For the first time in 7 years I made a trip to Stansted to fly out with Ryanair. The last time I was there Luton was still using their 1966 terminal for check-in and the contrast could not have been bigger. Now I had the opportunity to compare the new Luton with an even bigger Stansted.
Well I have to say that the gulf between the two airports is still enormous. The first thing I noticed at Stansted was the sweeping dual carriageway right to the front of the terminal. Despite arriving at a busy period the drop off zone was easily accessible with no cars parked at the terminal front with drivers waiting to pick up passengers. Compare that with the clogged up drop off zone at Luton but then Stansted does have 15 minutes of free parking in their short term car park which is opposite the terminal.
Stansted’s terminal, which is full of glass, remains light and airy, it’s hard to believe that the same man designed both Luton and Stansted’s terminal.
I could go on and on but I would just depress myself.
Luton does beat Stansted though when it comes to broken floor tiles. I only saw one broken floor tile in the whole of Stansted airport. I see Luton has gained a few more this week by the new Costa Coffee shop in arrivals. The tilers can’t blame anyone for walking on their new floor while the grout was drying out this time as the whole area was cordoned off for days.