London Gatwick Airport

When considering Gatwick, it's important to specify which terminal you're talking about. The restaurants and facilities are a little different in each, and upgrades to facilities such as security equipment move at different speeds. I have only ever arrived by car at this airport and I have always parked in the Short Stay, with a short walk into the terminals. In past years this has been reasonably priced at about £90 for a week, but this year there has been well publicised subsidence to the car park at the North Terminal with resultant closure of part of it. The airport owners have taken the opportunity to put up prices to an exorbitant level, so this year I used Meteor Valet Parking. I found them to be efficient and reliable at a reasonable price, however it does mean a slightly longer walk from the drop-off point into the terminal with your luggage and a short but possibly cold and breezy wait for your car to be delivered back to you on your return. This year I flew with Easyjet from the North Terminal. I agree with the earlier points about their excellent reception and check-in arrangements on the second floor. However the signage in the lifts etc is confusing as the floor levels are wrongly marked at some points. I recommend using the Costa on the Arrivals floor after checking your luggage as there doesn't appear to be one after going through Security. The Security equipment has been updated and, as mentioned below, your case has a good chance of being diverted into a siding if they don't like the look of something eg liquids etc and this will result in a delay and a manual check. On the plus side, the scanners are more accurate and you mostly don't have to remove your shoes. There were plenty of security staff on duty to do the checks. We hit the airport quite early for our flight and it was not too crowded. Consequently check-in and Security impressed us favourably. Maybe we were lucky this time as our poor experiences in past years match some of those below. If you have any kind of disability, apply in advance via your airline for Special Assistance. Distances to departure gates are huge and can mean a walk of over 10 minutes along endless corridors and up and down stairs. The Special Assistance service was excellent both ways with a dedicated waiting area with newspapers, a good natured buggy driver and a lot of humorous banter. Full marks to Gatwick for that. There were plenty of seats available Neither my wife or I have ever been able to access the free Boingo Wi-Fi on our Ipad or mobile phone. You fill in your details and then nothing. I'd like to hear other's experiences of Boingo - I'm generally not impressed. Our Easyjet flight got away easily half an hour early which contrasts favourably with experiences at Heathrow where late take-offs due to a congested runway are common. Our return flight also landed straight away on time rather than stacked around Heathrow waiting for a slot. Our return was late at night and we were favourably impressed by the lack of queues at Passport Control. We were probably lucky because we have waited for ages in the past, but let's hope that Gatwick is doing better on that front. A good tip is that the M&S in Arrivals is open late into the evening and is a good spot to pick up that pint of milk. There is also a Shell Garage on the roundabout at the North Terminal with a shop and it too opens late into the night. Taken all in all, our impression of Gatwick Airport this year was very favourable.

What a horrible experience. I have always been a fan of Gatwick for convenience as well as supporting their plan to expand and compete better with Heathrow. I know they are investing heavily in improving the airport but are still billions of pounds and many years away from being remotely acceptable for long haul passengers, particularly those flying in premium classes as I was on this occasion. The airport looks shabby not only where things are in poor state of maintenence but even new areas look like an old town bus station rather than a major London airport. Immigration is a horrendous mess, with very lengthy queueing times, and apparently business class doesn't allow you to use premium gatwick, that is only if you pay Gatwick airport extra yourself. Baggage reclaim was a complete mess and they clearly are not capable of processing an a380. Using two separate belts with no guidance about which one your bags will come on, it was still over stretched. Overall the airport looks bad, is congested and chaotic and everything takes ages. They need to seriously improve.

I had the misfortune to arrive at Gatwick Airport pm on Friday 26 February - South Terminal. Having arrived as scheduled it took me over 3/4 an hour to clear immigration. This is totally unacceptable. Why have so many desks when there are only three open. On arrival in the North Terminal train Station yet again endless queues with frustrated foreign citizens, with little help, attempting to buy tickets from the obviously inadequate number of ticket machines. Those who attempted to buy a ticket from an actual person were confronted by more queues with only 3 windows open. I am not a supporter of a third runway at Heathrow however, I cannot fathom how Gatwick expects to be a front runner when a decision is made.

North Terminal the departure process was simple and easy to use and I liked the easyJet self service bag drop off system. The only minor point would be a one way system to filter people out after using. There was a slight queue at security mainly caused by travellers not using common sense and waiting to the last minute to take off coats etc. Security apart from the slight wait was quick and painless again apart from people wanting to put everything back in bags/cases rather than pick up everything and move to the repacking area adjacent to the belts. It was nice not to be made to walk though the duty free shop after leaving security which is fast becoming the norm in UK airports. The gate signs are easy to follow and the gates are displayed in good time. The departure gate staff were friendly and even on a full flight did not seem to be over strict on cabin baggage size.

After a faultless flight with our national carrier the reception at Gatwick was approaching a national embarrassment. Border e-gates queue completely solid, endless queues for the human alternative and the rail station simply ghastly. And this on a Friday afternoon. I was pro the case for a 3rd runway at LGW but if this is the best they can do roll on Heathrow.

My experience with Gatwick is one of two halves. Our departure on Emirates from Gatwick was good. The check in went well as did the security with minimal queuing and pleasant staff. The only issue was the long walk from the North Terminal over the sky bridge to get to the gate. I can never understand this. Arriving at Gatwick was an entirely different affair. Arriving on an Emirates A380 with some 500 people on board we were funnelled through a small door onto a single escalator up to another long walk over the sky bridge and eventually arrived at immigration. Luckily the queue went quite quickly so then you are confronted with the baggage reclaim area where the Emirates flight was handled on two un-connected belts 8 and 9. It's bad enough being a couple having to look at two belts but goodness knows how one person copes. Finally you are disgorged into the arrivals area which has been undergoing refurbishment for what seems ages and, as there is no meeting area, you have to proceed into a car park which then takes ages to exit due to the ever present road works. To think that Gatwick believes it can challenge Heathrow is amazing. They cannot even get the basics right especially in arrivals. I would only travel from Gatwick again if it was an absolute necessity.

If you fly BA, don't use Gatwick. It is an easyJet zoo. There is no BA lounge. The substitute lounge is an open to the public lounge that is packed. Service is horrible and they charge for food. I will not even attempt Gatwick again until the new lounge is available in Jan 2017. Poor show BA.

London Gatwick is a decent airport. However, I think it has a lot to learn from Heathrow. The facilities are not as good as Heathrow. The terminal looks dated. My flight from Switzerland was delayed for an hour due to problems at Gatwick. It was my first time here and I was a bit disappointed. I had to walk for nearly 15-20 minutes from exiting the aircraft to immigration. Also, London Underground does not serve Gatwick. If you are taking public transport, the best you can take is National Rail. It is around 30 minutes to get you to the city.

2pm on a Tuesday does not really strike me as peak time. Gatwick North terminal was a zoo. Entered the passport area - the queue for manual passport checks was full and not moving, the E passport queue similar. In total it took 45 mins to get through the e-passport system - they have 5 machines of which only 4 are working. The real irritation is there is no one to complain to, they are above the law and answerable to no one all on the basis of "security". Even the much maligned USA is now better - I was at Miami and they have maybe 50 automated machines. I was through in 5 minutes. Avoid if you can.

If Gatwick are really hoping to get the further runways then they really need to run what they have got efficiently. Gatwick is only an hour from home but it has now got to be a dreaded experience arriving and departing, that it has truly put me off booking another holiday because Gatwick is such a blight. We always try to be there two hours in advance and the plan is always to have a leisurely breakfast and wander around the shops getting last minute holiday stuff, but its become increasingly difficult. We, like everyone else looks stressed and is desperately trying to buy their last minute sandwich because they have been delayed. This time we parked in good time, only to wait 15 minutes for a bus and then had to be crammed on. My ageing mother was jostled and nearly fell as the driver was obviously trying to make up time. Queues for lifts dont help and then at security more queues when not all the machines were staffed and then my coat just didnt come out of the x-ray machine. Half an hour later and now realising we were not going to get our breakfast/shopping or a cup of tea, we were anxious and it took a supervisor to find it in the machine. This coupled with the boarding gate about as far away as it could be left my elderly mother exhausted and me frazzled. On top of that we ended up waiting in the plane for an hour and a half. Having drove into the car park at 5.45, it was 10.15 before we got a drink. Same again on return. This time, half an hour for a bus whilst we watched three staff busses go by in the freezing cold. Please get your act together Gatwick.