London Stansted Airport — Local services in Uttlesford

Absolutely appalling service.

We booked mid stay parking through the airport's official website only to be informed, via email at the last minute, that the arrangements had changed. Initially, the change sounded promising, as it mentioned a free upgrade to having our car picked up outside the Premium Short Stay Orange car park by a valet, and returned to the same location upon our return. The email clearly stated that this was a free upgrade.

Upon our arrival, as instructed, we called the mobile number provided and were asked to wait for someone to collect the vehicle. The employee that turned up shortly afterwards was not wearing any uniform or identification, had bloodshot eyes and clothes that smelt ever so faintly of what might be described as an illicit herbal fragrance. He stated that we needed to pay the £10 fee for the short stay car park in order that he could exit and take the vehicle elsewhere, a surprise to us, as we had been informed that this was a free upgrade. He also said that we wouldn't have to pay when we returned off our trip.

When we returned days later from our trip, a different male returned the vehicle, and we discovered that we did, in fact, need to pay the £10 fee for the short stay car park in order to exit. He told us that the first guy had lied to us days before.

The additional total charge of £20 meant that the upgrade was not, as stated, free.

Worse still, the interior of the car was filthy, the rear passenger footwells full of dirt and mud on the floor, despite the vehicle never being used to convey passengers by me in the rear. There were muddy foot prints and scuff marks on the doors which can only have been made by people climbing in and out. When the vehicle was turned on, the radio, which I rarely, or hardly ever use, was turned on, the volume turned way up at a deafening volume on a station I have never even heard of, let alone listened to. The heating was likewise turned all the way up, again, something I never do in my vehicle. Worse still was that the fuel gauge, which was almost full when left at the airport, having had fuelled up before leaving, was down to somewhere between a quarter and half a tank.

The male returning the vehicle explained that the airport had employed his company as a third party, and their car parks sometimes become full, and his job was just to drive the vehicle back to the airport.

I can only assume that he meant that my car had been driven off site to an unknown location whilst I was on holiday, but this wasn't made clear. I wish I had taken note of the mileage and taken pictures of my vehicle prior to handing it over, as, when complaining about the additional cost incurred, the only response from the airport, which took weeks to come, was to request photographic evidence of the interior of the vehicle, as if this were some sort of court case in which I have to provide evidence before they admit any liability.

All I really wanted was a refund for the £20 extra cost for a service I neither wanted nor requested, along with an apology, but instead, it was implied in their response that unless I provide proof that I am not telling the truth.

The frustration I have is that I may very well have to use the car park again, but, as the airport essentially holds a monopoly on the parking, I will be left with little or no choice but to pay for the privilege of whatever level of customer service they deem fit.

After multiple emails back and forth with a customer service department who respond back in a timescale measured in days and weeks, I have decided not to bother wasting anymore time for the sum of £20, but instead have decided to post about my experience online do that other customers are aware of it before they make a decision on whether to...

5thJune 2025 Assisted travel at Stansted going to Barcelona. The Assisstance travel team are excellent! However, today flying Ryanair for the first time I had a problem. Our very helpful guy Jamie from Assisstance travel took us (myself and my husband) to check in our luggage at the Ryanair desk. A very unhelpful lady told us quite angrily that we had to take our luggage to a machine and do it ourselves! I had priority as I was in a wheelchair. This made no difference to her she insisted we go to a machine. Jamie tried to explain to her about my priority but to no avail…so we tussled back through the crowds to a machine. Jamie helped to put our first suitcase on the machine and showed it my boarding pass. It refused to continue and the message said call for assistance. A Ryanair employee came to help and said it had refused because we had to go to the Ryanair desk where the woman had just turned us away!! We went back and this helpful man went with us. At the desk the previous woman was nowhere to be seen! A young lady dealt with our luggage very quickly, also my wheelchair which was travelling with me on the plane. Jamie was very upset that we had been dealt with in this manner and I was beginning to feel not wanted by Ryanair! Normally flying from Stansted we use Jet2 and all their staff have been extremely helpful Jamie took us back to wait at Special Assisstance apologising for the hassle which had happened. He could not have been more helpful and friendly in his approach and I felt sorry hat he had been put through this trauma. He told me it was not the first time… We were then taken to the Gate by a different Assisstance man, very helpful and polite too. We were left in a metal barn type building which was freezing cold! We had one and a half hours to wait for our plane. I was so cold I was shivering! I asked a Ryanair lady if she could find me a blanket as I was so cold. She came back to say she could not find one…I find this hard to believe but I had nothing to do but sit in my wheelchair in the extreme cold. We had messages of TWO delays to our plane. Finally about two hours later we were taken upstairs to Gate 45 here it was lovely and warm thank goodness. A Ryanair lady from Northern Ireland dealt professionally with us in a lovely friendly manner. Not havlng to wait too long and our plane was ready to take us all on board. We had to be last because we had to wait for the ambilift, originally I had been told no ambilift would be available and I would have to walk up the steps to the plane, something I find extremely difficult, not only that but we would have to go in the back of the plane and then I would have t walk the length of the plane to me seat in Row6A!! So I was VERY PLEASED when I was told the ambilift would be coming. I still had to walk all the way down the plane to Row 6 but at least I was on the plane at last. Arriving in Barcelona we were helped by two VERY friendly helpful men all the way to or pre booked taxi. They were wonderful.

After this exhausting experience can you blame me if after my return journey I never use Ryanair again!

Sorry this is so long but I felt I had to let you know of this experience as you should make sure that no other disabled person has to suffer like this at the start of a holiday. Thank you for...

This airport is best described as a large toilet. Very noticeably dirty. I mean lots of rubbish on the floors, sticky surfaces, uncleaned toilets; the usual crud you find at airports owned by Manchester Airports Group (MAG).

MAG has fairly predictable business model. Take ownership of the airport. Force all passengers to walk through the shops after security. No walkway to circumvent them. Remove most of the seating areas. This results in there being far, far more passengers than there are seats. People are forced to sit (and therefore buy stuff) in the restaurants. Implement savings wherever possible, particularly with staffing. There simply aren't enough staff to make the place work. This is why the security lines can be huge, and also can (and have) made people miss their flights. It's why the place is so filthy and badly maintained. I will note that the security staff are much more pleasant than the miserable individuals doing the same job at Manchester (I've therefore given the airport more than one star). It's not just the filth; it's the lack of maintenance that produces broken tiles, broken sockets, broken toilets, ripped carpets, flies everywhere and leaky roofs. Goodness knows how this has impacted air safety. If they can't maintain a carpet, what state is the instrument landing system in? Accept far more flights than the airport can handle. Waiting at Stansted is akin to taking the London underground at rush hour. Even the lounges suffer. If you're thinking of getting a Priority Pass, and would use it fairly regularly at Stansted, forget it. Don't bother getting the pass; you'll be turned away almost every time because the lounge is full. MAG's approach to profit is not just on saving money wherever possible. It's also to be found in the charges. My favourite is that you have to pay to drop someone off close to the terminal. Yeah... I'm not joking! £7 for stopping your car for 90 seconds. The cost-cutting goes beyond the buildings and onto the aprons. My flight was delayed for an extra 30 mins because (I promise I'm not making this up) Stansted management have decided they only need one refuelling truck late at night. For all the flights...... one truck. The pilot announced this with great apologies, and no small amount of sarcasm about it being the Stansted experience. The UK airports customer survey was released. It's an interesting survey in that it doesn't just categorise an airport as a whole. The survey responses are also separated by individual terminals at individual airports. The top-10 worst are interesting. 1st, 2nd and 6th are Manchester terminals 3, 1 and 2. Standsted is the 5th worst. Can you guess which company owns these airports? Yup - Manchester Airports Group!

By the way, they completely ignored the feedback and decided to attack the company that conducted the survey. Real classy!

Anyway, have a...