Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Stansted Airport - a warning!
I travelled from Stansted to Ireland last week and the experience was pretty terrible, partly thanks to Ryanair (I know, I know..) but also due to the fancy redesign of the airport. After queuing for 45 minutes to get through security, passengers are now channelled directly through the duty free shop in a narrow winding 'river', grind to a halt crowded into a small space where there is a flight display board, and then have to continue through a further meandering channel of shops until finally arriving in a waiting area which seems to have been stripped of most seats. If you then want to return to the shops, having deposited your family/bags etc somewhere, you have to fight your way back 'upstream'.
There probably isn't time to sit down anyway as by now you are having to run to your gate, which is as before, miles away down endless corridors or even at the end of a monorail shuttle.
Whoever designed this as a way of coping with vastly increased passenger numbers needs their head examining. It took me every minute of two and a half hours to get from arrival at the airport to the gate, just managing to grab a coffee en route, let alone stop and browse in the shops. Several people who had allowed the recommended two hours almost missed the flight. (I was forewarned, having flown to Greece in June, but without the additional long queues for Ryanair baggage drop - also at least 45 minutes.)
Coming home, I flew from Shannon in Ireland - immediate check-in, no security queue to speak of, pleasant waiting area. Then a rather long boring tube ride home from Heathrow, although much cheaper than Stansted Express - all in all I think that is the preferred route for me from now on.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
-
Well if you're wealthy enough to do it, bully for you.
Staff don't work long shifts.. I know many EasyOrange staff and none of them work as long as the regular London office worker (per week) does. That's just silly snobbishness.
-
Permalink Reply by JJ B on
-
I am a transport shift worker.
I went to work this morning for 06H00!! Sometimes I go for 04h54!! and then am required to face very situations and demanding customers too!
Here's what a centrist paper reported some time ago! about fuel sav...
And when people vote with their feet that says something!
I trust what fellow employees do. I do not fly with Ryanair!
-
-
Sorry, we're OT here.
But what has starting early got to do with it? Come and live here in Germany and you'll find that the majority of factory workers start at 06:00 and office workers at 07:00, at the latest 08:00 including local government. (most work flexitime and finish at 13:00 on Fridays). Public transport therefore starts between 03:30 and 04:00. No 09:30 city of London starts here. What's important, you do your 38,5h > 40h working week. Even school starts at 08:00 and Kindergarten from 06:00 (until 18:00)
The current British government wants to scrap such regulations. Well, (you?) voted them in. Get on with it.
-
Permalink Reply by 1lt1j1e9vpo6f on
-
You can still get good service from airlines which use these airports.
I recently flew with La Compagnie from Luton, a 'Business Class' airline. Their fare to NY (La Guardia) was a third that of other airlines, and was even 65% of the best premium economy fare I could find.
They acknowledge that they are not the 'best' business class available, but they are certainly the cheapest. This said, the service and inflight experience were good.
The departure and return through Luton was seamless. From N4 or the City, Luton is just as accessible as Gatwick or Heathrow...and if you are heading for Manhattan, La Guardia is no worse than JFK or Newark.
These secondary airports are vital in the provision of price discovery.
-
Permalink Reply by Richard Woods on
-
Ryanair - nuff said.
-
-
Since the introduction of the cheap airlines airports like Stansted and Luton have all been about monetising the passengers. The best example being that you have to pay for plastic bags for your liquids if your bag doesn't meet the exact spec (it seems mine didn't despite having gone through JFK and Heathrow with it in the previous week). Everywhere else it's free, Stansted it's £1 for two.
I actively avoid it when I'm flying, once the excessively expensive Stansted Express is taken into account it rarely works out cheaper than City or LHR for short trips.
One small positive is when I've had to use it and landed late I've got the Easyjet minibus back to central London. This tends to go through some form of Green Lanes/Manor House route and each time the driver has unofficially allowed me to hop out at traffic lights (only works if you don't have a suitcase in the hold).
-
Permalink Reply by Madeline on
-
What about people with disabilities? I have problems walking even short distances and/or standing for very long. Stanstead sounds like a nightmare for me and people like me. I also have a lung condition and all that perfume and smelly stuff would just about suffocate me.
I've used it once, six years ago, to go to Finland. (Ryan Air) I was a bit more able then but even so only just made the plane after a long walk. why was it the last plane on the stand?
There was only one flight in and out for Finland and the incoming flight arrived well after the Stanstead Express had stopped running for the night. How are you supposed to get home then?
-
Permalink Reply by Ruth on
-
Maybe you've seen/heard this song before? Just about sums it all up in a humourous way- Cheap flight, cheap flights...
-
-
Has anyone flown out of Stansted recently? Are the security queues still as bad? Flying from there tomorrow and wondering how long I should give myself to get through security after reading this thread!
-
-
It can vary...Christmas was a nightmare and I spent £5 on the priority lane but handful of times before that I would have said it wasn't too bad just make sure you pick a queue that is feeding two security belts...some are feeding just one but some are feeding two.
-
-
I flew out of there two weeks ago, Thurs morning. I arrived at security around 7.30am and the queues were the worse I've ever seen there. Normally it's fairly speedy. Don't know why it was so heaving that morning.
A lot of the security belts working fine but just masses of people.
Perhaps the early-ish morning rush of cheaper flights? Thursday might be a cheaper day than Friday to fly out? Just leave a bit extra time in case. People in front of me hadn't flown before. They were still in queue at 7.45am an their flight was at 8.15.... I bet they went nowhere that day.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
