 Poster: A snowHead
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I’ve not taken a flight from Stanstead before , but we will be heading there this Saturday for a Ryan Air flight to Grenoble. Question is how busy will it be and is 2 hours before departure enough time to get through bag drop off and security?
Car park booked in the blue short stay , which I believe is a few minutes walk to departures.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@holte43, heaving. Buy fast track for security
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @holte43, heaving. Buy fast track for security |
+1
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Fast track and more than 2 hours ahead of departure.
It's going to be nasty
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@holte43, even outside of peak dates I find Stansted a bit of a nightmare. You park your car, then wait for a bus to the terminal. Queue through security. Then you have what can only be described as a 20 minute walk through a packed shopping precinct. Thereafter you catch a train and more walking to get to your gate. It's doable in two hours, but if you're the sort of person who might want a coffee and a pee, allow longer.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you decide to get there early to allow time for bag drop/security make sure you have a lounge booking. It's a crap place to wait an hour before they announce your gate.
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Even when we fly hand luggage only at whatever time of the year, we leave 2 hours for getting through Stansted and I hate airports - half term with ski kit, I would leave 3 hours.
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Just to agree with the above. The only time I have come close to missing a flight was with Ryanair at Stansted going on a summer holiday. We arrive 2.5 hours ahead of time. They opened the check-in desks two hours before the flight and we were already 30 deep in a queue. They then took over an hour to check in all the people ahead of us. Turns out they were were being super draconian on bag weights. We ended up taking out £30 worth of suncream from our hold and chucking it in a bin. We then queued through security and went straight to the gate, making boarding with about 5 minutes to spare. Never again.
Suggest you leave plenty of time and double check your bag allowances.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I live 4 miles from the terminal and I’m driving all the way Friday for many reasons but Airport hell is one of them .
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@holte43, blue short stay is a short walk from the terminal. Unfortunately, it is at the wrong end for departures (right end for arrivals!), so that's another 5 minute walk against the tide of humanity who are heading in the other direction.
Stansted was a great airport when it was opened, but then people started using it. Now, it is a mass transit terminal used to dealing with large numbers of people. When you see the queue to get through the departure gates, you'll think it will take 15 minutes just to scan a boarding pass and walk through, but it will take 5. When you see the security hall with 5000 people in it, in lines which snake backward and forward 6 times and add another half a mile to your journey, you'll think it will take an hour to get through, but it will take 20 minutes. The walk through the shopping experience will add another 20, because some fools stop and look, sometimes suddenly so that you have no choice but to walk into the back of them.
In terms of numbers, Stansted is probably busier between 6am and 7am on Monday mornings as lots of people leave for business trips, so you'd think that a holiday crowd on Saturday will be similar, but you'd be wrong. Business travellers have done it before, and recently. Business travellers know where they are going. Business travellers don't bring buggies and screaming babies, they don't lose their boarding passes between the car and the gate, they have their electronics and liquids out and ready well before the scanner rather than digging to the bottom of an overly-large wheely suitcase to find them and are not surprised to discover that tablets and laptops need to be removed from bags, they don't need to go through the scanner three times and then be searched to realise that the chunky jewellery under their tank top is likely to set off the metal detector, and they haven't arrived wearing steel toe capped boots and a studded belt 
So, plan ahead, don't get there at the last minute, keep calm and shuffle along, and be prepared. Don't be the person stood in front of the scanner emptying their life out of their pockets into the tray and removing all 27 essential pieces of jewellery that they must wear while travelling. Leave the buggy at home (it's useless in snow anyway), pack to be 2Kg under the weight limit, don't risk the bag that you know is slightly too big for the Ryanair luggage cage, and in short and in conclusion, try thinking about the process to make it is easy as possible. Then despair when you realise that you'll be among the 5% in the terminal who have...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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You’re catching a bus in the sky it’s not pretty or particularly comfortable but it gets you somewhere lovely - is what I tell myself
We have flown on a number of half term Saturdays
The first flight are just after six and the check ins I think open at 2am as they know it’s a bun fight
The last time we did it we got their 2 hours before the flight we got put in the urgent queue and still only just got through in time
So give yourself plenty of time
Also if you don’t normally fly Ryanair they are very strict on weight buy some scales
One bag at 19kg and one at 21kg doesn’t count as 2 bags at 20kg and you will get a surcharge
Make sure you have the app or printed tickets or more cost and delay
And speedy security is definitely worth it
Pre 9/11 my wife never arrive at an airport until no more than about 40 mins before take off. And we have many discussions about me wanting to be their 2 hours before hand
We have agreed this weekend on 3.5 hours before our 620 flight
(I’d like to be there at 230)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We got caught in an over an hour long security queue for an early morning Saturday flight last February half term in Stansted. And then it takes ages to get to the gate through the shopping hell plus either train or a lot more walking. We were hand luggage only (not skiing) and already checked in, but 2 hours was only just about enough time to make it to the gate. So arrive early, pay for priority security or do both.
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The only way to escape the horrors of Stansted is to book a room which includes the parking in the Radisson Blue hotel at the terminal. Then it's just a short walk to check in, where you then use fast track then go to the lounge to avoid the hoardes queuing in the shops. We used it on a Saturday morning in September last time, bedlam.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Hells Bells, Does fast track avoid the shops? It hasn`t for me, only when I`ve been travelling with someone needing special assistance and then I had to ask on the occasion I was pushing the wheelchair rather than a porter.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@CaravanSkier, no, but going into the lounge gets you away from them.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Or just embrace essex’s Finest buy loads of cheap booze and then get to weatherspoons for your first pint at 515am..
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@ousekjarr, But a lot of those business people go on Ski holidays and faff in lift queues, block the pavement outside Mark Warner hotels, have last years lift pass in their pocket as well as this year's, carry their skis sideways etc. It's very easy to be dismissive of the amateur 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| @CaravanSkier, no, but going into the lounge gets you away from them. |
Yes, that it does. I just wish you could take the short cut and avoid the shopping melee even when you don`t have special assistance!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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No fast passes available on stanstead website☹️
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| holte43 wrote: |
| No fast passes available on stanstead website☹️ |
Look and see if you can buy them as an add on to your flight tickets.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| CaravanSkier wrote: |
| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @holte43, heaving. Buy fast track for security |
+1 |
+2
I hate Stansted with a passion. Busy outside of peak times. When you fight your way through the shops, there is sod all place to sit down for the amount of people that will be there.
You have done the right thing however by booking the blue short stay. Much easier than the mid and long stay.
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@HugoC, that is the only way to travel. The only iplifting post I read. Top man .
Op you will be fine, just chill x
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I prefer Stanstead to Grenoble! queues to get in and queues to get out
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I think I purchased them with our hotel and parking package.
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I'm going to speak up in defence of Stansted.
I've flown in and out 4 times so far this winter and not queued for more than 5 mins at either security on the way out or passports on the way back. They have put a lot of effort in to improve the flow of people and actively manage queues to prevent them getting too big.
Saying that, I haven't travelled on half term saturday so expect it to be busy but maybe not the chaos of a couple of years ago.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| ousekjarr wrote: |
@holte43, Business travellers have done it before, and recently. Business travellers know where they are going. Business travellers don't bring buggies and screaming babies, they don't lose their boarding passes between the car and the gate, they have their electronics and liquids out and ready well before the scanner rather than digging to the bottom of an overly-large wheely suitcase to find them and are not surprised to discover that tablets and laptops need to be removed from bags, they don't need to go through the scanner three times and then be searched to realise that the chunky jewellery under their tank top is likely to set off the metal detector, and they haven't arrived wearing steel toe capped boots and a studded belt
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The reason I love London City airport. It is easy to go from getting off a train at St Pancras to air side at City in 40 min for exactly that reason, most of the other passengers are travelling on businesses and do airports week in week out and know what they are doing
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Update at stanstead on Friday morning - thought it might be busy and had a good run, got to the airport before the Ryanair check in opened. Nice and relaxed.... mrs c very unimpressed.
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Thanks everyone, the plan is to get there for 8 , which with a 2.5-3 hour drive before is an early start (sorry kids) and then have 3 hours to get through . I will update progress if I get chance . Fast pass here we come ,
Alpe d’Huez here we come !
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You know it makes sense.
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| holte43 wrote: |
Thanks everyone, the plan is to get there for 8 , which with a 2.5-3 hour drive before is an early start (sorry kids) and then have 3 hours to get through . I will update progress if I get chance . Fast pass here we come ,
Alpe d’Huez here we come ! |
Did you get your fast track as an add on to your flights in the end? Good luck tomorrow.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Well it’s saturday and half term 430am so thinking of you all at stanstead or other airport.
What ever the hell the snow is good the sun is shining this week. And I hope you don’t have more than the standard number of family meltdowns on the slopes and have a fabulous time.
And spare a thought for all those poor souls at the airport with you who aren’t even going skiing..
See you all at passport control next Saturday evening!
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Poster: A snowHead
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All done - Car park to duty free in 40 mins !
Superb !
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