lol.

no not a runner at all.

Those signs I think are the longest possible times you should allow -possibly if you are with the elderly or young children. I made it to gate 49 on Friday in about 7 mins. and less than 5 mins to gate 40 from the Wetherspoons pub. The Easyjet gates take a bit longer as you have to use the monorail.

Security was the best i have seen it on Friday as well. Check in with Ryanair and through security in 20 mins total. A new record !

Will hopefully beat that in 3 weeks when I fly with Eos to JFK. They have use of the fastrack security lane at Stansted. I have read that you can be inside the EOS lounge 10 mins after arriving at the airport so we shall see.

Have they changed which gates airlines use? Only reason I ask is that last time hubby and I flew with easyjet out of Stansted, the gate our flight went from was as follows. Go down the walkway towards domestic baggage reclaim then turn right at the desk. Our gate was one of the ones along the right hand side as you walk down. It was before the coffee bar. Ryanair just after new year was a long walk and took hubby and I took 10-15 mins to walk it. Granted his hand luggage was a bit heavy due to having the DVD player my sister had given us for Christmas in it. I'm trying to keep hand luggage down but am having to take stuff for my course at college with me to work on over the weekend.

Anyone used the Valet parking on the BAA car parking site at Stansted. Seems quite reasonable value for money.

Pippa

I have booked the 'official' valet parking at Stansted which is operated by NCP. Booked on the BAA website which was the cheapest - 1 week in February £69.50.

Yes, I know we could have used the long stay pink elephant car park at a cost of £36 but many reviews say that there is always a long wait for the overcrowded buses! Don't want that on a cold early morning in February or indeed on the return home either.

You don't even need to phone the parking company on arrival back at Stansted - just walk down to the fast track bit of the short stay car park - collect your keys and go. The NCP valet parking is a relative newcomer to Stansted.

Hope it all goes according to plan!!!

Pippa

Just back from Valencia (from Stansted) - just be very careful regarding hand luggage when going through security at Stansted.

We had the misfortune to be met by a 'jobs worth' person who checked hand luggage etc etc just before you go into the Security check area.

Anyone who had a hand bag and maybe a shoulder bag were told very abruptly that they most place their hand bag in the shoulder bag as 'YOU are only allowed ONE piece of hand luggage'.

I have a 'hand wallet' for the passorts etc and was told by the 'person' I must place this in my carryon trolley case. The trolley case, having passed the 'Ryanair' size check with flying colours didn't pass the Stansted 'jobs worth' size criteria by 1/2 inch (too long) and was told again very abruptly I either leave the case in the airport or I have to check it in as hold luggage.

My wifes case also failed this check by this amount.

Having returned to the Ryanair checkin desk their supervisor was a little surprised to say the least and placed our small case in their Bag size check metal 'thing' which fitted with no problem at all.

The supervisor then looked again and the wheels of the case and small blocks that keep it upright were 1/2" below their metal rods they have on the base of the checkin 'thing' - it must have name but havent got a clue what it is !

The airport size check places bags in their size checker 'sideways' - rather than 'upright' as Ryanair and I guess others do.

Ryanair apologied (yes they did - honest !!!) but said it was the Airport that had the final say- this cost us £14. Needless to say there wasn't a problem coming back from Spain.

It does state very clearly that only one piece of hand luggage is allowed - any hand bag or other items must go in the hand luggage.

It also states that the overall measurements include any wheels, straps and handles etc.

Personally I think it is best at the moment to err on the side of caution and make sure your hand luggage is a lot smaller than the given measurements - a lot simpler than having to either buy another bag at the airport or check in to the hold what you wanted to carry on board.

We use Stansted as it is our closest airport and they are quite hot on security there.

Pippa

Hi Pippa,

I agree with everything you say and we will in future err on the side of caution. My post was a word of warning to those like us that have never had a problem with hand luggage before.

For us it was the way it was done and the aggressive tone and body language used by the person which was the real problem and not just that we had brought a case 1/2" too big.

Sadly the other 10 flights from UK airports this year there wasn't a problem with these cases !

But it won't happen again.

Regards, Chris

ps just checked my visa bill this morning and Ryanair only charged us £7 for one bag and not the two that had to be checked in.

pps If you fly with Excel airways their cabin baggage size info is on their website is as follows

'This item should weigh no more than 5 kilos with the total dimensions of 115 cms (45 inches)'

- they do not give actual baggage size, so in theory your bag could be 70x30x15.

Following on from this - Stansted Airport did have a smaller hand luggage size than other airports - I have not checked so do not know if that is still the case (sorry about the pun!)

The best idea is to check the individual airport and the airline you are flying from and then go for the smallest size.

I am a little suprised at Excel as most airlines give actual dimensions - I do not think you would get away with a bag measuring 70 cms at Stansted at the moment.

I was a little annoyed when we flew from Stansted in October as only a few months back I had bought a very small holdall with wheels to use as hand luggage - then the hand luggage sizes changed and the bag was just a fraction too large. I then went and bought 2 small flight bags which were perfectly adequate and even had room to spare! It was a trifle annoying to then see people with carry-on luggage that was far bigger than the original holdall I had bought and obviously much bigger than the sizes stipulated on the airport web site. If they are going to have luggage size restrictions then the authorites must stick to it rigidly so that everyone is in the same boat.

Pippa

Pippa,

I echo your last point regarding consistancy - there were several large bags that got through the checking process, larger than ours - did make the blood boil.

.... but with Christmas coming 2 smaller cases are now on the list.

Regarding hand luggage size - you are correct, Stansted show a different size ie smaller (total lack of consistancy by BAA).

Interestingly our hand luggage would have been accepted at Manchester, East Midlands and Heathrow and probably loads more airports.

Regards, Chris

Hiya

We are off to Tenerife in the morning so I have been checking on the Gatwick website regarding the size of hand luggage etc. and it does state the size allowed through BAA airports. However there is a footnote stating that Stansted and a couple of other airports (sorry can't remember them off the top of my head) only allow a smaller size hand luggage.

Regards Jackie

Jackie,

Thanks for that - I have today written to the BAA asking why the difference.

Regards, Chris

TFS1,
its a shame that your slightly oversized bag wasn't allowed through security and you had to pay a surcharge, especially as you say that other oversized bags were being let through, it seems unfair and unreasonable, perhaps it was the "way you looked"?? or perhaps a response that you gave to the jobsworth? you might be right in thinking that they are a jobsworth but the important fact to remember is that they do have the authority about what you can carry through, and they happen to encounter many "customers" day in day out that have a certain attitude about them being jobsworths.
They are only doing a job that has guidelines and rules set by the DfT, they don't make them up to annoy travellers, and i think it would be fair to say that like most people who work in customer service related jobs they get a bit hacked off when customers show too much attitude or get aggressive or abusive or insist that they are right, and then you find that they might be a bit more difficult or stick rigidly to the rules. Security very rarely check luggage in the luggage guage unless its obviously oversized, even the clever sniffer dogs wouldn't spot a case 1/2" too big.

If anyone encounters a situation like this then they should politely request to see the security supervisor and explain their dis-satisfaction and i suggest that you do keep calm and polite with them.

You might have just been unlucky and caught someone who was a bit fed up having to tell everyone 1 bag only and probably wanted a tea-break.

andy66,

Thanks for the reply. I'm sure they have to deal with many different type of passengers and I appreciate they have a difficult job to do.

However, he was sticking rigidly to the rules, with no exception - not only for us but for everybody else before us in the queue.

I gave him a smile and said Good morning as we got to the front of the queue - so my body language was friendly - Im that sort of guy.

I was so astounded that actually I didnt say anything to him nor gave him any 'look' - he was keen to move us on and deal with his next 'customer' but we accepted what he said through sheer disbelieve as all the times we have flown this year this was the first time its been a problem.

As I have mentioned in a previous post hopefully Santa will bring us some slightly smaller cases so if we meet this chap again he will allow us to take them on board.

Regards, Chris

Chris,

It does sound as if you were unlucky as being "oversized" by 1/2" could be termed as trivial, and as you say on previous occasions it was no problem and that would very much be the norm.
The only reason that i can think of them being 100% religiously rigid on baggage size was if they were being spot-checked by the DfT and believe me they are strict and will pick up on any small error made by security, and that is right in its own way as we all want totally secure travel.
I also think that because restrictions were slightly relaxed recently and baggage size allowed to be bigger it has led to some travellers thinking all is back to normal and starting to take unreasonable amounts through as hand luggage thinking they will get away with it. The only problem this causes is longer waits and delays for everyone, so sometimes its inevitable that security personnel think stuff this and reject anything and everything outside restrictions because they're fed up with the p*ss takers and unfortunately people like yourself get caught up and get a bag thats 1/2" too big rejected which really is neglible.

I think in your case you should have asked to speak to a supervisor as long as if everything else about your luggage was correct, i.e the weight and permitted contents, as i'm sure common sense would have prevailed.

i will PM you in dealing with this.

Andy66,

Thanks for the PM - will try that in future !!

I have received a reply from BAA and an interesting point (para 3) which does sound rather strange is as follow

Thank you for your comments in connection with bag sizes at Stansted.

There has been some confusion over this issue and as a result we have improved the information and our FAQs offer answers as to why Stansted and Southampton are slightly different.

Rather than it being the airport who decides how large cabin luggage can be it is the airline and in this respect Easyjet and Ryanair have specified slightly smaller luggage maximum dimensions of 40 x 55 x 20cm.

Anyone from Ryanair / Easyjet reading this can they please let me know if this is true !

What about the other airlines that operate from Stansted / Southampton - do they have a say and what about the Ryanair supervisor at Stansted who told me it was the Airport that specifies the baggage size.

off again next Saturday, 6 Jan (again 31 Jan but from Coventry this time) - slightly smaller hand luggage that meets the size directive, fingers crossed!

Coventry - Thomsonfly - has the same size hand luggage as Stansted.

Chris

Can anyone recommend a cheapish hotel close to Stansted?

My boyfriend is off skiiing for a week soon, and I'm taking him to the airport for an early morning flight, so decided it would be easier to book a hotel for the night.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

Kianic travelodge do rooms and is 6 miles from the airport. I put in a search for the 28th Jan and it was £26 sleeps 2 or same price for family room.

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/find_a_hotel/hotel/hotel_id/315/StanstedGreatDunmow

Hope this helps

Try the new Travelodge in Great Dunmow - only one junction from Stansted Airport on the new A120 double carriageway. Otherwise there are Travelodges in Harlow and Harlow North Weald which are further away. There is a quite expensive Holiday Inn Express with a shuttle (costs) on site, and an even more expensive Hilton and SAS Radisson -though the latter is a mere 2 mins walk away and is VERY comfy!! There is also a Days Inn on the Birchanger Service Station by the M11 exit 8; recently changed name from Welcome Break .... you'll need to see the website to get prices. Suggest my first suggestion will be the cheapest room, but you will have to pay even for short term parking (£1 for 15 mins) to see your fella off!