London Gatwick Airport

We arrived from Marseille which was traumatic enough as the plane coming from Gatwick arrived at the time we should have departed. Blamed on Gatwick air traffic control. Some of the travelators weren't working and this is unfortunate for someone with arthritis. Gatwick seems to delight in offering long distance treks to get to or from planes. The good thing is that the taxi booth is close to the exit, and fairly easy to find. It was the following day, when we were travelling to Aberdeen from Gatwick North, that we experienced Gatwicks inefficiency at its worst. To be fair, I believe easyJet needs to take a lot of the blame - they are never that efficient at check in but excelled themselves here. We got to area C/D for a 07.20 flight at 05.50, with our boarding cards and flexitickets which technically entitle us to speedy bag drop. The area was roped off. We were directed to a queue about 100 metres long, by Gatwick staff. There was no attempt to prioritise by flight time, you just queued. Beyond the barriers was teaming with people trying to get to easyJet check in desks. We got to the head of the queue after 25 mins. Another Gatwick staff lady directed us to speedy bag drop in the top corner, where there was a queue of about 5 ahead of us. We got through after about 10 mins - it was now 0650. A solid hour when you have paid extra to get through the check in process, and have checked in online. I had requested special assistance, which was lucky. I can't praise the assistance staff highly enough, but that's the only part of Gatwick that deserves it. Our names were being tannoyed at this point. We boarded a packed bus. The moral of the story is - beginning of the high season with Gatwick and easyJet, just don't work! Avoid!

Arrived on Aer Lingus EI238 from Dublin. The arrival gate was a long way from the terminal building so we had to get a bus which is not very convenient when travelling with an infant. On arrival to the main terminal building there were a lot of stairs which is fine if you are not carrying a child or luggage. There were some older people on our flight carrying their suitcases and appeared to be struggling with the stairs. After an overnight stay our departure the next day was straight forward enough. Thomson check in desk was fine, queue wasn't too long and we got through security quick enough. Unfortunately, the return leg of our journey was not as pleasant, walked for ages to get to passport control without a buggy, we then queued for around 30 minutes to get through passport control. Lucky we decided to stay over because if we had a connecting flight we definitely would not have made it. Another overnight stay with a departure on a Saturday afternoon which was an absolute nightmare, we were on our way through security when we told to use the family entrance so we turned back. Staff were not organised at all and didn't seem to know what they were doing, we were queuing for ages before we were allowed through. I found the whole experience very frustrating I had put my bags through security took my baby out of her buggy and then had to wait before I could walk through the scanner. In the meantime my bags had already gone through the other side. By the time I had got through my bags were at the other end of the conveyor belt I then had to put my tray with my belongings and my husband’s belongings over to the other side whilst trying to hold my child and wait for my buggy. My husband had been brought over the other side of security where he was getting a thorough check. I found the staff to be unhelpful and not very considerate there was absolutely no organisation whatsoever. It had been 3 years since my last visit to Gatwick and considering all the transformation and upgrade it was supposed to be getting I didn't see any changes if anything it is now worse than ever and based on my experience it would make me rethink about using Gatwick again for connecting flights.

I think this is one of the airports to watch in the next few years. It's going to bloom. I know it has a bad reputation but it is growing up and away from this by the day. We flew to Sicily from Stansted and back the end of May and there wasn't much at all to find fault with. Staff were cheerful and helpful, facilities were all working, food outlets were good, parking was fine. I think it's about having an open mind and not carrying around old prejudices and preconceptions. Give Stansted a break.

I recently flew from Gatwick Airport. (Thursday 4th June, 06.30am flight to Palma). I was shocked at the check in staff for Monarch. The woman who checked us in seemed totally uninterested, was unfriendly, did not smile once and did not wish us a nice trip. I also overheard one of her colleagues moaning that a lady had "attitude" and she had refused to deal with her. This is the most unprofessional check in I have ever experienced. This would make me think twice about booking any more flights with Monarch, but I must stress that the cabin crew on the plane were very efficient.

We travelled through Gatwick North Terminal. Going out was wonderful our Thomson flight was on time and not too long to queue for baggage drop. Aircraft was parked up very near the terminal building and we were really impressed with the North Terminal and said how happy we would be to fly from there again. On our return it was a different story. Aircraft was at farthest gate which meant an extremely long walk for us. I would say it was a mile and a half but the official distance is 840m to passport control. Whatever it was it was too long to expect people to walk. There should be transport for those who would prefer it. I did phone before we left home and requested assistance but was then asked if we could walk 500m. I explained that yes we could but as we had both had recent operations we found it hard to stand queuing. We were told that there was no assistance available to us as we could walk 500m and in any case we would still have to stand and queue for passport control or baggage drop etc. On arrival back to Gatwick there was no-one to ask for help although we passed many little trucks just parked up with no driver. Surely it should be possible for people to get help more easily. By the time we eventually arrived at baggage collection we were exhausted and in discomfort. It seems ridiculous that no help is available to people with temporary disabilities.

Outbound only to DXB from north terminal. North still undergoing 'improvements' (it feels like it has been for the last 3 years) and north terminal check in area feels half empty. Security wait times have improved but some staff attitudes need looking at. The main waiting/shopping area has no windows and can feel enclosed. Some gates can have a long walk.

Passport control in the North Terminal is a joke. 45 minutes queuing in cattle market conditions is not acceptable. Gatwick should sort this problem out urgently!

North Terminal. Immigration queues are very long both for EU and ROW and Electronic. I arrived on the Emirates 380 on a UK Electronic passport. I waited 45m. The queues for EU and ROW were far worse and went all the way out of the hall down the corridor. The owners of this airport have increased capacity (Eg: Emirates now fly 2 x 380 into the airport and the airport is busier in the summer) but they have not spent the money on increasing the amount of desks or terminals. Surprise surprise the summer comes and Emirates upgauge and the waiting times go through the roof. I spoke to the Border force people who to be fair had all the desks open they said that they could not keep up with the throughput due to lack of desk and terminal space. Two thoughts: 1) Why do we give visitors and residents such a poor first impression of our country. 2) How can Gatwick possibly expect to add another runway if they cannot even cope with the one they already have? Furthermore the bridge connecting the terminal with the midfield gates does not appear to have been cleaned in a long time and their air bridge we used had litter strewn all over it. I couldn't help feeling that the whole LGW (N) arrival experience is hanging on a piece of thread. I used to opt to go to LGW as they spent a lot of money on the departure process and it worked now I go to LHR as the arrivals is much smoother.

We generally fly Easyjet or Virgin from Gatwick and as it's there main hub they do things there way. This time we flew WOW and found the overall experience good. Check in started around 3.5 hours before our flight and didn't take long. They had more staff for one flight (7) than WOW did at KEF for 3 flight (5). Security did take longer than usual but still only took 15mins which is better than Stansted. The departure lounge is large however there is no view of the apron at the South Terminal as the one restaurant there was is now going under redevelopment. This is the one thing in the departure lounge that needs to be changed. The gate opened one hour before our flight before the plane arrived. Boarding was chaotic as they where boarding in rows and people didn't listen. It took far longer than it should have and is probably why our flight was slightly late. On arrival we landed early and disembarkation got away quite quickly. Immigration took really quickly and the staff where friendly which was a good thing. Baggage got on the carrousel after a ten minute wait so probably took 25 mins from the plane to the carrousel and 35mins from us leaving the plane to getting in the car. Very good. Our experience yet again showed us that Gatwick airport is a great airport that runs efficiently for it's large size. The airport remained clean.

North Terminal - We used this airport last week to catch our flight to LPA with Easy jet the Bag Drop Security and wait were excellent and some of the best I have experienced. However that is where the good part ends! In most airports including the South Terminal there is a separate queue for flyers who have speedy boarding priority boarding or the like but not at the gate(50) for this flight. The gate staff just made everyone queue in one line regardless if you had paid extra for speedy boarding or not. I thought I was at a different airport than the one I had dropped my bags off at it felt like the gate staff just could not grasp the concept of speedy boarding.