Thanks everyone. I've just thought of a 2nd possibility which is to get bus that leaves Norfolk late at night and then 'camp' in the airport. saw loads of people doing that just after new year. Hubby and i were going to travel down night before but my kind parents decided to get up at 0230 . As for buses being moved it's the National Express station that I'm using.

A Thomsonfly plane (flight unknown at this time) has just made an emergancy exit at Stansted. Passengers and crew are departing the plane via the emergancy shoots and the runway is closed. Emergancy services are on scene. Could be the same plane that had engine trouble on Friday causing a massive delay to MAH from Stansted. Hopefully this is not a seroius as it sounds and flights get underway.

The Stansted Airport website is currently showing arrivals and departures operating normally, with no mention of any ongoing incident.

David

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/6074858.stm

Other half is working today, saw the whole thing. There are loads of incidents dont tend to make it on the website or news, there was a Ryanair near miss the other week, it came into land whilst another was on the runway and had to vear up steeply

There's a website all about sleeping in airports - http://www.sleepinginairports.net

On an evening before a weekend day (i.e. Fri or Sat nights) there are loads and loads of people sprawled all over seats and benches trying to get some sleep, even in mid January, never mind July or August ! Doesn't look particularly comfortable and the comments on the above website don't make it sound great fun either !

I do know about that website thanks. Hubby and I had a 0430 check in back in january this year and my idea was to travel to Stansted the night before and sleep in airport. My parents however decided that they would be nice and get up at 0230 and take us down. We got into the terminal and it was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. Check in wasn't open but desk for our flight was already shown. I went to the loo and it was only on my way back that people were starting to wake up. Sleeping in airport this time not option as it's my birthday on 18th and my parents are taking me out for a meal. Also flight is bit late for sleeping in airport.

When I come back from England on 19th November, I'll have mine and hubby's Christmas presents from family in my bag which will be checked in. With increased security is this likely to be a problem?

Here's the link to the article on Ryan Air's website about security at Stansted. http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php

Mods, I hope I haven't broken any copyright rules on either post.

Links are fine cate, it's when text or images are reproduced that we have a problem.

David

i flew out from here onwed 18 oct,it was the most horrendous experience i have ever had at an airport.there were4 queues for scurity check infrom the airport entrance it took an hour..my flight should have been boardingand i had to get to gate 50..a young coule with a new baby missed there flight i might have hada problem but found on going like a bat out of hell my flight was delayed i didnt know that till i got to the gate.
i dfont understandwhy it is so inefficient,i amnot a spring chicken anymore and found it very stress full.the ryan air side of it caused problems aswell.i had allowed over 2hours.not enough.never again!!!

Going out to Belfast on Sunday, it took an hour to get through security. There were only 5 out of 14 X-ray stations operating. This was clearly inadequate. A large proportion of bags were needing full searching, presumably due to people packing liquids.

Stansted are recruiting a further 160 security staff. They obviously don't have enough staff to manage the extra checking at holiday times.

Best Wishes

Frank
in Portstewart, NI

fdobbs, what time was that? I've decided to take train from stansted to norfolk and then on return I'm going to ask dad to drive me down to be at Stansted 8.30-9am. Will check in as soon as it opens then go straight to security which is waht I do anyway. As long as I have time to get bottle of water airside I'll be happy

cate, as you know, the flight from STN to DUB is not a long one, so even if you don't have time to buy water airside (which I am sure you will have), they will serve water on the flight, so please don't worry.

I've just remembered that there is a small 'World Shopping' shop near the gates Ryanair use. This does give me a plan b for if I don't have time to go to the shops in area where Dixons and Starbucks are. If i have less than 20 minutes to go before boarding starts when I get through security I'll 'leg it' down to gate. reason it could potentially be a problem for me is that from getting into departures lounge and drinks being served on board plane could be 1hr or more. That is enough time when i'm travelling for me to end up with a sore throat. I am taking some throat sweets with me though. Do liquid centred throat sweets like 'Lockets' have to go in resealable bag or are they ok just packed normally?

Another question, this time about the train station. I know how to get to it from the terminal but does it have a ticket off ice or do you have to buy tickets from a machine? I don't think the station I'm travelling to will be listed on the machine which would mean buying a 'permit to travel'. Buying in advance not an option as I'm not too sure which train I'll be on.

I've just checked http://www.nationalrail.co.uk and clicked on stations. There is a ticket office at Stansted Airport train station.

Does anyone know which gates Ryanair use? I know they're a long way from area where Dixons and Starbucks are.

They use gates 40-58 which if you get the lower numbers are as near as you can get to the departures area - less than a 3 min walk. You don't go on the monorail at all.

Thanks Cynical. Back in January, hubby and I had a long walk from area where shops are down to the gates Ryanair were using.

Don't get me wrong if your flight leaves from gates 49-58 it is a bit of a hike, but if you get 40/41 you're laughing.

Cynical, are you a long distance runner by any chance?

I flew from Stansted this morning and there is a new sign in the middle of the departure lounge saying 'All gates 12 minutes from this point' ... which was further away from the previous sign that advised that it was 15 mins walk to the Ryanair 'wing'! (And it always seems to take me much longer ...)

Incidentally my flight was at 7 am ... and there were Ryanair flights that went from the part of the terminal served by the 'rail' link ... just make sure that you get to the right gate ahead of time .....................