London Stansted Airport

Would appear that Stansted has maintained a consistency which would normally be applauded. However when that consistency is in ineptitude incompetence and ignorance then maybe the management should be ashamed or disgraced. To trot out the same old excuse that it was a clash of flights is both laughable and embarrassing. Maybe it's all a plan to introduce the many foreign visitors to our world beating ability in the art of queuing.

The Stansted experience is truly awful and has been for a long time now. Unfortunately I've had to use this airport on a weekly basis for the last 4/5 years. I will not be using it again after Christmas. I would much rather the inconvenience of travelling further and will now use Birmingham Airport after trying it in September and October (it is paradise in comparison with Stansted). The queues at departure are considerable. The space provided to shops at the airport in comparison to waiting areas / seats says all you need to know about the commitment to customer care. Queuing systems are hit and miss at departure gates - mainly miss. Gate numbers are frequently released with only a short time to go with the warning final call. Infrequent travellers are often seen running as if their lives depended on it. Arrival is much worse. There has been plenty of times when I've been held on a plane after it has parked for 10-30 minutes only to be told that we are waiting on ground staff to open the doors. When they decide to let us in we then have a middle distance race to get to passport control. Sometimes we have the privilege of queuing down two corridors even before we get upstairs to the main area. This process can take between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours in my experience. The border control and the ground staff blame each other. Last night border control also blamed the airlines for landing at the same time. I wonder who allows this to happen? The ground staff seem to take great delight in being rude/sarcastic or unhelpful - sometimes all three. Stansted management just don't seem to care. They know what a misery it is. They can see people. They can listen to people. Many travellers are infrequent so many will go away thinking they were just unlucky. Nothing could be further from the truth. The airport is wholly incapable of dealing with the capacity it has committed to. I left my watch one day at security. I reclaimed it the next day after being charged £20 for admin fees. Stansted may say that they tender the issue of lost property out to a third party but it is they who make the decision and no doubt are paid handsomely by the aforementioned third party. Stansted beats Ryanair for its contempt of its customers. I cannot pay it a higher insult than that.

The re-zoning of the interior seems to have resulted an expansion of the tacky shopping center (that you are forced to zigzag through) at the expense security floor space restaurants and other arguably more important customer related functions. As a result large queues build up all over the place. The most annoying of all aspects for me is the fact that arrivals from Ireland have to cram into buses from the aircraft to the terminal. The original designers of this previously impressive airport should be horrified at what's going on. And I hope someone's told Micheal O'Leary how his passengers are being treated. The 'turn-up on the day' long stay car park has gone up from less than £10/day to £19/day relatively few years.

This was by far the worst airport experience I have had and coupled with a Ryanair start it started my holiday in tears! The queue to the meet and greet parking was half a mile long and the staff were some of the rudest I have encountered. Then a battle through security with a lack of staff causing huge delays. Finally through you begin the absurd walk through the infinite duty free along a path fit for single file! Bow through this shopping maze you try and navigate your way to a gate only and to wait another hour to board the actual plane! The sheer volume of people has clearly gotten the best of Stansted and they clearly cannot cope! Heathrow I'm sorry I left you!

First experience of the "new improved" airside of Stansted in October and absolutely hated it. Previously it was a not unpleasant experience. Now we have no choice but to run the gauntlet of shops in the hope that we might get to sit down with a coffee - which we didn't even get the chance this time the security queuing to blame. I deeply resent being nothing more than a marketing opportunity and absolutely refuse to purchase from the shops or even browse. Congratulations - you've managed to take the last remaining vestiges of pleasure out of Stansted.

Horrendous waiting times. Arrived at 22.30 and the wait started with transit trains customs and buses. A total of 1.5 hours to get out of the airport.

Having seen the construction of the 'new' single terminal Stansted Airport and having used it extensively over the last 25 years my latest experience (inbound 7 November outbound 11 November) showed positive changes in the speed of flow through Border Control and outgoing security (which although I could have been 'lucky' in my arrival and departure times cannot be anything but a good thing) but I was horrified by the World DutyFree shopping area which dominates the start of the airside facilities. No daylight lowered ceilings and nowhere to go but to wind my way through hell and heavy sales pitches all too similar to what I hate about Manchester airport. The redevelopment airside is all to do with commercial opportunity and this coupled with the lack of seating and natural daylight really drags this airport down. It's almost a pleasure to reach the relatively spartan wing of the terminal given over to Ryanair's flights and even then today I found myself for the first time going down what used to be the domestic arm of the terminal building which was even less appealing on the eye but far more suited to air travel rather than high-end shopping. It is disappointing to see so few if any domestic flights and the whole airport seems to be losing its function putting commercial activities ahead of a short walk from the street to the gate which was one of the USPs of the initial design. I would recommend the airport for its proximity to London the wide range of destinations it serves and for good ground transport links but regret that I no longer feel that I could recommend it as an airport because it seems to be principally an upmarket shopping experience with a flight thrown in.

I flew on 28 October aiming to catch the 1210 flight to Rome. The queue for security was appalling and took nearly an hour to get through because many of the security points were not working. I also note that the border agency is similarly poorly operated with about half the electronic readers out of action. What an appalling impression to give to visitors to GB.

I can't believe the mess that is now Stansted Airport. Once you eventually get past security and the long queues instead of arriving in the main departure area where you can check your flight you arrive in the middle of a winding shopping precinct! It is complete chaos! There are so many people walking behind/alongside you that it would be impossible to look round the shops anyway. Then once you eventually get into the departure area there is not enough seating. It would be impossible to then go back and look in the shops due to the amount of people coming through security. The shops are completely in the wrong area. I cannot understand why it was designed this way it makes no sense at all. I live between Gatwick and Stansted airport and always choose Stansted if possible but now I would choose Gatwick anytime. Stansted is no longer the nice spacious airport it once was.

Found Stansted's passenger handling airside to be appalling. We had a 06.35 flight to Ancona on a Friday at the end of September so stayed in the Radisson (highly recommended) overnight. Ryanair bag drop was a breeze so we set off through security which was not too painful. For those who haven't seen it you are then led through a gleaming brightly lit and literally sparkling (the floor) shopping experience. This ends in a vast dimly lit 'herding shed' where hundreds of passengers were waiting for their flight to be called (note that the toilets at the end of this shed are new and immaculate). The food outlets adjacent to this area were also overcrowded (there aren't any in the shopping mall). On our return landing at 12.35 on a Tuesday the shuttle train was like the London underground in the rush hour and the immigration hall was as described by many previous reviewers. I can't remember how long it took to get through but it was too long. If you thinking of going Ancona airport in comparison is a charming little airport a pleasure to land at and take off from.