Stansted airport is becoming a truly dreadful place to start an overseas vacation. A holiday should begin with a good experience but airport staff seem determined to do all that they possibly can to raise stress levels as high as they can and generally make sure that this doesn’t happen. It starts at the security baggage procedure where staff would appear to be encouraged to be as unpleasant and as rude to passengers as possible.
Have Bag, Will Travel 
All British airports (certainly the London ones) have the surliest and rudest security arrangements in all of my travels, and I have done a fair few. While the rest of the world does the screenings with a degree of resignation, I have to agree with you that over here, it is done with relish by little robocops.
It seems that the security system employed by the airports in this country is designed to cause confrontation in order to justify their attitudes.
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Well, well. I thought until now, that Helsinki and Frankfurt are rude sites.
In Helsinki (Finland) and in Frankfurt (Germany) we have to take off our belts, but generally speaking same rules as You wrote. I dislike taking my belt off from my trousers. Last time I had to take off also my plastic comb. I just wonder if next time we have to take off also our shoes or socks.
Rude officials can be found elsewhere. One example. Last autumn we spent a nice car holiday in Germany after driving about 10 days and when we were approaching Kiel at the distance of 30 kilometers, then we were stopped by customs. We old couple on vacation, why us, why on a road? The customs officer was very rude to us. I enjoyed very much when he asked me to open the trunk of our car and when he opened and rummaged one plastic bag in which we have stowed all our used underclothes. I guess that no more words are needed to describe his expression. Okay, he examined nearly our entire luggage and suddenly he left us without saying anything! Our luggage was on the ground! So, we had to arrange our luggage again.
Happy travel!
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Thanks for the comment and the story. I guess officials are the same everywhere? Andrew
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Croatia is marvelous. I’ve visited via the Danube River, which doesn’t require the security checks, although does have a feeling of military authority. Lovely area.
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Thanks for the message. Yes, I agree and I like it so much I have visited different parts of the country every year since 2007.
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In August I am using Doncaster Airport for my first flight in five years after the security muppets at Leeds Airport insisted on searching my then 13 year old’s bag, I swore I’d never use an airport again after that and since then the regulations have got even tighter, I just hope they are not surly to me because I won’t be in the mood for it – actually I hope they are … 🙂
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You will have to let me know – from next month Doncaster will be my local airport and I was hoping they might be better than Stansted! (Not difficult)
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For a fairly mild mannered, law abiding British citizen, getting through security at Stansted always leaves me feeling absolutely furious and humiliated. How can we allow ourselves to be treated in such an appalling manner? I was disgusted to arrive at Stansted a couple of weeks ago to be told my ever so carefully packed plastic bag was not suitable. To then be directed to a machine that provides you with FOUR bags for £1 when you are only allowed on bag is completely wrong. I can’t believe that somebody somewhere is allowed to profit from measures which are supposed to be for our security, this has to be unacceptable. I cannot describe the inhumane treatment I received going through security, I am surprised that I have never witnessed any violent incidents as the whole process is so threatening and intimidating. We had our bags weighed once we got to the gate. Does this mean that any duty free could have been confiscated? We were then told that handbags had to be in our hand luggage to board the plane. Boarding a Ryanair plane is hazardous enough these days with everybody scrabbling around trying to get their luggage in the overhead lockers. I am 100% certain that my safety is not increased by the fact that I now have to reopen my case on the plane to remove my handbag which contains everything I need for the flight. Surely there must be something we can do to stop this outrageous treatment????
On the other hand, travelling back from Portugal was a far pleasanter experience. I was treated with respect throughout the whole security experience. I tested the system by using my original plastic bag, and there was no problem at all.
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The following month I flew from Luton and like you used the plastic bag that Stansted said was unsuitable without any problems at all. I wrote to Stansted to complain about the attitude of their staff but got a predictable brush off.
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Travel regularly through airports and will be doing my best not to travel through stansted again!!! Have been turned away from security after a long queue to get to the front telling me my bag was to big… Security guy before u go through lifted it into an unmarked steel cage saying if it didnt fit that it wasn’t going through. He litrerally just rested it on top of cage, didnt even push it down! I explained to him I just put it in the marked ryanair cage and it fit easily! He said “not today, check it in!” then just turned his back on me and completely ignored me! I travel once/twice per month with ryanair and always use this case!! He took my boarding pass and wrote all over it bag too big so I had no option but to go join the long long long queue on a Friday evening to check bag in! When I got to the front the girl from ryanair told me my bag was perfectly suited for Ryan air, it fit easily inthe blue ryanair cage and weighs 8 kg!!! I then had to rejoin security all over again where this time I had no problems going through!!! Thankfully I wasn’t pushing for time!!
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Thanks for the comment. The bag size issue is a real mystery. Easyjet say that so long as it is within permissable dimensions then there is no weight limit but I have seen people turned away by the airport security thugs because it was over 10kg. I am convinced that Ryanair have daily financial targets to achieve because bag weight checking is always more vigorous than later in the day. Stansted is a horrible place to fly from and the staff there are contemptible and obnoxious!
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