TheFiend

You won't catch me wearing a shirt that looks like a tea-towel!!!

Main security....... My carry-on luggage always seems to be a magnet for swabbing..... Yes, I know I am a dodgy looking character!!!!.

I have no qualms about transiting via the middle east, and have never had a bad experience when going through security...... Can't say the same about Manchester as I seem to get regularly pulled up for a bag search on my way to departures...

I use firefox and chrome as browsers on my PC and I'll admit I prefer using firefox. I avoid using IE unless I really have to....I try to avoid updating firefox until I really have to...

I've never had a problem carrying painkillers whilst traveling through the Middle Eastern hubs.... But a quick google search would come up with a list of prohibited medicines for places you are unsure about...

I've just downgraded to Firefox 56.0.2 after I suffered an automatic update..... didn't like the new style bookmark icons in the latest release as they changed to grey bookmark folders...... I've also turned off the automatic update... Try uninstalling and then a new install with an earlier version and see if that helps......

I've traveled around the UK from as far north as Inverness to as far south as Penzance.... yes, I have visited quite a lot of places...... and I lived on the outskirts of Manchester for a while whilst I was at uni... Would I live anywhere else than Cumbria? No chance....... Mrs Fiend loves the beauty of the Lake District, in summer and in winter. She especially loves the sight of snow on the mountains.... London.... that's full of fecking tourists too!!! And the traffic... the traffic in London is a fecking joke. I've driven a coach tours into and around London many times - my brother had a coach company, I would help him if needed. From where I live I've got a choice of airports.... Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh offering flights to the Middle East and onwards to Bangkok, I've flown via Heathrow before and would never do it again!!! It's not a problem for me that there's no direct flights, I much prefer having a break mid journey, rather than being cramped on a plane for 12 hours....

Ha ha!!! I live in a beautiful part of the country, the Lake District is on my doorstep..... Would I swap that for the London metropolis or Southern England? No way!!!!

Perhaps if that "poor girl" had obtained prior permission to import them, and had a prescription for them then she might not have got into so much trouble....But she was carrying a large quantity tablets that had not been prescribed to her, or her husband, and had no prior permission to import a drug that is a controlled substance in Egypt.....

And that offer is only available from Heathrow.....

Yep, Mrs Fiend does a rather nice bacon butty...

Think I'll stick to a good old bacon butty!!!

Stansteds runway is the same length as the 2 at Manchester, give or take a meter, so they wouldn't need to lengthen the runway..... it could handle an A380....

Newcastle was basically just a short-haul/domestic airport until Emirates came along offering to Dubai and onward... If they can make a success of Newcastle I'm sure that Stansted will work as well, especially as it adds cargo capacity to the UK...

I have flown with Emirates from MAN, NCL and BHX and every time the flights have always been plenty of bums on seats.... NCL started off as an A330 but it wasn't long before it was switched to a 777..... MAN and BHX were 777, they are now A380... You would be surprised at how many people travel from those "regional airports" to the Middle East and beyond... Earlier this year I flew DOH to MAN via LHR as it was a quicker option that waiting in DOH for the next MAN flight..... would I do it again? No way, the connection at LHR was just too much hassle!!! For the last couple of years my airline of choice from MAN has been Qatar, so it's not as though I'm an Emirates "fanboy"

When my upgrade time comes along I always get my new phones from Carphonewarehouse.... the phones they supply are unlocked, so no problem at all with Thai sims.....

A quick check shows Emirates has 6 A380 flights per day from LHR and 3 A380 flights per day from LGW and that is without including the Qantas code-share flights to DXB. MAN is 3 flights per day, BHX 2 flights per day GLA 2 flights per day NCL 1 flight per day. If an airport like Newcastle can support a daily flight to Dubia I'd hazard a guess that Stansted could..... https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/276339/why-emirates-has-added-stansted-to-its-route-map/ Also notice Qantas pulling out of the "codeshared" Sydney - Dubai - Heathrow route in favour of flying via Singapore..... adding Stansted replaces that lost capacity to London without needing another expensive Heathrow slot.

2016 Stansted passenger numbers was 24 million and just behind Manchester (25 million) and placed 4th in total passengers numbers of all UK airports and ahead of Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh.... all of which have at least one daily flight to the Middle East.... Emirates have obviously done their homework and think this "regional" airport is worth their interest....

Goldpanner.... flying has changed since the 80's,...... who would have thought then that there would be 3 flights a day from Manchester to Dubai, 2 from Birmingham and with the option of flying A380's as well!!! There is so much more choice now for departure airports..... Me, I've got a choice of MAN, NCL, GLA and EDI within 2.5 hours of where I live, all offering flights to BKK via the Middle East..... Why travel all the way down to London to fly to Bangkok??? The ME3 have opened up more options for flying to exotic destinations for the masses.....

Goldpanner....... East Anglia isn't the whole catchment area for Stansted, you can add in North London as well, as not everybody wants to fight their way across London to get to LHR or LGW

For people in that area it would certainly be a lot easier to get to Stansted than having to suffer the M25 traffic or catching trains to get to Heathrow or Gatwick. Emirates have obviously done some research and concluded it's viable

The last couple of times was to sort out a problem with Mrs Fiends sim card....

The OP hasn't been online for 18 months, so you might not get an answer....

Never had to wait more than 5 to 10 minutes at the AIS kiosk when we arrive. Always our first post of call after going through customs.

With Emirates Saver tickets there is a charge for pre-booking seats prior to on-line check-in opening.... I like to choose where I'm sitting when I book so Emirates is now out of the equation for me.... Etihad also dropped out of favour with me when they dropped the luggage allowance down to 23Kg.... MrsFiend loves bring Thai food ingredients back to the UK with her so our luggage allowance gets maxed out for the trip back... Qatar is the airline of choice for me at the moment even if it means suffering 2 legs on a Nightmareliner....