London Stansted Airport

Not Verified |   I have travelled widely around the world in my 68 years on every continent, and Stansted Airport is about the worst airport. I have travelled through Stansted airport many many times, and it continues to steadily deteriorate, and has now reached the level of a third world country. There are no working jetways at the airport, instead you have to climb down a steep staircase to get out of or into the aircraft. Then once you are out of the aircraft, walk across the apron tarmac, then you have to walk up two flights of steep stairs, with no elevator available. Third world stuff. The last straw on my latest trip was the complete lack of adequate toilet facilities, for men and women. We stopped at a couple of loos, one in the domestic baggage claim area and another in the rental car village, men and women's side. They were all filthy, lacking in toilet paper, and had few if any working stalls. The majority of the stalls were not working at all, i.e. were out of order, and in the rental car village there were no working male stalls at all. The Hertz guy at the rental car village told me there was a male stall somewhere, but I was not able to find it, and there was no signage supporting that man's claim. Overall Horrible, filthy, disgusting, and a total disgrace. Welcome to Britain!

✅ Trip Verified | If you like rude staff who shout at you and give instructions inconsistent with every other international airport, this is the place for you. I was shouted at for using the same clear plastic bag for liquids that I’d used at Gatwick in both July and December 2023. The man threw a tiny bag at me and then turned his back on me. Subsequently my bag was rechecked at security by another man with the type of manners that any parent of a toddler would be embarrassed by. Having endured this, I then discovered that half of the ladies’ toilets were unavailable. During peak travel season? A dreadful experience - I’d last flown from Stansted 10 years ago and am in no hurry to relive this demeaning and inefficient experience.

Not Verified | The entire STN experience was a humiliation ritual. We arrived at the airport 1 hour before the gate closure. We didn't have any baggage. We acquired our boarding passes pretty quickly but the horror started at the security check. There was a 6 lane colossal queue towards a narrow gate that goes towards the hall where security check starts and people were packed like cockroaches getting pressed under a hydraulic pressure. The security check was a complete disaster, engineered to maximise the chances of having a stress-induced stroke and missing your flight. Despite the crowd, security insisted to go through everything single procedure in a slowest possible way. It took us 30 mins to get through the security and when we were over with it, only 10 minutes left for gate closure. Then, a marathon started because of the distance between gates and shopping corridors. We ran through maze-like corridors and made it to our gates exhausted and stressed. That was easily one of my top three worst airport experience.

Not Verified | Good public transport connections via bus/coach. Lack of seats before security. Long wait at security. Airside is a vast overpriced shopping centre. The only reasonably priced food outlet is Wetherspoons. Toilets are disgusting and stink. Floor was covered in urine. Sinks were filthy. Uncomfortable wooden seating in departures area. WiFi is terrible. Only free for an hour then you have to log in again. Overall a badly run overpriced airport that could be better with competent management.

Not Verified | What a filthy dump of an airport. Outbound was bad but the return beggars belief. Toilets are absolutely revolting, floors and carpets look like they've never been cleaned, totally inadequate seating all over the airport, hostile, rude, argumentative ground staff. Arrived early from Pisa with Ryanair and connecting to Glasgow with easyjet. Was not allowed to check in as I was too early. Nowhere to sit, customers in the same boat were sitting all over the filthy floors. Check in staff both at the main bag drop and gate area were downright unpleasant at best. Boarding was total chaos. Customers being held in a freezing cold stairwell without seating for over 30 mins prior to boarding. Everything about this place is lacking. As the owners and management have very little pride in their airport it's high time that the civil aviation authority stepped in and forced them to clean up their act or lose their licence. I'm sure all of the other airports in the region will manage to pick up the slack. What an embarrassment for the country when foreign tourists arrive here and this is their first taste of the UK. Filthy, embarrassing,disgraceful. The owners of this dive should hold their heads in shame. The CAA should be sending inspectors to investigate this rip off and totally unsuitable, badly run outfit and revoke their licence until marked improvements are made.

✅ Trip Verified | Why only open the departures area at 3 am? People are sleeping on the floor. In my opinion this is absurd and makes no sense at all. Also there is no free WiFi. I knew Southend was a low cost airport but this is too much to handle, I would avoid transiting here.

Not Verified | This is not an airport; it's a shopping mall with a runway attached. As with all their other properties, Manchester Airports Group seem to have forgotten that an airport's primary purpose is as a transport hub to facilitate the efficient and comfortable movement of people from one place to another. This airport does anything but and will be held up for a long time as a classic case of user-hostile design. An airport that has almost no seats - imagine it! Well, you don't need to imagine because you can experience it for yourself at Stansted. I hope you like standing in corridors for hours or sitting on a cold marble floor. If you're willing to pay £20 for a cold Burger King meal, you might possibly be able to perch on one of their chairs for 15 minutes. Passengers are crammed into tiny hallways, staircases and queuing areas as every possible inch of space is clawed back in the quest to squeeze in as many retail stores as possible. Awful airport, do not recommend.

Not Verified | Worst airport I ever been to. It’s dirty, there is not enough sitting space, poor people had to sleep on the floor while waiting for their flights, toilets disgusting. The worst part is the security checks, very slow and staff absolutely horrible and rude. People were missing their flights because of how slow they were and absolutely unhelpful. Specifically one of the shift leaders, as I understood, yelled at me that I need to be in the airport 3 hours before the flight, while he can’t know my reasoning to being there just in time for the flight?! Will avoid this airport as much as I can and advice everyone the same.

Not Verified | Poorly organized security check. Non-confortable seating in terminal. Everything is dirty, especially the toilets. Confusing layout of the terminal. Flight was delayed. Would not recommend.

Not Verified | This place is not well laid out. Long lines every where you look. Stressed out people running due to the long wait times. So many people missing flights. Some area unclean. Not enough restrooms.