London Stansted (STN)

...airports which is associated with London (the other three being Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton). Out of the four, Stansted is the one that is furthest away from London. It is approximately 38 miles away from London, to the North of the city, just off the M11 motorway at junction 8a if coming from London or Junction 8 from the Cambridge side.

=== WHY DO THE AIRLINES USE STANSTED? ===

The main advantage of Stansted airport ...
...all at what I call London prices.

=== GETTING TO STANSTED ===

There are numerous ways of getting to Stansted, and for my particular trip, I booked National Express coaches from Bristol to London Heathrow, and from London Heathrow National Express once again to get to Stansted. The airport has it’s own bus and coach station which is literally opposite the main terminal entrance and could not really be any closer.
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I have only used Stansted airport once, having previously used other airports including Heathrow airport and Bristol airport.

STANSTED AIRPORT QUICK LOCATION

Stansted airport is one of the four main airports which is associated with London (the other three being Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton). Out of the four, Stansted is the one that is furthest away from London. It is approximately 38 miles away from London, to the North of the city, just off the M11 motorway at junction 8a if coming from London or Junction 8 from the Cambridge side.

WHY DO THE AIRLINES USE STANSTED?

The main advantage of Stansted airport is that is has the advantage that out of the four airports, it has the lowest airport taxes which we all have to pay when travelling, and which all the airlines charge on top of the tickets that we pay to travel, and in today’s economy travel times, can represent a large proportion of what is actually paid. If you were to travel abroad on a similar flight from say Heathrow, you could end up paying 5 or 6 times as much purely due to the airport taxes. Heathrow does however have the advantages of being much closer to the city, has direct access to the city via the tube, and is one of the main flights that travellers use as a connecting terminal i.e. they have to change flights to get to their final destinations. The fact that lower taxes are charged is one of the main reasons that the ‘cheaper’ airlines choose Stansted as their main airports, and as such, Stansted has seen an enormous growth in air traffic over the last few years.

WHICH COMPANIES USE STANSTED?

The main airlines that currently use Stansted are as follows:-

Ryanair, easyJet, Kibris Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Blue Air, Snowjet, Germanwings, Air Berlin, Atlantic Airways, Aurigny, Turkish Airlines, Air Asia, Cyprus Airways, Iceland Express and Norwegian.

I must admit, that when I was there, I got the distinct impression that Ryanair was the main user, and got the impression that Ryanair had the majority of desks, and watching incoming and outgoing flights, I say numerous Ryanair planes, and only saw two easyJet planes.

Stansted, apparently is Britain’s third busiest airport, and currently has flights to over 160 destinations in over 30 countries. This I can perfectly believe, as on my outward trip, even though the flight was due to go out at 7 o’clock in the morning, having arrived at 4 o’clock in the morning, I was simply amazed as to how many travellers were already there.

STANSTED SET UP

Stansted airport is basically divided up into 3 big areas.

Area 1 is the main check in and domestic arrivals area. The check-in area is on the ground floor of the terminal. There are numerous screens near the terminal entrance which indicate your flight number and a lot of the check in zones are signposted by illuminated yellow cubes.

If travelling with Ryanair, you need to do online check in from your own home, your work place or hotel, basically anywhere with an internet connection. You have to print your boarding card before you arrive at the airport or else you will get a further hefty charge for the airport staff to issue you an appropriate boarding card.

If travelling with Ryanair, you can save a bit of time by using one of the numerous self service kiosk located in the airport. The Ryanair kiosks are situated between Check in areas F and J.

Area 2 is the departure lounge. You can get into this area once you have checked in and dropped off any baggage and have gone through the security control. There are numerous screens in this area giving you appropriate flight information which will tell you flight numbers, destinations, boarding times and gate numbers. Boarding normally starts about 45 minutes before departure, and they recommend that you should allow 12 minutes to get from the departure lounge to your gate.

Area 3 is the international arrivals area, and obviously you would not be using this area on your outgoing trip, but would use it for your return trip.

SHOPPING

There are shops both before and after the security control area, which are all trying to get your business. A small example of the shops before security are Boots, Clarks and La Senza, and once you have gone security, there are stores such as Boots, Dixons, HMV, Body Shop, Tie Rack and WHSmith.

There are various bars and eating areas where you can buy hot drinks, sandwiches and the like, but these are all at what I call London prices.

GETTING TO STANSTED

There are numerous ways of getting to Stansted, and for my particular trip, I booked National Express coaches from Bristol to London Heathrow, and from London Heathrow National Express once again to get to Stansted. The airport has it’s own bus and coach station which is literally opposite the main terminal entrance and could not really be any closer.

National Express is a well know nationwide company, and offers travel to and from Stansted 24 hours a day. From Stansted, it has connections to London Victoria station and takes approximately 90 minutes, and also a connection to London Liverpool Street and takes approximately 60 minutes.

There is another coach company called Terravision which prior to my trip I had not heard of before. It appears that prices for this service are cheaper than National Express, and is an Italian owned company. They also travel to both Victoria and Liverpool Street.

Easybus also offer a coach service to London Victoria.

You can get to the airport by train and Stansted has its own rail station which is literally below the terminal building, and apparently there are regular trains with central and East London, as well as Eastern England and the Midlands.

SUMMARY AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

As previously indicated, although my flight was very early in the morning, even at that time, there appeared to be a lot of people waiting to travel. However, saying that, if you are prepared to join the correct queues, everything seemed logical and organised. Facilities appeared to be clean and tidy, with no litter (but that may be because my flight was one of the first flights of the day).

Whilst waiting for the plane, there are numerous things to keep you entertained, especially the large amount of shops to be able to do window shopping, or alternatively to purchase those last minute essentials that you may have forgotten to pack. There are areas where you can purchase or sell your foreign currency and several cash point machines too. To the best of my knowledge, or at least the shops that I used, all accept credit cards, but be aware, if you are buying a simple coffee, you will be paying London prices.

The only negative thing from my point of view, is getting to the airport. I can imagine that if you are travelling by car or coach and use the motorways, once you get closer to London, you could get involved in the well know traffic jams, so give yourself plenty of time to arrive at the airport, as Ryanair do not offer you refunds for flights should you arrive late.
 

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