Originally Posted by
FRatSTN
That I'd have to disagree with. For me the boarding experience is something that differentiates the ULCCs more than anything else these days. Ryanair will start priority boarding 15-20 mins before the aircraft is even ready and for that period you're stood in a narrow linkbride/corridor or worse still outside in the cold/rain. I've worked out at STN that at any one time there must be at least 1,500 pax stood between boarding gate and aircraft in busy periods. For Ryanair they have no care other than enabling an on time departure, but for the airport that's 1,500 pax that could be spending money in the Terminal and for the passenger it's generally unpleasant. Unfortunately in STN's case the Terminal building is so capacity constrained at peak times that it's a god send Ryanair start the boarding process so early.
So the question is how typical is Stansted?
And is this TUI/Ryanair agreement just for the UK, or across the other countries TUI operate out of as well?