London Gatwick Airport Passenger Reviews and Gatwick Airport Traveller Reports

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Since London Gatwick is the furthest London airport from where I live, I don't tend to use it too often. Living north of London, it involves a long trek down the M1 and M25, both frequently congested, so in my case, not a good route to get there. I find the North Terminal to be much better than the South generally since its more modern and much cleaner with shorter queues however I do find there's a better range of shops and facilities in the South Terminal. Overall the airport experience is ok, but areas can be very busy at times and gates can be quite a walk (but walking over the sky bridge at the North Terminal is fantastic). Arriving was less easy. We had to all squeeze into a bus and be transferred to arrivals where passport control was still a bit of a walk. It's ok at a regional airport but this is not the sort of arrival I would expect at a major airport like London Gatwick. Whilst the airport has vastly improved since BAA's ownership, I would still be pleased to see a bit more sparkle and a bit more of an international airport feeling rather than an inner city shopping centre. I think the absence of flight announcements gives this feeling and also is rather irritating as you have to keep checking the screens regularly. Overall, I would say Gatwick is a little disappointing for it's size and importance as a major UK airport. It offers a smooth enough journey and I would never advise people to avoid London Gatwick, but I would rarely recommend it out of choice.

A year ago I wrote a review praising North terminal, this week I used South and was similarly impressed. Getting to and from the long stay car park was efficient, queues for security and passport checks short, staff generally friendly and helpful and facilities good. It is clear that the owners have invested heavily (the toilets are better than those in many good hotels) and have improved the passenger's experience. In my view it is easily the best of the major London airports.

Its been a while since I have been here and its ok - just. Flew at end of day (one of last flights out of North terminal), despite this it was hard to find a seat to start with as not many around as most of the space is given over to over priced shops and food outlets. It may have also been impacted by building work, or that may have been for more shops. Connection from central London is easy with a choice of train stations and takes no more than an hour depending on which train you get. Huge wait for bags on return with no one around to say why or what was going on.

Have used the airport 3 times in the past 12 months and each time have travelled with our new baby. The experience has been very good. Check in extremely quick and simple, customs and security they have the own family lanes and it feels like your being whisked through like a VIP, can't fault the place . Well done Gatwick.

Flew in from Canaries on a regular (Thomson) scheduled flight on 19 April, 2012. We had to sit in the plane for fifty minutes at La Palma because (we were told by pilot) there was heavy congestion at Gatwick. When we eventually arrived (late) at Gatwick (N terminal) at 12.10am, we then had the most appalling chaos getting through passport control. Huge queues, with no staff available to assist/explain what was going on. It was 1.00 am when we finally got to show our passports. No explanations, let alone apologies, from anyone. What a welcome home!

I've used Gatwick a number of times over the past few years - both North and South Terminals, Long and Short Haul. Overall the experience at Gatwick has improved greatly, with better facilities and signage in particular. Out of the two terminals I do prefer the South for post-security facilities but that is personal preference. Some of the reviews reference significant security delays, from my experience these types of delays are something of the past unless there is disruption and on the past few trips we have waited no more than a minute or two to be seen. UKBA on the way back is a different story entirely but that is out of the hands of the airport operator.

Gatwick has improved since my last visit . The toilets were clean and better than before and security was well staffed and free from queues. On return the only negative is the very long walk to get through Passport Control. Work is still underway to improve the shopping areas.

Used this airport early morning and the rush was in full flow, unfortunately, the security staff nor the scanners were. To have a bottle neck at a peak time is beyond me. To top it all, when you reached the security area, the mannerisms and attitudes toward the traveller is not what I called as polite to say the least. The last time I used Gatwick it was under BAA ownership, personally, I can see very little difference.

I have used LGW over the past few years. Out of the 4 London airports it is the better choice. Yes there can be some long walks. We landed at the end of the airport and had a long walk to passport control. Once we got to passport control we got though quickly and the person there was very friendly. Immigration staff made us feel very welcome to the UK. Gatwick has improved greatly since my last visit. Passport control used to be a nightmare there. Now its speedy. Also the trains to central London are far cheaper than Stansted and you have a good choice of destinations and train operators going to London.

As the previous person wrote, easyjet check-in is an absolute disgrace compared with other check-ins. They instil complete lack of faith in getting checked in on time on to the right flight. I thought it was only because it was boxing day rush! Waiting for bag drop for 65 mins isn't really on. There was 15-20 mins wait to airside. Not relaxing to the start of your holiday. Airside was completely different, well sign posted, clean with good facilities.

Came back from holiday and it took us 2 hours from the plane landing to be able to get out of the Airport. The experiments being conducted at Passport Control with digital passports are leading to chaos and heaven help you if one of you has a digital passport and the other doesn't and you get in the wrong queue! To get back in to the Country we felt we were being treated like cattle. If you're in your 70s and beyond Gatwick is definitely not for you.

Easyjet check in south terminal is an absolute disgrace - massive queue with staff screaming out flights one at a time meaning that people had to detach themselves from the queue in order to join a scrum somewhere else - no tannoys, microphones, information boards - nothing - just people with clipboards screaming - embarrassed to be British and can only apologise to all international visitors who had to put up with being treated like badly herded cattle. Bad news for all the restaurants and retail outlets at the airport as it is so inefficient that everybody is boarded at the last minute so no time for shopping/coffees or anything else.

I was here mid November 2012 flying from the North terminal, and it has changed a lot since I was last there in 2006, completely new escalators and entrance at the drop off zone. which is good, but still doesn't clearly show you where to go up to inside the terminal. The outside and check in is set out well and all good, but when you get through customs into the departure lounge it's not so good. So much smaller and offers half the shops and bars it use to, and hardly any seating in the main departure lounge. It took a good 10-15 minutes to walk to the gate through a maze of old and new corridors, I couldn't make sense of what they were doing. I know it is having work done at the moment, but still, not impressed.

Has improved so much - a really pleasant experience these days. Short-term parking is right across from the south terminal and with the new security area cutting wait times dramatically, we were in the departure lounge no more than 15 mins after parking the car. Excellent.

Quite smooth arrival procedure from the first step off the plane to the passport control, fast luggage delivery and well marked ways out to bus terminal. Return from the same airport less impressive, with long queues on check in hall (BA flights), and quite strict security asked me to take my shoes off and checked my tablet and cell phone. Overall well managed airport with efficient crew and good places to rest and eat, but would choose Heathrow because easier, cheaper and faster access to central London.

Not much to do or see, not many seats either in the North Terminal either to chill out. From when I was last at the airport in 2006 it seems to have got smaller? Quite and quick to transfer about as it's not as busy as Heathrow, and flights can be cheaper from here too.

On the plus side, virtually no queues going into Departures. North Terminal has been revamped and looks a lot better now but there are still far too few shops with the result being long queues in the popular shops like Boots and Smith's. The terminal still feels crowded most of the time. The drop-off area outside is still ridiculously small and chaotic which usually means a stressful arrival.

Flew in and out of the North Terminal with easyJet. Still using old style security unlike the South Terminal, but minimal waits to get through, certainly less then 10 minutes for my early morning start. Similarly on the way back no long delays at passport control at 23.30, if you have a chipped passport. Still a few things that could be done to improve things. Firstly a few more toilets after you get off the plane before getting to passport control. Secondly, I like the fact they now give an estimate of when the earliest bags will arrive and last bag arrival based on average past experience. Just over 50% of time bags first appear 20 mins after the plane arrives on stand, but you are still waiting in a crowded area with no chairs. Thirdly, late at night most of the shops are closed and I needed a bite to eat and a drink. But, the major problem is with the short term car parks, they look identical and although the ticket says write the floor number and row, it does not say which car part (5 or 6?). They should paint them different colours and make them more easily identifiable. I spent 15 mins looking for my car in the wrong one.

Security has improved enormously. Shows what can be done by spending money. Why didn't they do it years ago? After security you are lead into a glossy shopping area, the aspect of airports I like least but I just take a deep breath and walk as fast as possible. When you get through that you can find some very comfortable chairs. Some gates are a long way from the lounge but there are moving walkways most of the way. Why can't we have some outside space?

Appalling place. A domestic flight and still waiting for luggage after an hour. According to staff a very common occurrence! Truly awful that luggage takes longer to arrive from a parked plane than the flight does. North Terminal is a joke, avoid and go to Heathrow - for all the negatives about Heathrow at least they manage to work and deliver what they are paid to do.

Arrived at Gatwick's North terminal circa 8.00 am following flight back from Tampa to be met with what appeared to be chaos in the queues to move through passport control. The signs as you approach the two doors to enter the hall are very confusing, the left door has an arrow above for passport control whilst the right door has an arrow above for connecting flights. However both simply lead in to the same hall where the queuing system is very poorly managed with EU and non-EU passport holders getting mixed up. There appeared to be just 2 staff valiantly trying to help control the flow of many hundreds of passengers but with little success. The team at Gatwick need to address this issue urgently given the techniques of foot flow management are well known. Overall a very poor experience for those visiting or returning to the UK.

Arrived back here at LGW last Tuesday night around 23.00 after 25 hour flight from Auckland. Thought I had arrived in a third world country after the tranquillity of AKL and the efficiency of Seoul Incheon where I was in transit for less than one hour. The queue at Immigration was long and slow. They were not staffed up accordingly for the amount of passengers arriving at that time. Unbelievably one officer just upped and went off for a tea break! What an appalling welcome for anyone visiting the UK for the first time. Does the Immigration Service not talk to the Airlines so that they can plan properly to handle sudden influxes of passengers? It seems not!

North Terminal. Arrived back (11/09/12) from Santorini (Greece) after a wonderful holiday. Got off the plane and made our way to passport control. I have never encountered having to queue to get into that area. We were then corralled into snaking lines of tired passengers (UK passport holders) that seemed to be never ending. At this point I could not see the passport control staff or their booths. All of the people close to me had never seen these sorts of delays before. We eventually got to a sign telling us that it should be 10 minutes from that point before you can go through passport control. It must have been 30-40 minutes in total getting through passport control before we could go to baggage reclaim. The e-passport queue hardly moved at all.

Flew out on Sunday 9th September, seemed a very efficiently run airport there were no queues to speak of. At security people were being told to use all the doors which helped. I haven't used this airport for a long while but it was a stress free experience.

Landed at South terminal though should have come down at North terminal. On the plane for 20 minutes after landing because steps weren't brought out. Finally got into airport around midnight. The loos near the baggage reclaim area had no soap or toilet paper, presumably cleaners all off duty.

Flew BA from north terminal. Check was fine airport clean but unlike before, the queue for security took longer than usual. Facilities were great and getting around the terminal was fine because there was loads of signs with gate numbers ext. Baggage reclaim ok took longer than usual but no toilets until you leave the airport.

Gatwick is fairly well run apart from 2 ongoing issues. The first is an incredibly long trek to many gates in the north terminal's new extension. In the departure lounge is a sign saying all gates are no more than 10 minutes away - well this is absolute nonsense, I am a fast walker and my gate took a good 20 minutes to reach! You have to go up a massive escalator, along a lengthy walkway and then down again. If you were delayed en route to the airport, you could easily miss a flight due to this. There was also a 30 minute wait for passport checks on return, it was the first week in September and only 5 desks open which is clearly not acceptable for one of the peak periods when the schools return.

Its quite an efficient airport. The first time I landed at Gatwick I was travelling on an Emirates Airbus so there were a lot of passengers. However, I got through immigration really quick compared to other airports around the world. The airport is quite clean and there are sufficient amount of services available to passengers. However, there's no free Wi-Fi.

A day trip on business using the south terminal. As others have commented, there has been a vast improvement and there are still some changes to be fully implemented. Parked in the short term car park, which is still relatively expensive. BAA use to offer a reduced price at weekends from Friday to Sunday and I would like to see that re-introduced. The signs when entering the airport area particularly the filter to the right leading to the car park could be improved, as well as signs to the number of entrances to the car park building itself. Easy walk to the terminal buildings, which makes a good first impression from the outside. A short walk inside still looks a bit scruffy and then one needs to re-orientate oneself for check-ins, or security, etc. Security excellent, both in time and friendliness and professionalism of the staff, except they may need someone, or a machine to stack the trays after they have gone through the x-ray machine, as passengers are not doing it. The waiting area is still a bit crowded, good choice of shops and places to eat, on two levels, not all of them high end, but more high street, just needs a Tesco Express, or Sainsbury's. Television monitors well placed for information about flights. Long and strange walk to use the toilets. I am not sure if that is temporary while other building work is being carried out, or going to be a permanent placement. Longish walk to the aircraft, but not untypical of large airports, nice views out over the airport and some electric walkways, good lighting and flooring. On the way back, minimal wait for passport control and staff at the border also friendly and professional. A vast improvement on what was there before, I hope they maintain these standards and that when work is finished on the terminal, it will be even more impressive. The only thing that is really missing is a second runway, better here then at Heathrow.

Out and back from North Terminal with Emirates. Terminal was busy but there are now three security areas and some new eateries have opened upstairs. On return bags came out on two belts which speeded things up. The place has definitely improved since BAA moved out. In relation to what P Walker says below the schedules (and time keeping) are a matter for the airlines not the airport, so I don't really understand what point he/she is trying to make.

Arriving from Tampa Florida, connecting flight to Edinburgh - what a joke this service is. Unfortunately we have used this service for the past 8 years, as there is no alternative. With no change or improvement the usual 4 hour wait between flights, arrive at 7.30am, connecting flight to Edinburgh 12.30, if there is a plane available. Ask for information, usual response - waiting for plane to arrive from Edinburgh, and still the same excuses.

I flew from IOM to TLS transiting through LGW South Terminal. Flight arrived on time - long wait for baggage to come through, but I wasn't in a hurry and there was plenty of seating available (8am). Tried to check in for onward Easyjet flight but was told I was too early and to come back in 2 hours, as 'there was nowhere for my bag to go'! Tried to find somewhere to sit - I must obviously have looked lost and fed up as every available space was taken, because a member of staff on their way home asked if they could help. Very relieved when she pointed to seating upstairs outside security. Not especially clean, but adequate and I had a book to while away the time. Once checked in, security was a revelation - an area to pre-sort liquids and get them into (free) plastic bags, then straight through with minimal waiting time. There are now monitors to tell you how long each queue is likely to take. Once through here it's downstairs to a walk-through tax free retail experience is large enough to keep passengers occupied. You emerge into the central zone where shops and food outlets surround you on all sides. There are now lots of comfortable recliner style seats, and when I was there plenty were available, even though the area was very busy. There is still a lot of building work going on, but you know that when it's finished it will look good, and aside from a long walk to the loos which were not particularly clean but were busy, the overall impression was good. For those passengers requiring assistance, there is a dedicated 'zone' where they can sit in relative peace, with staff in attendance and monitors easily visible. Staff were helpful and courteous. Given that the Olympics are in full flow I thought that LGW coped with everything extremely well. I have to admit I was much more impressed than I thought I would be.

Big improvements in this airport over the last year. The whole place is looking much better and queues for security are regularly low (1-2 minutes). Most of the negative comments seem to be about Passport Control and that is often my experience. I often travel here on business and whilst the whole airport is pretty efficient, it is let down by Passport Control, which is run by the Home Office and over which the airport owners have no/limited control. It totally lets down what could be an excellent experience and is a disgrace to the UK.

Arrived to check in the day before our flight in the south terminal very quiet and quick. Building work still in progress but disruption was kept to a minimum. I found the location on the upper floor of the ladies toilets to be a long walk. The queue was large but given the amount of toilets available this is not surprising. The sink area lacked space to place any cosmetics, handbags, etc that we girls take on trips. I found the terminal to be very clean and tidy and a very good range of shops. I felt that there was not enough eateries, although before check in there were a few good value cafes. On return our luggage arrived on time and in good order.

First thing that strikes me is the low ceiling. Why? Looks dated, a bit 1980's perhaps. Transit area miles away from the quality of ZRH for example. Feels crowded (and it is). Design is out-dated, not much to write home about. Queues at check in could be a disaster. If you only got hand luggage things may run surprisingly sweet and smooth. With only one runway they are prone to have delays. Happened a few times to me. Personnel helpful. However, if you want to have a good airport experience this is not the place. This is cattle- style. In and out. Doesn't make you want to stay a second longer than needed. No real spotting area either, which is a shame. Everything feels closed up, no windows in good areas. Needs an upgrade, and raise the roof up please.

Gatwick South Terminal's security area is excellent. Plenty of automatic barriers which scan your boarding pass and take a photograph of you at the same time. Once through there are plenty of search stations and scanners with lots of staff to ensure travellers know what to do and to stop queues building up at any one scanner. I was through the whole process in minutes and found the staff to be efficient and cheery. There is building work going on in the departure lounge at present so there is a bit of a shortage of seats. All in all though an easy checking and departure from this airport.