The automatic gates are not open to any person travelling with minors. There is no explanation about why this is the case. Surely one person could be on duty to attend with those travelling with children who need to get through quickly after a long flight. My son who has a different surname was asked this question while standing next to me "how do you know this lady you are travelling with?". On previous occasions I have been told that "women like me make things very difficult for immigration staff and it's a good job I can see that he looks like you".

What a great shame that Stansted airport has become somewhere I would now actively avoid and choose to fly from anywhere but there. I found the whole experience quite a horror story. Staff numbers are minimal and those that were around were less than helpful or happy. Entering security was appalling there was no method of queuing and people just moved along in a throng very politely considering the circumstances. When arriving at the end the security staff were rude and discourteous shouting at passengers and ordering them around I asked a simple question and was made to feel stupid. This is something I rarely encounter these days and I travel frequently and encounter staff who are helpful happy and make you feel as if you are really welcome at the airport. I never complain but always compliment unfortunately in this instance I found nothing to compliment.

Waited for 1.5 hours in the early hours of this morning kettled in tunnels leading from the plane to border control. When we actually reached the hall we were then told off because we had biometric passports and should have 'read the instructions and got through faster'! As we were physically stopped from moving ahead I would like to know what we could have done! If this is part of Theresa Mays initiative I think someone should tell her there's an election soon and I don't take kindly to being prevented from entering the country I live in! Appalling and unnecessary way to deal with travellers.

Horrible. Customer comfort has been put second to shop space. No lounge. Couldn't find a free power socket. Scared to leave my seat to go to the loo.

Not at all impressed with Stansted airport tonight! After arriving at Stansted at 23.25 it took more than an hour to get through security and passport controls before I could even make it to the baggage collection area. It was so crowded and delayed I was wondering if there was a security issue bit I don't think so. Stansted it seems were short staffed during the busy holiday period and didn't have enough staff to cover the night shift.