Luggage storage at Stansted Airport: your 2023 guide
Have you just touched down at Stansted Airport in London? There could be many reasons why you need to store luggage here. Perhaps you have a layover and want to store some bags for a few hours while you explore the city of London or the surrounding countryside hands-free. Maybe you’re traveling across many destinations, and you’ll soon be flying back out of Stansted and want to leave some luggage that you don’t need for the London leg of your journey. Perhaps you need to leave some luggage for somebody else to pick up when they arrive at the airport, or maybe you don’t have a hotel booked yet. Whatever the reason that brings you to the city and whether you need to leave luggage in storage for a couple of hours or a few weeks, there are many options that will be discussed in this article. First, read on for some information about the airport.
Stansted airport is located in Essex, around 42 miles northeast of central London. It is the fourth-busiest airport in the UK, serving around 28 million passengers per year. The site where Stansted Airport is now located was originally used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. After the war, the airport was used as a base for several commercial airlines, including British United Airways and Euravia. In the 1960s, the UK government began planning for a new airport to serve London city’s growing population. After considering several locations, including Gatwick and Heathrow, Stansted was chosen due to its location and relatively low levels of noise pollution.
Construction on the new airport began in 1968 and was completed in 1991, with the first commercial flight departing in 1991. The airport was originally designed to handle around 15 million passengers per year. Still, it quickly became clear that it would need to expand to accommodate the growing demand for air travel. The airport reached a pre-pandemic high of 28 million passengers in 2018 and is a major travel hub serving over 160 domestic, international, and long-haul flights, including ones to Asia and Africa.
Do London airports still have luggage storage lockers?
There are plenty of luggage storage options at London Stansted Airport as well as Gatwick, Luton, and Heathrow. Usually, these are not luggage storage lockers per se but rather left luggage storage rooms. Excess Baggage Company runs left luggage offices in all London airports as well as the major train stations in London, including King’s Cross station, Waterloo station, and St Pancras station. Other left luggage services, such as Bounce, Stasher, Nannybag, and LuggageHero, operate at London airports too. These allow you to book online at a nearby storage location and store your bags there.
How to store luggage at London Stansted Airport
If you want to use the Excess Baggage Company, their office can be found opposite Costa Coffee in the main terminal. You can book a storage spot online on their website or do it in person. The opening hours are Monday-Sunday: 05:00 – 23:00. Otherwise, if you want a slightly cheaper option, you can use one of the few left luggage online services, including Nannybag. Bounce, Stasher, and LuggageHero. The way these luggage storage apps work is you enter your location in the app (in this case, you will enter Stansted Airport) and select from the list of nearby partner locations that is most convenient for you. Select one, pick a time, pay on the app, then drop your luggage off at the storage point you chose. These luggage storage apps offer slightly different rates depending on the number of bags and hours of storage, as will be discussed below, so make sure that you are choosing the best option for you near Stansted Airport.
How much does luggage storage cost at London Stansted Airport
This depends on which left luggage service you use at Stansted Airport, as well as how many pieces of luggage you store and for how many hours or days you leave your luggage in storage. Excess Baggage Company (located in the main terminal) charges £7.50 for up to three hours of storage per item and £15 to store an item of baggage for the day, and £30 for 72 hours. The rate is £7.50 per day for every day after that.
Luggage can be stored more affordably using luggage storage apps that locate nearby facilities. While LuggageHero offers hourly rates at £1.29/hour, their daily cost of £8.95 per item is pricier than their rivals. Other providers, like Bounce and Stasher, are marginally cheaper, but at checkout, there are often unexpected fees that you will find. Thus, we recommend Nannybag, which charges a flat rate of €6 per item per day without any hidden costs and provides secure storage at a nearby partner location. In the unlikely event of any mishap, any luggage item you store is covered for up to €1000.
What’s the best way to get to and from central London?
You can take a train from Liverpool Street station in central London to Stansted airport (the station is underneath the airport building). The Stansted Express is a dedicated airport train service that operates every 15 minutes and takes approximately 45 minutes to reach the airport. There are also several bus and coach services that operate between central London and Stansted airport, including National Express, Terravision, and EasyBus. The journey time can vary depending on the traffic conditions but is usually between 60 and 90 minutes. You can also take a taxi or private car from central London to Stansted airport. The journey time can vary depending on the traffic conditions but is usually between 45 and 90 minutes.
Tickets for the Stansted Express aren’t too expensive – at £9.45 for a one-way ticket when you book in advance, it’s half the price of the Gatwick Express, and they run every 15 minutes. The cheapest option is the National Express Bus, which has various stops around central London, and when you pre-book a ticket, it only costs £5. However, it can take pretty long, especially if there’s traffic.
Top 3 reasons Nannybag is the best travel app to download while in London!
With all this in mind, we recommend Nannybag first and foremost as your go-to app for luggage storage service. These are our three main reasons below, but don’t just take it from us – their 10,500+ reviews on TrustPilot and 600+ reviews on Google demonstrate how much they have helped others on their travels.
Cheap flat price -Nannybag’s flat rate for bag storage is a notable feature, as it offers a low fee of £6 per item per day, which is usually cheaper than other luggage storage alternatives. What sets Nannybag apart is that they don’t charge any unexpected fees during the booking process, unlike other luggage storage companies such as Bounce and LuggageHero. The most attractive aspect of this affordable price is that there are no additional charges, providing a transparent and straightforward payment process. Pay your £6 per item, and don’t worry about anything else!
Security – Rest assured that your belongings are safe and secure when you entrust them to one of Nannybag’s open partner locations for storage. Regardless of how long your bags remain there, you can have peace of mind knowing that they are being looked after by trustworthy and legitimate establishments. Each of their partner spots undergoes rigorous screening to ensure top-notch security, and your bags are stored in well-protected storage rooms, sealed with biodegradable locks. In the unlikely event that any of your items are compromised, a financial safety net of up to €1000 is available.
Easy process – Nannybag’s app and website are extremely user-friendly, making it effortless to find a left luggage site. Simply input your location, such as Stansted Airport. It will display nearby Nanny storage locations on a map where you can securely store your belongings. The booking process is quick and easy: select a time slot to drop off your bag, reserve the spot, and voilà, you can proceed without carrying any baggage, knowing that all your items and safe until you need them again.
As a bonus, Nannybag locations are found in a huge amount of cities in Europe and globally. This means that there is likely an option nearby, wherever you may be with heavy bags, for a few hours or more! Don’t let anyone call you a “stasher” because you couldn’t find any hotels or storage facilities to store your luggage in while you enjoy the day.
Free WiFi, parking, and accessible restrooms: services available at Stansted Airport
There are all the services you might need at Stansted, whether you’re coming off a plane or if your journey is just beginning. Of course, as mentioned above, there’s the left luggage storage facility too. There are four hours of free Wi-Fi (which resets every 24 hours) as well as accessible toilets all around the airport (and a gender-neutral toilet in the departure lounge) as well as baby-changing facilities in both arrivals and departures (after security). You’ll find plenty of options for parking, and as you can see on the booking page here, it’s much, much cheaper (and in some cases mandatory) to book online. There’s an Escape Lounge after security where you can go and relax, put your feet up, and enjoy a drink, and prayer rooms for a moment of contemplation. A wide range of duty-free shops to buy all sorts of accessories, food, drink, clothes, gadgets, etc, are available on location. Check out the full list of shops here.
FAQ
Is Stansted open 24/7?
Yes, the airport is now open 24 hours a day.
How far is Stansted Airport from London?
Stansted Airport is located around 42 kilometers northeast of the center of London.
Is there a direct train from Stansted to London?
The Stansted Express runs between Stansted (the station is right below the airport) and Liverpool Street station every fifteen minutes and takes around 50 minutes. It costs £9.45 for a one-way ticket if you make your booking online.
Do only low-cost companies fly from Stansted?
No, while it is a base for low-cost airline carriers (and is Ryanair’s largest hub), other airlines provide services to Asia and Africa. Some of the airlines that operate from Stansted Airport include British Airways, Emirates, and TUI Airways, the world’s largest charter airline.
Feel free to hit the comment section with your questions for more info about luggage storage in Stansted.
Make check reviews of other travelers as they tell their experience finding their very own luggagehero. Those can be quite helpful when it comes to choosing and booking luggage storage.