London Stansted Airport

Considering its an airport for budget airlines Stansted is very good. Good range of shops eating places from burgers to pubs and asian take away. Its best to arrive earlier than normal as check-in queues are very long and security can take well over an hour to clear. If you're traveling with Easyjet you get the train/transport to your gate if you're traveling with Ryanair you have to walk and its a very long walk (up to 30 mins). On arrival passport control can take an eon to get through.

Shopping and eating wise the airport is quite good with a wide variety of shops and eating places as well as the world duty free shops. Luggage seems to take ages to arrive even at off peak times and the passport control and security check also can take a long time. but what I will say is that in my travels through this airport the staff both on the security and the passport control area's have been nothing but friendly and well mannered as well as being capable of coping with irate passengers who never seem to allow enough time for the added security checks. Car parking at the airport is well managed and efficient.

Staff seem overwhelmed when there are long queues at passport control. It's just a free for all. Maybe put up a line like they do at security and most US airports so you don't have to keep getting bumped from every direction for half an hour. Otherwise it's a good enough airport as UK airports go.

Stansted is convenient to reach modern design good shopping and eating. Drawbacks - try are arrive early to check in security can be slow. Departure area can be crowded. The airport is in need of expansion.

I arrived Stansted late Saturday evening from Ibiza. Upon arrival at the airport travellers had to go up and down two separate flights of stairs before reaching immigration. When I did reach the desk the queues were short and more desks were opening but I was met with an extremely rude officer. Why do they believe in making UK residents feel unwelcome back into their own country? This is one of the worst airports for this and I will be complaining (not that it will improve matters) and avoiding this airport like the plague in future!

The arrival of planes at Stansted always seems to come as a surprise to its staff and operations. Do they not realise that some of those passengers they seem to dispatch reasonably well actually want to return? It's at this point I regret not driving the extra two hours to Gatwick. Yesterday evening it took 1hr.25 mins. to get from leaving the plane to leaving the car park. I now am convinced that the staff are part of the anti-expansion campaign and really want to prove that there is no capacity to enlarge this airport. Passengers arriving from Madeira yesterday were unable to board the first shuttle which was full. There were the usual ridiculously long and slow passport queues then a scramble for the car park bus after a long wait which was notionally supervised by staff but with no apparent queue resulting in a low-cost airline scrum. The over-full bus crawled to the car park presumably aware it was over-loaded.

Security a total mess with personnel unclear of weight and number of pieces of hand luggage allowed. Personnel had to radio colleague to ask the weight limit to Kuala Lumpur. One minute it was only ONE piece of hand luggage below 10kg. Next minute it was one piece hand luggage below 8kg with small handbag allowed. Was sent away twice for exceeding the weight limit but with a bit of reshuffling of stuff into handbag managed to get through on third attempt. Felt triumphant like winning some limbo rock contest trying to beat the weight/piece of item limit! No customs counter or officer to stamp tax refund form. Just drop the forms in an unsealed envelope into a hole in the wall. Apparently customs officer will collect and stamp forms without inspecting good. Not sure if my forms will get through. Such agony going through this airport!

Definitely an airport on the brink of it's capacity. Boarding for my flight started 7:10 a.m. at which time the terminal was completely overcrowded. Queuing at the security checks was a 30 minute experience in both directions. The terminal is clean and the toilets are in a rather good condition due to being cleaned around the clock. However the terminal building is very drafty and lacking seating possibilities. Plus hundreds of people sleep in the terminal building every night so having Stansted Express leave from Liverpool Street from 3-4 a.m. onwards would be appreciated by many. As I was travelling without luggage I cannot rate the baggage reclaim. The airport has many fast-food restaurants (notably Burger King and Pret) and other shops of which some are open 24/7 plus possibilities to rent cars book bus connections and of course Stansted Express which is the fastest means to travel to the City of London (40 mins). As most people flying from Stansted will be doing it with Ryanair they will not have a very high demand for service and will be perfectly happy with the airport though.

Passport control is extremely slow. Yesterday I was queuing more than 1 hour and 20 minutes to get through EU/ British passport holders control - kids crying poor ventilation people locked in claustrophobic corridors.

Ryanair to Ciampino recently was pleased that they opened the security for the lounge at 03:50 which allowed a lovely breakfast airside and then a wander to the satellite for my flight. On returning the same day on the 2345 arrival the late wave of Ryanairs means that the UK Border check is full of people and I mean full. Most of the desks were manned and I still had to stand for an hour as more and more people joined the scrum behind us. Very unpleasant surprise and I missed the last Stansted Express as a result. Avoid a late Ryanair into Stansted as the queues are massive!