London Stansted Airport

When oh when will Stansted sort out their passport control? I use the airport about 6 times a year and no matter be it summer holidays or a Saturday in February the passport control is chaos. Another 40 minute wait to go through the automatic control with 2 members of staff helping - and another massive queue to use the normal passport control gates. Please Stansted sort this out - you know when the flights land and you really should be able to sort out passport control! Also the rudest security staff on departures. I really wouldn't use this airport if it wasn't on my doorstep.

Standing in a huge queue again at Stansted airport arriving on a late flight arriving at 11.15pm 6 months ago the last time we came through Stansted it took 2 hours to leave the airport because of queues and missing the last trains. Whilst waiting in a cramped corridor to come into the passport area no information was provided no attempt at crowd control. Only once we reached one small escalator was there any attempt to stop crushing or maintain control this was done by allowing only a set number of people at a time up the escalator. My wife who is Polish and traveling on an ID card was not allowed up with me at first as only British passport holders were allowed up at first. We are now standing in a similar queue the only difference is we have a taxi booked to pick us up which I booked with sufficient time to get through security under normal circumstance. If we incur any additional waiting time we will seek to claim back from Stansted airport as no warning was given as to there: 1. Management incompetence. 2. Attempt to cut costs. 3. Expected increase in business. I spoke to the manger supervising the arrival hall and she said it is like this most nights as they often have a large number of family's arriving late at night which slows the process down.

This formerly attractive airport has been reduced to a shambles by it's new owners. Because it was a weekend the great British tradition of the bus replacement service was in full swing from Liverpool Street (no reduction in fare) but that isn't the fault of the airport. Took well over an hour to clear security due to lack of staff. People were in a state of distress that they would miss flights. For no apparent reason my overnight bag was searched and the clothes including underwear and socks laid out in public view for meticulous examination by a man in white gloves. Most bags were being searched by glacially slow moving staff. Had to hurry through the maze of pathetic retail outlets which no one is interested in to find my departure gate. Fortunately because I was on an internal flight I did not have to experience the delights of passport control or spend any more time here. Speaking to others who have recently used this airport they concur with my comments. Come back BAA all is forgiven.

I had the unfortunate experience of landing at Stansted at 00.30am due to an hour delay on a Ryanair plane. I unfortunately have not gone to the effort to get my British Passport even though I have indefinite leave to remain fly with my English husband and have resided in the UK for 9 years which is how I find myself in Non EU Passport holders queue. My husbands queue was right out to the arriving trains and my queue was never more than 10 -15 people long and yet it took over an hour to get checked through. My husband who had got through his queue of a 100 or more people in twenty minutes stood behind the counters waiting for me to come through was shocked by how people were treated. There is no basic respect as we watched people being shouted at goaded and told to wait when they struggled to give answers in English.

Used long stay car park. Waited for shuttle bus for around 5 minutes both arriving at and leaving airport. Going out checked in and went through security in about 20 minutes. Had good and inexpensive snack in airport. Ryanair flight left on time. On return (on time) some passengers had slight problems with passport recognition system as many people seemed to be using it for first time. Support staff observant and quickly redirected anyone with problems to manual control. Bags ready for us when we arrived at carousel. Took about 30 minutes to get bags after landing. Overall a pleasant experience. Did note that it was a long walk from plane to passport control. This may be a problem for older passengers especially as stairs were involved and escalators were not working (8pm Saturday).

There's no doubt about it - this airport is a shambles. We travelled back to the airport (from Germany - Christmas Markets) on 23rd December 2014 but a power outage at Stansted caused a 3 hour delay on our return flight meaning we arrived home at 3am. The airport is dirty facilities are weak and toilets sparse. The airport emailed and "apologised" for the disruption from the power outage. It's not the first time this airport suffered a power failure (Oct 2013) so its clear that lessons haven't been learnt. My advice - look at other London Airports before considering Stansted. Put Stansted at the bottom of your list if you value your own time. This airport is a national embarrassment to the UK. Something has gone badly wrong at Stansted and I think the government should intervene before a more serious incident occurs.

I never tried to go through the automatic passport control until last week. Total chaos. The machines were not recognizing many peoples passports and we then had to go to another manned desk. Very long check ensued. Eventually when I reached Baggage pick up most of the carousels were overflowing with luggage because of the delays at the Passport check. They need to get their act together.

Arrival - maybe I got lucky. Came through early Dec at 11am. Security for non UK/EU was only a 10 min wait luggage was quick to arrive and ticket counter for the busses was lineless. That being said buy your ticket at the bus stands. Reasoning? The company I purchased for had long lines and no busses (we waited over 20 min). The other company was selling 2 pounds cheaper busses were half empty and came several times while we waited. Thus go to the stands and make your choice then all companies have people selling tickets on the spot.

My trip on a northern lights internal flight and requiring assistance to and from the plane. Usually from other airports you get one on one assistance. To and from. Well my assistance was "here is your wheelchair follow me". Not impressed. No help whatsoever. Never again will I fly from London Stansted.

Again Stansted airport goes from bad to worse. The management seem to do there best to make the Stansted experience as bad as possible (maybe to reduce passenger numbers?). The current airport managers do not have a clue on how to run an airport or how to manage people and the customer experience. If any 'Normal business' was run like this airport it would be shut down in weeks. On the way out - Long queues at baggage security (this has been going on for years). A new pointless meander around the 'Shopping experience' is not what you need after a 30minute queue though security. Nowhere to sit rude staff dirty limited facilities. On the Way in - No stand for airplane (15 minute wait). 45 minute queue as passport control. Not what you need at 12pm (again this has been going on for years). Dirty. Getting out of the parking was a joke another 15 minute wait to get assistance. (Have you they not heard of number plate recognition). I guess they have at the £2 drop off zone. Please sort out this mess of an airport. It should not that difficult.