I flew to Venice Treviso from London Stansted Airport with Ryanair’s FR792 flight at 0620AM in the morning. I booked my ticket direct on the Ryanair.com website for £42 return, three months in advance.
With Ryanair you never know how much you are going to end up paying but their base fares tend to be quite affordable. The earlier in advance you book the lower the price tends to be.
Ryanair also offers a special “club” membership that allows you to board earlier than others, take more luggage on board and check in before everyone else. I imagine if you fly frequently with Ryanair it is quite a good deal but otherwise I would not pay extra for it.
Tip
Check in one day before departure and don’t pay extra for early check-in. Most seats are the same and unless you sit in the first 6-7 rows it will not speed anything up.
Finding London Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport is about 1.5 hours away from central London. It is well connected by buses, taxis and the Stansted Express train, all taking about the same amount of time except for the train. The express train costs about £15-20 each way and takes 47 minutes if there are no delays.
The National Express bus (and other operator’s services) run to various London destinations like Victoria Coach Station and Stratford.
London Stansted Airport also has plenty of long, mid and short term parking nearby which you can book directly or indirectly with discount parking websites.
Entering London Stansted Airport
They are currently completely rebuilding London Luton Airport in an attempt to enlarge it for more traffic. This airport was pretty much built on the back of eastern European immigration – flying the immigrants back and forth between Hungary, Romania, Poland and a number of other countries.
Now that Britain is leaving the European Union I often wonder how this will impact this airport which has invested so much in eastern European EU immigration.
Anyhow, the entrance is about 100-200 meters from the bus drop off point.
Checking In At Stansted
I checked in online and I never travel with hold luggage on Ryanair as they cost quite a lot of extra money. Ryanair has now also introduced a new baggage policy, very similar to Wizzair restricting what you can take on board for free. Read further down for more details.
Ryanair Seat Allocation
The seats are allocated in advance which means you sit where they tell you. If you travel on your own prepare to sit at the very back in the middle or by the window! I’ve flown with Ryanair about 5-6 times this past couple of years and I got a middle seat without fail!
The Lift and Public Areas At Stansted
I did not use the lifts but I had to use the train between the terminals and a couple of escalators. I think Stansted is a pretty terrible airport, especially with the trains running between the buildings. I don’t understand why they simply couldn’t build the new terminal right next to the old?
Stansted Security Checks
Also, the security checks tend to be very slow and on arrival at Stansted the wait times can be awful. The last time it took me about 1 hour 10 minutes to get from the plane to the bus stop outside!
The Restrooms
The restrooms are small and there are very few of them. I fly from Stansted quite regularly and I remember having to queue on more than one occasion. I don’t understand why they did not think about this when they re-designed the building?
They have completely rebuilt the airport adding a whole new shopping center and a bunch of restaurants but there are only two or three toilets that I can remember and they are all far apart. Plus they are small with hardly any cubicles or pissoirs.
Finding The Gate
They announced the gate 50 minutes before departures and it took about 10-15 minutes to get there walking and then taking the train. Ryanair’s gates are two stops away from the main terminal so I would recommend arriving at least 1.5 hours before your flight!
Boarding The Plane
The plane was full – I could only see one or two seats empty. There was only a minor accident: one of the passengers was checking into the Barcelona flight and the stewardess would not let him get on! The chap booked a ticket to our flight but at check in there must have been a mix up! So they had to sort this out which caused a little bit of a hold up.
Otherwise, boarding the plane was OK although I did not think it was any faster than on previous occasions even though this is why Ryanair has changed its luggage policy.
Ryanair Luggage Allowance
If you are a member of the Ryanair “Club” then you can take two items, one small rucksack and a carry-on suitcase. If you are not a member then you can only take a rucksack on board and they will check your suitcase in free of charge. Obviously, I am not very happy about this as it slows everything down and means I will need to wait at the other end as well.
Ryanair’s excuse is that it will speed things up but in my experience it actually slows things down. That’s because people stop to argue with the stewardess and they don’t want to check the bag in. Plus, even if they don’t have the suitcase they will still be standing in the aisle like lost sheep, not having a clue how to sit down quickly.
I think it is a terrible idea and I will not be surprised if they change the policy again within 3-6 months.
On-Board The Ryanair Flight to Venice Treviso
Ryanair has stripped all the seats from the seat pocket so there is only a sticker now with the emergency instructions to save take-off weight and cleaning time.
The desk in front of me was freshly wiped – I could still smell the alcoholic wiper! I don’t know how Ryanair manages to turn every plane around in 25 minutes and still keep everything clean and tidy!
Ryanair Seat And Legroom
I was sitting in Row 19 Seat F by the wing on the right hand side. The doors closed at 0620AM, right on time and we were ready to move! It was a pleasant surprise to get on a plane that managed to depart on time. On the way back I was less fortunate: the return flight was delayed almost two hours!
On-board Facilities
The cabin crew were mostly male, well dressed and looking fresh – no sign of being tired! There was an on-board shop with the regular after shaves and duty-free items for sale as well as food items and drinks.
The on-board restaurant is reasonably priced with sandwiches at €4, drinks at €2-3 and crisps and snacks between 50p and €3. You can pay by card as well as cash in multiple currencies including euros, dollars and pounds.
Ryanair On-Board Toilet
The toilet was clean and seemed like it was freshly cleaned. There was a big mirror, the usual small sink, hand wipes, soap, the toilet and baby changing desk.
Overall Impressions
I am usually very happy with the service Ryanair provides and in more than 10 years of flying with them the return flight was the first one that I can remember being late.
In light of this I simply don’t understand why anybody would book with any other airline in Europe especially if they are flying short haul. You get great service and low prices on Ryanair if you are willing to travel light, so it is a no brainer I think.
