Thousands of passengers were reportedly left waiting in the queue for security at London Stansted Airport this week, with claims a number missed their flights as a result of “chaos” at the airport.
Passengers who were impacted by the queues on Tuesday (November 2) have criticised the airport on social media, alleging that there was a “huge backlog of bags” and staffing issues, EssexLive reports.
One Twitter user claimed that the airport, on the Hertfordshire border, was “chaos” and that they almost missed their flight despite arriving hours before departure.
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They said: “I arrived 3 hours before my flight today and made it to my gate 10 mins before closing. Absolute chaos!”
Meanwhile, another Twitter user hit out at the airport, claiming that passengers had missed their flights due to a “lack of staff numbers”. They also claimed that nobody was in the terminal to explain the situation to passengers.
Another Twitter user who complained to Stansted Airport claimed: “What is going on? There are 1,000s in the queue, people missing flights, babies needing attention.
“Unbelievable queues. Hot and uncomfortable, families with babies stuck in this.
“Bay 15 in Security is a big problem. Huge backlog of bags including mine. I left plenty of time for my flight, but others will be missing theirs.”
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One Twitter user claimed that she missed her flight after claiming that passengers who paid for “fast track” were able to go through security first.
They claimed on Twitter: “Just spent an hour and a half in Stansted security with only two lanes out of ten open. Watching all the people who’d paid for fast track go straight to the front of the queue while we missed our flight. Fuming doesn’t cover it.
“Had checked in digitally beforehand, came straight from work, usually an hour and a half is plenty of time to get through security! Not when they only let paying fast track passengers through security apparently (a thing I didn’t know existed until today).”
In response, Stansted Airport replied to these passengers who complained stating that they had “passed their feedback on” as well as wishing the passengers a “swift” onward journey.
They also added that for passengers who missed their flight as a result of delays to send details to their Customer Relations Team in order for them to investigate.
Stansted Airport is the fourth busiest airport in the UK and serves over 27 million passengers each year and operates 24 hours a day all year round.
A spokesperson for Stansted Airport told our sister site EssexLive: “The safety and security of passengers is, and always will be, our overriding priority. Our teams work hard to ensure passengers get through security as quickly as possible while upholding the highest standards of safety.”
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The spokesperson added: “The recent easing of travel restrictions has finally allowed for a more sustained resumption of air travel, which has seen very rapid growth at London Stansted, which is recovering more quickly than other airports in the UK.
“This can mean that security queues may be longer at peak times than we would normally expect.
“With this in mind, and in line with most airlines’ general guidance, we advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before their flight departs and to head to security as soon as they have checked in.
“We also remind passengers to prepare correctly for security before arriving at the airport to avoid any unnecessary delays.”
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https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/london-stansted-airport-chaos-claims-6158483
