Stansted Airport NIGHTMARE

okidoki987

Dublin/Stansted with Ryanair.
Carry on bag no problems, security no problems.
Used CHECK N'GO (it's the dogs....).
They even call you ahead of the rest of the punters i.e. with the elderly, families and infirmed.

Come back 2 days later.

Check in 1 hour 45 minutes before flight is due to leave.
Bag is 3 inches over so have to check it in, that's fine.
Then turn around and see the queue for the security check.
500 (i'll repeat that) 500 people :eek:, 3 lines long.
I move approx 20 yards in 30 minutes!
Announcement Ryanair will delay their flights for 20 minutes.
They then tried to call people who flights were leaving in the next 30 minutes and in the rush, an elderly lady got knocked to the ground and banged her head and a child also got knocked over.
1 hour 20 mins later and I'm still at least 60 minutes away from the security check. Eventually somebody found a shorter queue on the other side of the airport and we just made the flight, 20 mins late.
The flight left 1 hour late but 7 people still missed the flight and their
bags were removed from the plane.

Not a fan but Michael O'Leary is right in what he says.
The security is an disgrace.
How can they expect an airport to survive when the body search every SECOND person?
The duty free, bars and shops were empty.
I'd say loads of people missed their flights
Never again until they clear it up.

jrey1981

I sympathise with you. I flew back from Gatwick last week and had been advised to leave 2 - 3 hrs to be on the safe side.

The check-in queue was a lot worse than the security queue. I got there at about 3pm for a 5.30pm flight.

It is a nightmare once you get through security and wait in the hellish glorified shopping centre at Gatwick where you wait to see what gate you are leaving from.

As it happened we were delayed as well, because there was only one baggage handler - who I could see out the window and felt a bit sorry for - to load bags for 150 people or so.

Got to Dublin an hour late. Waited a good 20 mins for a bus into town, then had a 2 hour wait for a bus down here and then a taxi home.

I should have been home at about 9.45pm, but it was after midnight when I got in the door.

Admittedly I was annoyed, but then again I only paid £25 including tax for this flight, and unfortunately, to a certain extent, you get what you pay for.

bucks73

Cant agree more...had the displeasure of travelling thru Stansted to germany a couple of weeks ago and the place is an absolute nightmare.

I have flights booked to Edinburgh via Stansted in March and have booked on the direct flight from Shannon instead now even though it cost €345 and I will get nothing back on the €170 spent on ryanair and easyjet. Well worth it not to have to go through that place again.

okidoki987

€170 spent on ryanair and easyjet

You could try selling them onto somebody else?

okidoki987

Not sure whether it was a mistake or not but didn't get charged for the
"bag in the hold" on the way back.

bucks73

Will try selling them nearer the date when there is of a demand for them.

We didnt get charged for our bags either. Wanted to bring them on but check-in girl said they were to big so no choice but to check them. If they asked for money I would have refused to pay as the restrictions were not in place when we booked. As it happens she didnt ask for a penny.

breadmonkey

okidoki987 wrote:

Not sure whether it was a mistake or not but didn't get charged for the
"bag in the hold" on the way back.

I don't know if it still applies, but I remember that Michael O'Leary announced that Ryanair would waive all baggage fees in the wake of the attempted bombings and new secutiry regulations. In any case, each passanger is allowed a certain amount of gear in the hold.

That really sounds terrible. And I thought I had it bad in Edinburgh! This is a joke and I would imagine it;s costing the airlines more than anyone.

okidoki987

Actually left this out.

I wasn't charged but in the line next to me a "oldish" bloke was going spare with the male check-in attendant who was charging him 10 GBP to put the bag in the hold. Attendant said if he didn't want to put it on that was fine
but he couldn't bring it with him as carry on luggage.

okidoki987

STANSTED COLLAPSES AGAIN


Ryanair, the UK’s largest passenger airline, this evening (Tuesday, 12th September 2006) confirmed that unfortunately Stansted has been paralysed again tonight.

This evening just 8 out of 14 security points are open due to BAA’s inability to staff them.

It is now over four weeks since Ryanair called on the Government to provide support for BAA’s hard-pressed front-line staff by bringing in the police or army while their new ‘pointless’ and ‘nonsensical’ measures remain in place.

Over this four-week period NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE. The Government refuses to recognise the inability of the BAA to staff these security points.

Here is what we called for over four weeks ago:

If the Government wants to double the number of security checks, why won’t they send in extra army or police personnel to help carry out these checks?
Why is the Government allowing large briefcases to be carried on board as ‘safe’, but ruling that the normal size carry on case is still unsafe? This rule is nonsensical.
If liquids, cosmetics and passenger luggage is really a threat to passenger safety, why is the Government still allowing these items to be carried on the London Underground and on Eurotunnel?
Tonight’s debacle demonstrations once again, that the current regime is unsustainable and it is now time for the BAA to face reality, and demand the assistance from the UK Government, along with an urgent return to normal IATA safety standard operations.



Quote from Ryanair website