London Stansted Airport

If you ever wanted to experience what it’s like to be treated like an inconvenience rather than a paying passenger, this airport is the place for you. Late-night flights? Good luck finding a proper waiting area. There are barely any designated spaces, so people are forced to sleep on the floor like it’s a disaster relief shelter. And instead of providing a solution, the staff seem to derive joy from making an already miserable situation even worse. I had been sitting quietly in a small, completely unobtrusive corner near the money exchange desk—not blocking the entrance, not in front of any shop, not even remotely near an emergency exit (I marked the exact area I was sitting down in the second photo). I had been there for two hours, minding my own business, when an overzealous staff member decided I had to move. Why? No reason. Just pointless, robotic rule enforcement with zero logic behind it. To make matters worse, the staff were rude, dismissive, and completely apathetic. Having worked in a similar role in the past, I know that enforcing policies requires basic composure, politeness, and a shred of common sense—none of which these employees seemed to possess. If this airport is going to police exhausted travelers into discomfort, the least they could do is provide proper waiting areas instead of forcing people to rough sleep on cold floors, only to wake them up for no reason. But apparently, making passengers as miserable as possible is part of the experience here.

Security and gates closed from midnight to about 6am, not always much space and can get crowded at times. Good and fast links to London and Southend-On-Sea among other places by train and bus. Not as much space for sitting compared to other main UK airports such as Heathrow or Gatwick. There are shops, restaurants, toilets and places to fill up water past security. You can take a shuttle to gates 1-40 but some gates can take a while to arrive by walking.

Impressed by festive mood, which has been created for Christmas and New Year's celebrations! The team of animators work amazingly, allowing travellers to take pictures with them. Thank you so much for this festive mood! Stansted Airport is quite busy, modern, and lovely decorated. While coming here for the second time for departure, I am impressed how quickly I went through the security check again. There are various places to eat, as well as shop for food, drinks and gifts. The selection of everything is amazing. There are different places where you may eat. The waiting areas are cosy because the seats are separated, and you may even charge your phone or other devices while sitting. Thank you for this experience!

Stansted is one of six London airports and a bit expensive to get to via the Trains, but has some of the new scanners where you don't need to empty your bags at security. However, like a budget airline they put all their efforts into taking money away from travellers. You're forced to walk through a twisting mini-mall to get to any gate, then they refuse to tell travellers what gate to go to until the last moment in order to force everyone to stay in the mall. The mall doesn't have adequate seating, so they can try to make people uncomfortable and push them into restaurants to extract more money. They renovate the shopping areas continually ... Meanwhile, much of the airport and bathrooms are run down or even temporary buildings. Old, outdated signs aren't taken down, so travelers get confusing instructions, but you'd better believe they keep all the SALE HERE NOW signs up to sell bottled water even if they direct you the wrong way to the toilets and there's a 20 minute line to get water.

Stansted Airport might not be the fanciest, but it’s incredibly convenient — especially if you’re traveling from East or Central London. It’s well connected by the National Express bus and the Stansted Express train from Liverpool Street Station, getting you there in just 40–45 minutes. For anyone living in East London or nearby, it’s a super practical option that makes travel much easier!