London Stansted Airport

Not Verified | Until the pandemic I travelled through Stansted every week. With an EasyJet Plus card you can skip the main security queue so that part of the experience is fine. Shopping is pretty good but their seating is always very crowded and it is generally impossible to sit anywhere that you can see the gate announcements. So a bit mixed. However, my biggest complaint about Stansted is transport to the airport and the car park charges. It is very difficult to use public transport as the trains to Cambridge stop at about 23:00. If you arrive any later than that then you are looking at a very expensive taxi ride after queuing up for 30 mins. The Car Parks are the most expensive around London and really badly managed. Also it is the only major London airport that charges for motor bikes. They claim a discount of 50% compared to cars but the reality is closer to 30%. Cycle storage is appalling - no way would I leave a bike their as it will be stolen/damaged in minutes. They could fix all this really easily but seem to have decided that their main business is expensive car parking. Wish I could avoid the airport.

Not Verified | Dropping off wife about to fly to Edinburgh, would have gone to front door but as approaching terminal spotted a roadside sign indicating 'free' 30 mins parking in short stay car park. Have the previously money grabbing management clicked the travel industry is in deep poo and customers need encouragement? Unbelievable, but that’s what it said so entered the orange short stay zone, took a ticket, dropped her off and drove to the exit. Here the machine wanted £8 for the 4 minutes before the barrier would go up. The voice on the telephone was very pleased to tell me that I was in the wrong short stay carpark and needed to pay the £8. And that was her position which she curtly repeated three times before she suddenly ended the call. So much for customer care but that is what we have become accustomed to when entering into Stansted airport. When will the management realise that passengers, particularly now in our Covid devastated world need a very different relationship with anyone supplying services. These car parking/drop off charges are vicious and reflect a greedy, cynical uncaring view of the customer. Many hate using Stansted, including myself and this visit the first in 18 months only reinforces that view. On my wife’s return I picked her up directly outside the terminal and the cost for that had gone from £4 to £5, a 25% rise. Well done Stansted - you don’t deserve to get the second runway.

✅ Trip Verified | Usually fly from Stansted about once a year if our flight options are not available from other London airports. The short stay car parks are a considerable walk from the terminal, there's only 1 airport Hotel within walking distance of the terminal. Security is slowed down by the fact that everybody empties their tray on the conveyor once its been scanned. Unlike other airports, staff allow this and don't ask people to move to the repacking area. This causes a backlog of people waiting to get their trays. The departures lounge is like a food court from a 1990s shopping centre with low end food options and hardly any seating. Water fountains are hidden away to encourage you to buy bottled water. No free newspapers like other London airport. In the past 12 months I have flown from 2 Heathrow terminals, Luton and both Gatwick terminals. I try to avoid Stansted at all costs and recommend you do too.

Not Verified | Have been trying to book long stay or Jet parks, all sites keep redirecting to short stay parking at extortionate prices, in fact four times the cost of flight ticket. Customer service just hang up and if you do talk to a third party representative they blame bus transfers. All other buses in the country can go though. To all foreign travellers I would advise you to go elsewhere, this airport is a disgrace, and its security staff the rudest and laziest I have encountered anywhere.

Not Verified | Whilst taking a client to Stansted Airport this morning it came as no surprise discover that the Management of the site had once more increased the cost to drop off/pickup travellers at The Express Drop off/Pickup Zone to 5.00. This represents a 20% increase in costs. They are profiteering from travellers who are restricted to using this Airport. The Management here are nothing more than a bunch of crooks.

✅ Trip Verified | Beware of overstay car park prices! You can use convenient car parks near Stansted airport, but the prices are quite high in general. Normal car park tariffs are not available on the website www.stanstedairport.com/parking in a clear and transparent manner to customers. In case your flight back to Stansted is delayed more than 6 hours or cancelled, you have to pay exorbitant overstay prices for each additional day, no matter the reason for the flight disruption. A short stay park overstay costs some 57£ a day, which is more than twice the normal daily price. See www.stanstedairport.com/terms-and-conditions/car-parking-terms-and-conditions. On-line bookings for car park Stansted Airport are not amendable or extendable. Customer Care service for car parking issues is very poor and in case of flight cancellations they don’t take any responsibility for the extra costs due overstay parking. Please consider alternative ways of reaching and leaving the airport including train and bus services. For early or late flights it might be useful to use a taxi or a Uber. If you have someone to drop you off and pick you up, you can easily use the ‘Free Set Down’ area (free for 1 hour) available at the Mid Stay Car Park rather than paying for you car parking. See www.stanstedairport.com/parking/pick-up-and-drop-off.

Not Verified | Terrible service, we have booked meet and greet so many times in different airports, but this one is being mis-sold. Its not meet and greet, the workers sit in a little warm office and you have to find this office. After dropping off your keys you then have to walk quite a way to the terminal. On arrival we walked for a while in the freezing cold to find the office we then got told our car was in lane 2 and by the road, they were not telling a lie we walked all around the car park in freezing conditions to find our car parked near the road on the other side of the car park. This is not meet and greet, worse than terrible if they had zero stars that would be mine.

Not Verified | Stansted is blocking the mobile data to force you to use their "free" WiFi, so they they can collect data from millions of people. At the same time, their WiFi is extremely slow when it works and does not connect at all at least 3 out of 4 times. Dear Stansted, please let us use our own mobile data! If you want people to use your WiFi, then all you have to do is make it work. That shouldn't be so hard now, should it?

✅ Trip Verified | I travelled through London Stansted Airport on January 4th 2020 and I was really disappointed with the airport security so after going through the Xray machine, my suitcase was placed among those who needed a manual check. I had to wait 17 minutes before my suitcase was actually inspected by airport staff. They were so understaffed and the various equipment they'd use (for example to check for explosives) was out of order. so all the staff were queuing behind only one machine to get their tests done! The x-ray machine separates too many bags or suitcases for almost no reasons, For example, another passenger had her bag sent to manual check just because of her compact powder. Even in my bag there were no liquids to be found, I had already taken all of them out and placed in clear plastic bags as instructed. This experience was stressful as my plane was soon to depart. It was indeed a weekend where a lot of people visited the airport, so Stansted airport should have placed more staff.

✅ Trip Verified | The management at this airport should get large bonuses for their proactive approach to drive down queues by alienating customers to use alternative airports. I used to use this airport several times a month but no longer do so due to rude and aggressive staff. They openly lie to you that it is mandatory to use the epassport gates but in fact you have a choice as to whether to use them or use a staffed booth. At security checks they make you take out your wallet and watches etc but there is no need to do this under existing legislation. They have reduced the seating areas in order to fit in more shops and only advertise gates 50 minutes before departures that can take 20 minutes to reach by foot or by transit. They allege that pre-booking car parking is cheaper online but the drive up price can be 50% cheaper - when challenged they agreed this is the case but a drive up space is not guaranteed. I now park at a nearby rail station and get the train over at a considerable saving. I now drive to either Luton or Gatwick as their customer service is significantly better