London Gatwick Airport

We live in Jersey so frequently use Gatwick airport. We arrived in the South Terminal on Friday 15th April and used the toilet facilities. This was at 8am in the morning and the ladies cubicle that I used was totally unacceptable. The whole cubicle smelt of urine, I felt that I needed to shower and change my clothes after being there. I have used the facility many times before and the toilet was spotless. This is totally unacceptable and does not give a good impression to people coming into the UK, where are the early morning cleaners?

Passport control is completely unacceptable. Having flown from Geneva it took as long to get through passport control as it did to do the flight. A number of flights landed at the same time and only 2 desks were open, where they not expecting those flights? Thank goodness they aren't getting an extra runway.

I haven't flown from Gatwick North Terminal for quite some time but certainly wasn't impressed. There are no flight departure boards prior to going through security so you have no information if your flight has been cancelled/heavily delayed. I don't like sitting in a stuffy departure lounge for hours on end and will delay going through security until I have a firm departure time. For some reason Gatwick Airport don't think it is necessary to provide this information. Having travelled extensively throughout the world, I can think of no other airport that does not provide flight information prior to going through security. Their wifi is next to useless, impossible to connect. Toilets filthy with leaking urinals. Having gone through security, it was extremely difficult to even get a seat and after a couple of hours, lo and behold, the flight was cancelled. No information was given that the flight had been cancelled. My partner eventually managed to get a wifi connection and discovered it was cancelled by looking at our destination's website. Upon enquiring at the airline help desk, we were eventually informed to walk to gate 50, then when everyone was gathered there, we then had to walk a considerable distance all the way back to international arrivals and had to queue to go through immigration on a domestic flight. I had no passport with me as it was a domestic flight, however, it seems you can re enter the UK with a driving licence which was accepted - what a farce. I will avoid this airport at all costs in the future.

There has certainly been a big upgrade to Gatwick since I flew there last. I'd checked in online. When I got to the airport I was guided to the self check in for people with baggage. It was so simple to print out my boarding pass, bag ticket and then drop my bag off. Going through emigration we just had to scan our tickets at the automatic gates to go through. The main problem came at security when they ran out of baskets to put our personal items in to be scanned. This took about five minutes to sort out and then only a few minutes to go through. After that, it's the long crawl through a huge row of shops you're obliged to go through before getting through to airside. Apart from that a very good experience.

We arrived at Gatwick North on Thomson flight TOM53. The crew radioed ahead informing that there were several wheelchairs required but only 1 wheelchair appeared. I waited some 20 minutes after all other passengers had left until member of staff attended but she found it difficult to push me up the airbridge and my wife and had to assist. Outside passport control my wife and I needed to use the toilets - the disabled toilet was filthy, the floors wet and a terrible smell. My wife used the ladies toilets which were also disgusting.

Due to flight control strike in France my flight back to Geneva had a 3 hour delay. Most passengers had no idea about the strike and no information was given to us by the airport staff who were invisible. We could not ask anybody what was going on as all airport staff were in hiding. Finally, information was given over the speaker to go to gate 105, then 112, and at last 567 which was on the other side of Gatwick. We couldn't take the escalator as it was running in the opposite direction, so all passengers had to wait in line for 2 lifts to take us to the departure lounge. This caused chaos. Further, at gate 567 we were told that all hand luggage will be going into the hold, as the airplane is fully booked, we had to carry the luggage personally down some steep stairs, no help was offered.

Pretty terrible experience. Firstly the North Valet parking has been moved to a 10 minute walk from the terminal. How is that valet parking? It's an outrageous con that it's similar to "meet and greet". When we eventually got into the terminal the queue for the BA bag drop was huge. We waited over an hour and nearly missed our flight. I don't know whether this was BA or Gatwick's fault but it's pathetic. Then the queues for passport control - a miserable slow experience. These private equity spivs clearly have no idea how to run an airport or just don't care.

This was my first experience of flying in / out of Gatwick Airport. I have a 9 month old baby and travelling alone. Usually I use Heathrow of which I have had very good experiences. Gatwick was awful with regards to helping families. Not once did any member of staff help me - from offloading my luggage from the belt to going through the ticket gates. I was carry my baby and staff would just stand there as I struggled. No one at security helped me, all just stood there whilst I struggled. Hardly a "family friendly" airport. Heathrow was excellent when I went through security, with a dedicated lane and staff to help. I will be avoiding Gatwick at all costs. Only plus side was shorter queues and easier parking compared to Heathrow. Departure lounge was ok, nothing special. Signage was all over the place. WiFi did not work. Couldn't find the lounge I needed and no staff around to help.

Arrived at North terminal by car park transport - long walk from designated bus stop. Checked in at British Airways very quickly and deposited bags - no issues. Went to security and were directed to new location. Had to wait nearly ten minutes to have boarding card examined and allowed to enter security hall which was a mess. Reasonable time for me to get through checks but my wife and several other women appeared to have problems requiring them to go through latest x-ray machine plus personal checks. The woman making these checks seemed to do the same checks several times. This reduced the time remaining to have something to eat etc. On returning to North terminal eight days later at about 9.15 am, appalled by slow progress through immigration. E-passport section had three officers on duty, doing nothing but watching the long queues in the central section - they were only used if a passenger had problem with "automated" machines. The other passengers had to wait to be served by just two and then three officers. Again there were other officers watching but did not open additional gates to speed up checking passports. With so much news about the governments controls of the borders, you would think that there would be more manpower available to offer a more professional and efficient service. Overall I am reluctant to use Gatwick but unfortunately most of my flights are by easyjet so I have little choice. The owners need to get a move on and complete the building work and work with immigration to improve that side of the airport's services.

North Terminal. Quick and efficient check-in on Emirates. A few minutes wait in early evening getting through Security. Excellent security area, fully staffed to meet the passenger numbers with experienced, polite and courteous personnel. (Best of any London Airport). I was airside within 15-20 mins of entering the terminal. Airside was pretty busy that time, but plenty of seating available and plenty food and drink options. A lengthy walk to the gate over the bridge but I think there's only one gate where the A380's can park at LGW - but it's a hike. Arrivals in early morning was again a lengthy walk from the remote gate. Not a single e-passport booth was open and only 3 Immigration Officers manning the UK/EU desks, so Immigration took about 15 minutes, but only a few minutes more waiting on bags and I was lanside about 40 minutes after landing. At London Airports, I consider anything less than an hour a bonus. Overall a better experience that LHR.