Is anyone at Stansted Airport now, or has been recently?

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I am flying to France tomorrow and just got an email from Ryanair to say people should arrive 3 hours before departure because of delays at security. I am already getting stressed and annoyed at the thought of it. Can anybody share a recent experience?

I am thinking of blowing my holiday spending on booking the journey by train instead. I'm already returning by train but was trying to save money by booking Ryanair.

I reckon you'll be OK. I flew from there when all the flights were chaotic a few weeks ago and managed to get through OK.
I have a flight tomorrow morning from there also and plan to get there 2 hours before. Checking bags in tonight.

@TheRealKatnissEverdeen Thank you. I still feel uneasy though! I must remember not to book flights to Europe again if I can avoid it. I'm not sure it's worth the stress (or environmental cost).

I flew out of Stanstead on Friday July 1. It took me less than 10 mins to get through security.

I flew out of Stansted in late May, it was busy but they were really efficient.

We were there in the 26th june to fly to Portugal. We got there about 2 hours pre flight and while security was slightly busier, no other issues at all. I guess it'll get a bit worse over the holidays but I reckon till then, 2 hours would do it.

I think it was about half an hour for us, but the staff were being super efficient and directing people through really quickly. My heart sank when I saw the queues, but it was fine!

It's not too bad. Lots of people, of course, but they do seem to be keeping things moving, particularly at security.
If you are really worried, you could see if you could book security fast track either direct through airport, or on the Ryanair website, or we did ours through Holiday Extras. We probably saved about 45 mins and got more sleep the night before. Good luck!

I was there on weds. It was much quieter than usual and everything was really straightforward

It’s standard to be told to arrive 3 hours before isn’t it?

My dd flew to Croatia via Stanstead recently and she said it was absolutely fine. No issues at all.

I was there 2 weeks ago for a flight at 9am. We arrived 2.5 hours in advance and security was very fast. Once into the area with shops and food though, it was heaving. Massive queues for coffees. Calmed down after 30 mins.

There's serious staff shortages in many Airports because a lot of staff were laid off during the pandemic and haven't returned so personally, I would get there early to minimise the risk of missing your flight.

I was there last weekend and it was very very busy. We were told to arrive 3 hours early and there was lots of queuing to check in luggage (yourself!) and then the security queues. My DS got patted down too.

We had a 6am flight so thought arriving at 3am seemed a bit excessive but Stansted airport was absolutely mobbed at 3am. ☹️