Daz - I admire your unswerving support for STN, and as an ex Colchester resident I was probably using the airport a long time before you were old enough to travel alone. That was my point about how much better the airport and it's infrastructure were 20 or 25 years ago. Unless you knew how good the airport was then, you cannot appreciate how bad it is now.
The issue is that having numerous destinations, year on year pax growth etc. does not make for a great traveller experience. I really do not care if there are flights to Budapest, Prague etc. if I cannot get a seat while waiting for my flight to Alicante. I understand that all airports are now glorified shopping malls, and that STN is adding more seating, but from a customer perspective, could not the seating have been added before the shops?
Then last time I flew into STN, it took me 90 minutes from wheels down to getting into my car, having collected my luggage. This compares to 45 minutes at LGW, 65 minutes at LHR, and 55 minutes at BHX. Surely STN can do better than that?
Once STN has an infrastructure suited to it's passenger numbers, I will happily travel through there again. In the meantime I consciously avoid it.