Stansted airport lounge - is £13 for this a good deal?

bitsandpieces

I'm flying from Stansted and going with Stansted Express. Because if have a railcard, a 1st class return is £13 more than standard and gets me free access to the No. 1 lounge. Is this a good price to use the lounge?

I'm flying with Ryanair, so the lounge is in a convenient enough location for me. Never used it before, though.

PeacefulWaters

I use a lounge to keep Mrs PW out of expensive airport shops and to ensure we are fed before getting on flights with airlines that don't feed you. Typically paying around £17 each.

I can't speak for the Stansted experience but lounges have always provided adequate comfort, adequate food (nibbles, not a proper meal) and more than enough drink. They are, occasionally, crowded.

I'm also naughty and slip the odd can of drink into my hand luggage to avoid further costs on the plane.

I probably break even overall given usual family spending habits. So given that your first class rail ticket is cheaper than I pay I'd go for it.

Your family might be more frugal than mine when let loose in an airport. This could change how you value things.

fifeken

Stansted Lounge allows you one hot item off the (small) menu plus drinks. I always like a few drinks in the airport, and the snack as well means you could easily spend £13 if you were buying them outside.

bagand96

Never been to the Stanstead one but used the No 1 lounge at Birmingham and thought it was good. As fifekin says you could order one hot item which was a decent enough snack. They also had a salad bar and soup which was help yourself. And cakes/pastries too.

The drinks were all premium brands and the only thing not included was champagne. I'd recommend.

bitsandpieces

Thanks! I don't drink much and the flight is not long after 12, so don't think I'd have any more than a beer. Might be worth it for the food, though...or then again I could get a tenner with of sushi at Yo Sushi in the airport

SW17

bitsandpieces wrote: »

Thanks! I don't drink much and the flight is not long after 12, so don't think I'd have any more than a beer. Might be worth it for the food, though...or then again I could get a tenner with of sushi at Yo Sushi in the airport

I don't know the Stansted lounge, but you're paying for the sanctuary as well as the included food and drink etc, Stansted can be very crowded at times so it depends how much you value that. Value, as so often, is in the eye of the beholder, though relative to the normal price of paid lounges and the fact that you're also getting a first class train upgrade, for me it's a good price and would be worth it.

SW17

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

I use a lounge to keep Mrs PW out of expensive airport shops and to ensure we are fed before getting on flights with airlines that don't feed you....
Your family might be more frugal than mine when let loose in an airport. This could change how you value things.

Once made a serious miscalculation by agreeing to take the children into the BA lounge at LHR T5 while wife had "quick look" at the shops. Apparently a quick look was all that was needed to reappear shortly afterwards with various carrier bags from luxury goods retailers...should have let the kids loose in the terminal and secured wife in lounge...:)

TBeckett100

Check which gate you are flying from. The No1 lounge can be a long way if your gate is 1-30. Having said that, the lounge isn't great and for whilst you can escape the riffraff what you spend can easily be saved by just eating at a restaurant. Stansted is going through a major shopping overhaul. It has a new "you have to walk through the duty free shop" layout

fifeken

TBeckett100 wrote: »

Check which gate you are flying from. The No1 lounge can be a long way if your gate is 1-30.

OP mentioned they were travelling with Ryanair. I believe all their flights go from Gates 40 to 59 which is the satellite where the lounge is situated.

jaytar

"OP mentioned they were travelling with Ryanair. I believe all their flights go from Gates 40 to 59 which is the satellite where the lounge is situated."




This is what I assumed. It wasn't until I had been in the lounge for quite a while that I realised my Ryanair flight wasn't being shown on the board at all. I had a mad dash back to the main terminal only to find my flight was leaving from gates 1 - 30. I only just made the flight.

fifeken

jaytar wrote: »

This is what I assumed. It wasn't until I had been in the lounge for quite a while that I realised my Ryanair flight wasn't being shown on the board at all. I had a mad dash back to the main terminal only to find my flight was leaving from gates 1 - 30. I only just made the flight.

A bit unusual as I was told the flight information screen in the lounge showed the same information as those in the central area.

I specifically asked as I was on Easyjet and expected a long walk.