Stansted Airport - Chaos on 11 May - Was Anyone Else Affected?

[VWT5]

Asking here if anyone else was impacted by the chaos (“power outage”) at Stansted airport on the morning of Sunday 11 May, - and specifically if anyone has successfully pursued compensation through Stansted Airport Authority?

TLDR: At the airport we completely lost our holiday due to the disorganisation, chaos and lack of staffing in the terminal.

(If you weren’t affected, to be honest you won’t want to bother reading further).

• Arrived at the terminal at 0320 to queues and chaos before a scheduled 0600 flight.
• Stuck in tight non-moving crowds being jostled for 6 solid hours.
• Initially queuing outside terminal.
• Staff let passengers arriving for later lunchtime flights into the terminal ahead of the passengers already queuing for earlier 6 am flights
• No drinking water for 6 hours (no liquids in the area)
• Didn’t use WC for 6 hours
• Very few airport staff on duty
• No one seemingly with an overview of the situation, no one taking control.
• Duty staff not reacting to situations in front of them.
• Arrived at the boarding gate after standing tightly for 6 hours.
• Flight still listed as “final call”, aircraft at airbridge.
• We were refused boarding, along with others.
• We totally lost our holiday due to the chaos. (Once weekly flight only to Greek island)
• No one at the gate concerned for our welfare (both of an age, slumped on the floor, dehydrated and broken by the experience)
• I had asked a solitary member of staff on arrival at 03.20 if they could implement the “ emergency plan” (shrugged shoulders)
• 2 ladies separately next to me collapsed to the floor with loss of consciousness in the chaos
• Teenager next to me having panic attack with no escape route
• No barriers, no flow, no control
• My 77 yo travel companion with cardiac problems forcefully knocked, I caught him just before he hit the floor.
• Some of the non-English citizens exacerbating the situation further due to poor and aggressive behaviour, being hit with bags.
• Online search shows it’s the 3rd such event at Stansted airport in a year.
• Doesn’t seem to feature in the press and media for some reason…
• The Holiday Company have now refunded the cost of the actual holiday
• Holiday company state clearly that the issue was outwith their control, it was a Stansted Airport Authority issue and the fault lies with the airport itself.
• Hol Co are therefore not liable for statutory compensation (associated additional hotel, delays, food, water and travel costs…as a direct result of the incident).

I will add that I have prior to this long felt unsafe at Stansted - the dense crowding in the main terminal waiting area around the food outlets and shops, with no obvious escape route, at arrivals where passengers can queue for an hour or longer in densely packed lines, with no escape route for toilets, and seemingly no-one obvious overseeing the welfare of people who are trapped in the area - it’s pitiful to witness the number of elderly people (too proud to seek special assistance) who are genuinely struggling on their feet in these lines. Only two of the electronic passport readers functioning - out of a whole bank of machines, the disgraceful state of the ladies toilets and lack of running water in the basins in the washroom on the route back into arrivals….

Having previously worked in emergency/disaster planning in a past life and we’ ve all heard about the crush injuries and worse in mass crowd and disaster situations, I’m still feeling shocked and broken by the experience there, the complete lack of organisation and absence of management and staff on the day.

It’s likely I will write to the Airport Authority.
The Civil Aviation Authority probably need to be made aware of the failings.

Sadly, as an aside, we had been trying to revisit this island since Covid, but have been repeatedly thwarted, holiday company previously changed the destination after booking and now the loss of this trip. Have to hope it works out next year instead.

Anyway, interested to hear please if anyone was affected and their experiences, and if successfully claimed compensation from the airport authority.

Bump…

You received a refund. The airport won't give you anything, get over it and if you're still mad at Stansted airport next year, try flying from Luton instead.

Start practicing your "woe is me" face and email the daily mail if you're that desperate to make a scene over it

You lost mw at "non English "

I’ve never had that experience at arrivals at stansted. Always seen loads done gates open and the Q flows quickly

Your departure sounds awful though, sorry.

Come to Luton Airport, it's lovely. You are greeted by many tense officers with flakjackets and businesslike firearms. All standing there in a line, looking for all the world like they are auditioning for Hot Fuzz II.

I had asked a solitary member of staff on arrival at 03.20 if they could implement the “emergency plan”

You what?!

I don’t understand these dismissive responses at all! Leaving aside the personal experience of the OP, the situation sounds terribly unsafe for all concerned.

I wasn’t involved in the May 11th event but have just travelled from Stansted the day before yesterday and experienced something similar albeit not as bad and not as a result of a power outage.

It was an apparently normal Friday at the airport and yet we were also forced to stand in a narrow corridor with no seating, windows or toilets for two hours. It was incredibly challenging physically. There were no staff and no explanation or apology given. Two people fainted and others were obviously distressed.

I am still angry and upset about it. Why do people shrug this off?

@ARainyNightInSoho I'm sorry if you feel the responses upthread are minimising your unfortunate experience, and perhaps if your post had been the OP then replies would have been somewhat different and considerably more sympathetic.

I should have specified in my OP, my main concern here was public and passenger safety at the time, concern for other people who suffered, Mums carrying babies, small knee-high children, elderly people, the fact that it seems to be kept largely out of the press and public media - crowds forced shoulder to shoulder with little to no breathing space, potential for crush injuries, angry people, being hit with bags, the potential for escalation, many people expressed concern that no one died in the chaos.

An emergency telephone line to summon assistance was out of service and ringing as number unobtainable, staff gave incorrect directions for escape routes to retrace steps, absence of staff everywhere on the ground. We were inside the terminal for 12 hours / 3 days spent at Stansted.

Other Stansted travellers and families need to be aware of a potentially ongoing issue here (3 events in past year?) which seems largely unreported.

The statutory compensation issue is secondary. Having worked in disaster planning previously, the absence of airport staff and disorganisation that day could have been bordering criminal negligence. (see also football stadium disasters / airshow disasters /crush injuries, safe management of the general public and crowds at large events).

Transiting Stansted again today, the queues standing in line at security seem to get longer and don’t get any easier - 2 hours to get to the gate (if that helps anyone else).

I flew back into Stansted on the 7th May, travelling with a baby and a toddler. We were held in a corridor for 2 hours waiting on baggage. My 3 year old needed the toilet, there were no facilities available and I was told I had to leave the airport to find a bathroom and not be allowed back in to get my suitcase and pram! This was after waiting for 2 hours and them not being able to give any indication of how much time it would be until the suitcases arrived, keeping in mind we had been in this corridor for 2 hours!
It was a really horrendous situation after a flight.
There were a lot of babies on the flight, no one had prams everyone was left carrying children for hours. I think eventually the one Stansted staff got fed up of fielding complaints and questions so just fucked off leaving us locked between two doors.

I travel a lot, and this is why I refuse to travel from Stansted. It’s not safe. It’s only a matter of time until there is an incident with crush injuries. I suspect it already happens that people are badly impacted illnesses caused by dehydration etc, particularly in more vulnerable groups.