613 STN-LDY 31 OCT 14 (ECONOMY)

Trip to Northern Ireland for a wedding. Booked flights a few months in advance and even with the extra cost for Baggage, Selecting Seats and Credit Card fee the cost was coming in cheaper than BA (did not check Easyjet) with the added bonus of flying to Derry as opposed to one of the Belfast Airports, this would mean a 15 minute cab ride to the venue instead of a 2 hour drive from Belfast. Flight time was lunchtime although that did change to 15.30pm a couple of months before the flight. Booked Meet and Greet parking, which proved to be quiet difficult to change the time but after a lot of emails eventually sorted along with 3 Fast Track stickers for our troubles.
Drove to Stansted, which took about 90 minutes including a stop at Marks and Spencer's to buy lunch.
Directions to Meet and Greet were easy to use and parked the car up and left the key in their reception. I would say that the women who greeted us in their reception was quiet aggressive and abrupt.
Into the Terminal with step free access using the ramps into the check in area. There is some building work going on so not the most user friendly airport, in fact when we got to the desk after a 20 minute wait in line we were told we were at the wrong bank of desks and needed to go to the other side, otherwise our bags would get lost. No line on the other side and went through to Fast Track security. I was through quiet quickly and only lost 1 part of my lunch which I offered to the security person to eat! I think this provided her some light relief as most of the other passengers were not friendly towards her and she looked a little stressed.
We decided to use the Lounge at Gate 49 which was a good 15 to 20 minute walk away, unfortunately we were denied access as I had brought the wrong card with me, they did say I could ring Amex to sort but having been in the lounge for a few minutes it was apparent that it was very, very hot and uncomfortable inside. We decided to eat at one of the bars (I ate my own GF lunch that I had brought with me anyway). Another long walk back to the other side of the airport where the domestic gates are located. Boarding was a little slow and not via an air bridge, which I thought was strange but apparently this is standard procedure for Ryanair. It did mean some nice views of the Aircraft up close. We chose seats in Row 2 on the right hand side of the Plane, plenty of room for our legs and the boarding process all in all was quick and efficient once everyone was actually on the tarmac. Both front and rear doors were used. The flight was scheduled to take 90 minutes and we were soon on our way. 10 minutes to get to cruise hight, 20 minutes cruise and 30 minutes to descend. So that is how they achieve their on time arrival targets, always helps to have a 50% buffer! Declined any type of service on board, food, drinks, duty free and scratch cards. Flight was smooth throughout until landing which was very hard along with aggressive breaking but Derry does have a very short runway. Out of the plane quickly into the vast Terminal at Derry (mmmm I think Northolt Airport is bigger) and collected our bags and outside into the cab within 10 minutes.
Summary of experience
Meet and Greet - Easy to use but staff could try and be friendly
Check In - Would have been ultra quick if we got to the right area
Fast Track - Quick and Easy
Lounge - Did not stay/not allowed in, looked nice but it was very hot like a greenhouse
Flight - OK for a hours flight and on time
Derry Airport - Very easy to use and again quick

Glad to hear STN and Ryanair did the job for you.

- I used to use Stansted Easy Parking for my valet parking, and found them friendly and flexible. I notice that they've had to up their charges by £6 to cover the STN imposed charges which is a shame.

- MrsPJH used the lounge a few weeks back, and said it was fine but they were quite slow in clearing stuff away. She and her travelling companion did get "value" out of their time there

- can't speak for Ryanair but it was the exception, not the rule, for an airbridge to be deployed for an Easyjet flight; the usual model was front and rear steps.