London Stansted Airport has only one large terminal, divided into a departures area (left) and an arrivals area (right), both on the same level.

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The terminal is spacious and well signposted, yet due to the very heavy air traffic, expect large numbers of people at all hours of the day.

After passing through security, you'll find yourself in a large lobby with shops and restaurants, where you'll have to wait for your gate number to appear on the departure board. This usually happens an hour before departure, sometimes less.

After the security check, you will either walk to gates 40-59 and 81-93 or take the free automatic train running about every 2-4 minutes to gates 1-19 (1 minute ride) or 20-39 (3-4 minute ride).

The official airport website does not provide a map of the terminal, but only a list of services and shops: stanstedairport.com/at-the-terminal.

Immigration and security control

On arrival you go through passport control, on departure you don't go through passport control, even if you are on an international flight.

Find out how to get an ETA to enter the UK in our UK visa article.

The immigration queues are split between travellers from the UK, the European Union, Australia, the US and a few other countries who can benefit from significantly faster clearance through automated gates.

Usually you will not wait more than 20 minutes.

All other travelers must go directly to an immigration officer.

Never go through security to the departure area at the last minute. Stansted Airport is known for its long queues, which can reach 45 minutes.

Transfer between flights

Due to the prevalence of low-cost traffic, you can use mostly non-guaranteed transfers at Stansted.

When connecting , you must always pass through passport control, leave the transit area and return to the gates via the departure lounge and security. The minimum net time it takes to walk from the plane on arrival to the other plane on departure is about 50 minutes.

The minimum recommended time for a non-guaranteed "on your own" transfer is 3 hours.