London Gatwick Airport Passenger Reviews and Gatwick Airport Traveller Reports

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LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  19 July 2010 by Simon Smith   (UK)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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South terminal to IOM and back. Longish queues at security caused partly by insufficient staff to remove empty containers from the xray belt thus holding everything up. Decent range of retail outlets although generally overpriced. Long queue stretching out of the ladies toilets! Seating at a premium due to lots of people laid out asleep. Straightforward arrival on return as you would expect for domestic arrival. Overall a pretty average experience, this really is a bucket and spade type airport and the new owners have a lot of work to do.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  19 July 2010 by Roger Smith   (UK)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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I have been using Gatwick Airport since 1963. During that time I have seen it change from a pleasant and small airport used primarily by charter airlines into the nightmare that it is today. During the 1980's I would regularly leave a Scottish airport on time only to spend an hour or so circling over Gatwick due to congestion on the one runway. Departing from the airport today it is obvious that enormous sums of money have been invested into the shopping mall that you are faced with following the security bottle-neck. On arrival however it is a very different matter, an assault course is the first welcome to the incoming passenger who is then faced with passport controls that operate in a building site that seems to have remained in the same state for about 10-years, floors, walls and ceilings all in a state of mess as is the baggage collection area that is designed to create a bottle-neck of passengers blocking the flow from many flights who are trying to find where their baggage will be dumped. A special innovation nowadays is the need for passengers to be in possession of either a euro or one-pound coin for use of a baggage trolley, specially helpful for anyone arriving from outside the EC.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  8 July 2010 by M Frari   (UK)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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A huge hall is only for Easyjet check-in, and all passengers for all EZY flights are on a single vast queue. This is check-in hell. There are no take-away food shops to buy something to take onto a flight, either before security or after, only expensive restaurants - and who has the time to sit down for a meal when rushing to a plane, because it took over an hour to clear security? Staff are bullish and rude, but they are obviously working under extreme stress. Traveling through Gatwick is the perfect way to ruin your holiday even before its begun.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  2 May 2010 by Robert Bushby   (UK)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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This is a review of South Terminal and even allowing for the ash problem it was quiet for late April especially outbound. Security staff having a shouted personal conversation at a nearby screening station and to my inexpert eye not concentrating on the job in hand. In complete contrast the operative who fed my hand baggage through the x-ray machine I used was a model of hard work and politeness. An inbound blot is the rebuilding of the passport control area, the actual arrival process despite plenty of passengers was fine and fast so thumbs up to the Border Control folks but the environment (for them as well as us) is an utter mess. Overall South Terminal has been tidied up somewhat but please get rid of the car raffles and sundry promotional activities so that people can move around unhindered. So - getting better but quite a way to go yet especially if traffic picks up.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  19 February 2010 by Gary Farrelly   (France)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Arrived into the South Terminal with BA and departed from North Terminal with Aer Lingus. By far the most depressing airport terminals I have ever visited. The long boarding piers at the airport could be a plane watchers dream and a free way to keep kiddies transfixed/ quiet - but LGW decides to make minimum use of windows denying passengers of any views of the apron and parked airliners and virtually no natural light. Catering and shopping everywhere but no distraction available other than retail. LGW looks like a dated out of town shopping centre. Long walks with nothing interesting to see (except faded carpet and out of service slot machines) make for a confusing and demoralising terminal layout. Staff in all areas of the airport roughly spoken and profoundly unhelpful. And what is with the weird, complicated closed gate boarding system - the mind boggles. I hate LGW and will avoid using that airport at all costs.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  19 February 2010 by C O'Hanlon   (UK)

Customer Rating :  5/5

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Flew out from the North Terminal on a Sunday morning. Car meet and greet worked perfectly and queues at Check-in were small. There were helpers on hand at security to guide you to the shortest queue, ensure that we had the correct items out ready for inspection and advising that we needed to remove our shoes, which worked very well and we were through security in under five minutes. Good range of shops with some reasonable prices, clean toilets, good facilities for changing infants and plenty of places to sit. On the way to the gate we had to go through another security checkpoint (as we were flying to the US) with full bag searches and body pat downs, but this was handled efficiently. On the way back, a 10 minute queue at passport control and our bags were coming off the carousel as we got to the baggage claim. We were in the car an hour after landing, which for a larger airport I thought was pretty good.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  9 February 2010 by Johnny Tung   (UK)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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I use Gatwick at least twice a month and my experience in January can only be described as disaster. Arrived from Prague on a late night easyjet flight landed at around 2250 at the South Terminal, the same day when the UK security level was raised to severe. When we disembarked the plane, we realized that the door between the jetty and the terminal was closed and there was no one inside the airport. We then managed to ask the flight attendant to help and managed the first door. Then we realized there was another second door locked. Again no sign of any staff at Gatwick. The flight attendant had to open the door again and here we are at the departure lounge rather than the arrivals. Then all the passengers wander around the almost empty airport without being approached or questioned. Eventually I managed to get the attention from a security personnel and he directed all the passengers though the arrival hall. No explanation whatsoever. They blamed easyjet of course. I have written to Gatwick airport but no response at all. It is ridiculous that they operate the airport, link the jetty to the airplane and then when something went wrong they said it wasn't their responsibility. It's a shame because departure from this airport is always smooth.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  8 February 2010 by D Taylor   (UK)

Customer Rating :  2/5

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Outbound no issues except for delays at check in, which is more an airline problem. Security was quick and efficient although this may have more to do with the time of my flight which was outside of peak hours. Inbound - it took almost 2 hours from leaving the aircraft to make it through to arrivals, passport control painfully slow with massive queues, even after waiting for what felt like eternity the luggage was still not on the belt so even more delays.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  26 January 2010 by Geoffrey McNab   (UK)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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Not having flown through Gatwick's South Terminal for some time, I was pleasantly surprised at the experience. I had allowed plenty of time for the security and had expected to queue for some time like other BAA airports. However the security staff at the South Terminal seemed well organised with some people being fed into the system and others directed to follow blue circles to a staircase up to another level. I was directed along the blue circles, up the stairs and found another security section with a very small queue. I did not have to take my belt or shoes off and, for once, did not send the scanner off pinging when I walked through! It was all fast, friendly and efficient. Almost as good as the good old days before intrusive security! Airside is still a bit of a jumble and the tiny door leading to Gates 1-10 is easily missed. Despite the terminal being busy there were plenty of seats available to sit o

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  20 December 2009 by S Smith   (UK)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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LGW to Dusseldorf and Luxembourg in the last month. South terminal is a dump, the Border post looks like a building site and a dismal experience overall. North terminal much better, all security channels were manned and there was virtually no queue, and immigration is much better organised. The temporary bus service between terminals is a big negative as well, run by staff who clearly missed out on charm school. Let's hope the new owners make a difference in attracting new carriers as LGW is slowly reverting to its origins as a bucket and spade, cheap and cheerful type place.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  5 December 2009 by Howard Barker   (UK)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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North terminal Thursday mid-morning. A haven of tranquility compared to South and no queues for check-in or security. Not much in the way of facilities landside and, on return, a very long walk to baggage reclaim involving two escalators.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  21 November 2009 by S Martin   (UK)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Departed south terminal on a quiet Thursday afternoon in November. Only 5 people ahead of us in security but it still took 45 minutes to get through. Every second bad was been hand screened. Apparently, this is now normal procedure at LGW, according to the otherwise very rude BAA security personnel. I suggest avoiding LGW at all costs, LHR moves much faster.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  13 October 2009 by John Hobbings   (UK)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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Ref review 19 September 2009 by Stuart Fountain. BAA is not responsible for special assistance. It is done by a third party - at Gatwick is done by Group 4.

LONDON GATWICK AIRPORT customer review :  8 October 2009 by C Stephenson   (Isle of Man)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Arrived at North terminal from an EasyJet flight, left from South on a Flybe flight. Very long walk to Baggage Reclaim via new-looking but slightly tatty corridors. Reclaim was OK. Exit led us to the Arrivals area with no sign of where to go next. Asked for info, and told that had to change floors then take a bus to the South terminal (the transit system no longer operates as it's being replaced). This was a bit unpleasant, with shouty staff ushering people officiously on board and not allowing the bus to leave until completely full. At South terminal, check-in was quick. The bad part came next. Despite being off-season, the airport was clearly overwhelmed with departing travellers, staff were looking stressed and it took ages to clear security even though staff opened two further security areas (which immediately both ground to a halt). Over an hour and a half after leaving our flight, we arrived in the departure area. After a quick meal, there was no time left for shopping but the gate hadn't been announced. Knowing that the time to the gate can be quite lengthy, we hung around the screens for a few minutes until the gate was specified. Here we hit another snag. Entrance to the gates is through a small hidden doorway and down a narrow and scruffy corridor. A flight had arrived, and arriving passengers were attempting to get out as hundreds of departing passengers were trying to squeeze through, many in a last-minute rush (due to delays at Security). Staff failed to prevent a melee, despite much shouting, and couldn't let us through as there was another security check ahead. Eventually the chaos cleared and we were in time for the flight. But why does it have to be such a palaver?