London Gatwick Airport

What a depressing entry into the UK. The sky bridge driver could not be found resulting in a delay of 35 minutes before the Aircraft doors could be opened. A further delay of 35 minutes after passing through immigration waiting for advice as to which baggage carousel should be used. The only seating whilst waiting for National Express coach was a concrete block on the pavement outside the terminal. The Airport buildings are tired drab and depressing. Never again.

23 Hour delay outbound to Palma Majorca. Very poor communications from Airline Desk conflicting root causes and "Armed" police called in when passengers quite rightly complained. Return Journey was on time but Baggage Reclaim was an absolute joke. No communication angry passengers and 3 hours to retrieve our luggage. Apparently Swissport the Baggage handlers have insufficient staff to manage the workload. Gatwick staff say its not their problem. Police called again to protect Airline staff. Overall a 0% Satisfaction rating with Gatwick Airport.

South terminal. Surprisingly quiet midweek flight. Security very efficient and quick. Plenty of seating and no crowds therefore a relaxing wait in departure lounge. One disappointment was the food outlets. Range and quality extremely poor prices sky high. My advice is to eat before entering the departure lounge! Walk to gate relatively short. With the exception of the food outlets a good experience.

The worst airport in the UK and possibly Europe. Long queues forming almost everywhere. Further long queues for security. You are forced to walk through acres of rip off shops on your way to departure. Unspeakably ugly buildings and jetways look like industrial warehouses of the cheapest kind in their dull grey paint. Unless you are lucky to board from a carousel shaped departure point nearly all the departure gates require up to a 2 mile walk. It is quite possible to miss your flight even arriving 3 hours before due to the pathetic staffing levels at passport immigration and security. The toilets are badly serviced and constantly sub-standard. The restaurants and bars are a complete rip off. Arriving back is even worse especially if your airline uses the appalling Swissport ground handling. After one flight we waited nearly two hours in baggage reclaim. The new "makeover" has actually made Gatwick even more ugly as if that were possible. The whole infrastructure is chaotic depressing and ad hoc. Passenger lounges walkways and other areas are oppressive and over lit to the point of being headache-inducing. There is virtually no foliage or pleasant distractions from the unremittingly brutal design. Low ceilings and endless identical looking passages create confusion. The entire airport is an exercise in getting you to spend exorbitant sums on food water drinks or duty free while attention to comfort or efficiency is almost zero. The airline desks are manned with surly unhelpful and rude staff. Complaints are largely ignored. The habit of queue management in the form of endless sheep pens going back and forth means forward progress even on quiet days involves walking to and fro endlessly. Immigration and passport staff are by default rude contemptuous and look at even children as though they are criminals. This airport should be shut down and started again. It is the most depressing passenger-averse monstrosity it has ever been my experience to visit time and time again. The parking is another rip off and the whole corporate management is geared to three things: fleece you inconvenience you and have total contempt for you.

I have used Gatwick for 25 years mainly to travel to Dublin using the South Terminal and mainly using Ryanair. The last time I flew about a month ago I thought there was a great improvement. The whole operation seemed to be faster and slicker with more staff on the baggage checks and less queues. They seem to have invested a lot of money and it appears to have paid off in that it is much improved from a couple of years ago when I twice nearly missed flights due to incredibly long queues. I do object to having to "run the gauntlet" though the Duty Free area on the way to the gates partly because I never buy anything. Nothing seems any cheaper than online prices.

Arrived on Monarch flight from Faro airport at 1.15 on Saturday 31st May. Plane could not park at gate as Swissport agents were not ready/available. We had to wait on the plane for a further 45 minutes until the air bridge was connected when we were able to disembark. When we arrived at the baggage hall (where a tiny sign shows the stand that bags are to be picked up from) we were met with hundreds of passengers from earlier flights that had still not got their bags. Our flight briefly appeared on the board that everyone was crowding around but then disappeared never to be seen again. A crate of water was then distributed by Gatwick staff and odd messages were announced over the tanoy regarding the apology of Swissport to be able to deliver our bags. The whole thing was a shambles and a disgrace to Gatwick even if it was not there fault. Gatwick should handle all of these matters and not rely on third party companies who do not employ enough staff to handle the scheduled flights - the flights are not a surprise after all! We were lucky and got our bags after only another hour while flights before ours were still left waiting. The airlines need to seriously look at their use of Swissport.

Departed Gatwick north terminal on Sunday 25th arrived as suggested with enough time for bag drop off passport control etc. Our flight was scheduled for 7.05 am so with 3 young children in tow it was never going to be easy. However I will never use Gatwick again. Arrived at the bag drop off to queue for an hour and half we get to the front if the queue they call another plane and literally we are back 40 people in the queue waiting again. No apologies from staff and we get to the front again a staff member was taken off to go assist somewhere else. Would not know what the shops were like as we literally got through passport control went you our gate and boarded. Thomson airlines and staff were wonderful but is such a pity. Heathrow maybe 10 minutes more drive for us but is definitely the best.

Transited through here late April and returned in May. Tried to use Gatwick Connect but unlike the web site assertion it is only available when check in is open anyway. So spent several hours prior to check in by the entrance area which is not designed for waiting passengers with luggage. Eventually entered the shopping mall/supermarket which appears to be the main business of the airport - not as a terminal for the movement of passengers. Not a pleasant experience. Returning used the North Terminal which seemed to be more fir for purpose as an airport. Will avoid in future - as a point of embarkation or arrival it is probably OK. As a transit facility it is very poor in fact it is not a transit facility. Good for queuing times refers to security which was fast and efficient and airline check in.

Flew out on Friday - north terminal warm May afternoon no air conditioning if there was it was wholly ineffective Avoid this terminal in the sping/summer then again I expect there is no heating in winter. On return today same terminal long walk to Immigration first half cooling system worked as one got closer to the main building it was clear that the cooling system was either not working or just useless.

Flight arrived early 18/05/2014 - but 2 hours later still waiting for bags! Apology announcements from third party contractor Swissport rather than from Gatwick airport. Excessive car parking charges being incurred by everyone arriving to collect passengers. Avoid Gatwick!