London Stansted Airport (STN) Flights & Flight Status

London’s “third airport”, Stansted is the most popular low-cost carrier hub in the UK. It serves more European locations than any other British airport, with 28 million passengers passing through its gates to 192 destinations across 37 countries in 2023 alone.

Stansted is renowned for being busy and a brief check of online reviews will reveal a lot of negative comments testifying to as much. I fly through it nearly every month and although it does indeed get busy, it’s generally well run and its ground staff are used to dealing with crowds. I always find its biggest inconvenience is getting to and from London.

Airlines serving Stansted Airport

Stansted is the largest hub of budget airline behemoth Ryanair, and it dominates flight schedules. Ryanair flies to around 150 destinations domestically and internationally, from major cities to some extraordinary off the beaten track locations. Alongside familiar European destinations, it also operates longer (though no more comfortable) flights to the Middle East and North Africa, like Dubai and Marrakech.

Almost all other major operators are budget airlines, from easyJet to Eurowings, Jet2 and TUI, alongside some tiny operators running special routes. Stansted’s rota of operating airlines can vary significantly year on year so you can also expect to see major operators like British Airways and Emirates running flights to their major transfer hubs.

The budget nature and total dominance of Ryanair means you’ll find more ultra cheap flights to a far bigger range of weird and wonderful destinations than at almost any other airport in Europe. Traversing Stansted may be an experience to endure rather than enjoy, but the incredible destinations it makes travel to possible means it’s absolutely worth the effort. For many, it has completely reshaped the opportunity to travel.

Travelling to and from London and the UK

This is my single biggest bugbear about Stansted. Around 32 miles as the crow flies from central London, it’s admittedly a fair way north of the city, yet is well connected by road and rail. Despite that, it’s a regular nightmare to get to and from and seems to suffer more than its fair share of delays, congestion and cancellations.

Train

Stansted has its own station directly below the terminal, easily accessible a two-minute walk from arrivals and departures. Its dedicated London train is the Stansted Express, although it’s an express in name only. Trains claim to run every 15 minutes to and from Tottenham Hale station in north London and Liverpool Street in East London, the latter taking around 50 minutes on a good day.

There are often stops en route – some planned, some not – and the train is usually very crowded. Sometimes it’s standing room only and you’ll be battling a sea of carry-on rollers for space. To add insult to ignominy, it’s also very expensive. For many of the flights Stansted serves, you’ll find your plane ticket is cheaper than the train to get to the airport!

If you’re not heading into the capital, you may fare better. Trains head in all directions with decent connections at major transport hubs to destinations all over the UK.

Coach

If I’m not hiring a car, I’ll almost always take the National Express coach over the train to London. It’s less than half the price, is subject to fewer delays and cancellations, is more comfortable, and has decent WiFi and only takes a little longer.

Coaches may suffer the London traffic, but they can also use bus lanes to skip the worst of it. Or you can do as I do and get off at one of the early stops before the heavy central congestion kicks in and hop on the tube instead. It’s not ideal, but I’ve found it to be the easiest journey, as long as you don’t have too much luggage.

Driving and car hire

Taxis are a very expensive inconvenience between Stansted and the city, so it’s best to avoid them. If you’re coming by car, road access is very easy from the M11 motorway and there’s a wealth of on and off-site parking options.

Stansted’s main car rental hub offering the major names – Sixt, Hertz, Europcar, Enterprise, etc – is a five-minute shuttle ride from directly outside the terminal entrance. Free buses run regularly and while the main car rental hub is well set up, queues are common. I often use Europcar, which I find to have the best balance of price to service.

If you book through one of the low-cost rental agencies like Drivalia, you’ll need to take a different bus from the main coach station below the terminal. If you take the car rental shuttle by mistake, you’ll need to come back to the airport and start again. I have done this and trust me, you don’t want to. Check the instructions from your rental company carefully so you know which bus/coach/shuttle to take.

Navigating the airport

Stansted is essentially a single terminal handling both departures and arrivals, encased in a vast web of glass and steel. It’s a fantastically bright and open space designed by famed English architect Sir Normal Foster – a modernist masterpiece that looks great, even if it doesn’t live up to that promise in the experience it delivers.

Arrivals

Arriving into Stansted can mean a short walk, a bus or a shuttle ride from plane to security, where there are plenty of electronic security gates for UK nationals and desks for other passport holders. A word of caution, if you’re collecting checked luggage, waiting times can be interminable. Once or twice I’ve waited around two hours for Ryanair to deliver bags thanks to so few ground crew working. Nowadays I absolutely refuse to bring checked luggage through the airport.

Departures

Entry is into a huge hall teeming with check in and bag drop counters and, usually, a lot of stressed out travellers. Security is to the left with several entry points, while passport checks are carried out at the gates. There’s not much in the way of refreshments in landside departures, but walk a minute to the right and you’ll be in the arrivals area where there are shops, cafés and fast food aplenty.

Beyond the convenient and compact security area and departures lounge, gates are quite spread out so it’s important to know where you’re going. If you’re departing from gates between 1-39, you’ll need to take the rail shuttle and should factor in at least 15 minutes to get to your gate, 20 to be sure. In other words, start heading over as soon as your gate is announced.

Gates 40-59 are a ten minute walk to the right of the shuttle entrance and gates 81-88 a few minutes walk to the left. All of these mini satellite terminals have a few basic shops or cafes but are typically underserved and even busier than the main departures lounge.

Check in, bag drop and security

Depending on how well staffed the 100-plus desks are, queues vary but it’s a rare day when there are none at all. Outside of peak holiday periods, half an hour should be fine for check in and bag drop. Stansted has smartly given over a big area to security and there are usually a lot of entry points. Queues can look long but in my experience are fast moving and well run by experienced staff.

At the time of writing, Stansted is trialling a few new smart security scanners that mean you don’t have to bag up liquids and remove electronics. These are located to the far left of security and if they’re operating, are the fastest route through.

If not, take the smaller lane to the right of the main security entry point, where the Fast Track lane is signposted. In my experience this queue is almost always shorter and if the crowds are terrible, you can just buy a Fast Track ticket instead.

Shopping, eating and drinking

Security funnels you into a twisting, turning and at times apparently endless area aptly called Duty Free World. Beyond, the compact terminal packs in a lot of stuff to keep you entertained. Shops, cafés and bars guide you in a wide arc to the departures lounge, where a central bank of not enough and thus always occupied seats are encircled by restaurants and fast food joints. The beating heart of the airport, it’s always heaving.

There are lots of last-minute shopping options including British stalwarts like Hamleys for gifts and Mulberry for extravagance. Beyond the many fast and snack food options, I’m a big fan of the Terracotta Italian Kitchen and almost always drop in for a quick Amatriciana. Their beer and wine offerings are better than the neighbouring Wetherspoons too.

To escape the crowds, you can book a three-hour slot at the Escape Lounge, although you’ll need to book early as it’s popular. Hot and cold buffet food, bottomless drinks and the promise of some respite may justify the price, but personally, I prefer that Amatriciana, cold beer and people watching.