London Stansted Airport

I travelled through Stansted yesterday - arriving early morning from Shannon and leaving later that day for Berlin. The airport is still a mess tacky and over priced; the security is petty minded and downright punitive. I don't carry luggage so I was not affected; but I noted how security at the entrance to screening were weighing bags on little scales to ensure they were all exactly under 10kgs and if so then measured them! Dozens of irate and confused customers were being sent back to check-in - where as some protested their bags had been previously cleared to go as cabin luggage. Who decides these rules? The connection from the airport into London was a complete shambles: the cost of a cheap day return to Liverpool St was £17.40 but the train only ran as far as Tottenham Hale where I had to change on the underground at an extra cost. The underground itself was not functioning due to engineering works. Thankfully my friends drove me back to the airport later. By contrast Schoenefeld is well-run and clean; security is discreet and transport into the city costs just 2.10€ single for roughly the same length of journey as Stansted to L'pool Street and runs late into the night.

I was disapointed first at the filthy rundown state of the Stansted Express from Liverpool Street Station and then on arrival at the very grotty condition of the women's loos. Several of the doors did not shut loo seats were missing and most extraordinary of all only one out of about six or seven taps was working. Having finished queuing for a tap I then had to queue 25 minutes to get through security. (My recent experiences at Heathrow 3 have been queuing times of less than 10 minutes.) There were unmanned x-ray machines and apparently unoccupied staff and those staff who were on duty seemed exceptionally poorly trained in knowing how to cope with pushchairs. They need a dedicated queue for pushchairs wheelchair users and other mobility impaired people and late boarders so that the regular queues are not repeatedly held up by someone rushing through at the last minute or by some poor parent trying to wrestle with babies bags toys coats pushchairs and plastic bags of liquids whilst also having to sample pots and bottles of babyfood!

For once a reasonable experience at Stansted - a rarity these days. Outbound can't blame BAA on ridiculous queue for American Airlines check in; security quick and not too surly. Gate lounge space bit small for full 767. Return passport control very quiet at 10am with all desks fully manned.

Poor old Stansted. Once a shining example of an efficient functional airport now a victim of it's own success. Even at 15.30 the queues for security were enormous. From joining the queue to reaching the x-ray machine took me 46 minutes. I timed it. Some queues seemed to have two x-ray machines and move slightly quicker. Mine had only one. I don't think anyone objects to security in this day and age but it is frustrating to queue for so long and then see so many unmanned machines.

Travelling to Dublin with Ryanair took over 45 minutes to get through security. At peak time nearly 200 people in each queue plenty of empty x-ray machines ready to use and alleviate the problem. Plenty of BAA staff standing around having a chat maybe off duty but go and have a party somewhere else it does not leave a good impression. No attempt to get people through who have a flight boarding soon no announcements everyone in the queue moaning. Need more staff not more shops - absolutely terrible service from BAA took me the same amount of time to get through security as it did to drive from home. Will not fly from Stansted again which is a shame as it is a beautiful airport just run like a shambles.

This airport is getting worse and worse. Returned from Szczecin on Sunday afternoon only to be held in the walkways and tunnels while waiting for passport control. Very humid and crowded with very little control. Constant messages stating that waiting in the corridors helps the arrivals process. How can waiting in a humid corridor help the process?? It just makes people stressed tired and angry. When we finally arrived on the upper levels where the security checks are only half of the stations were manned. This is clearly not an acceptable situation BAA. Our London airports are becoming more of an embarassment to our country. As for the 'tougher' checks on the passports the lady who checked ours gave it a quick scan checked my photo and gave me it back. Considering how quick they look at the passport a fully manned passport control would easily improve the speed at which people can get through security. We are constantly paying more airport taxes the least we can expect is to see some improvement for our money.