London Gatwick Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Long distance walking doesn't suit everyone with mild mobility issues, and the South Terminal, complete with non working escalators assists with this. Added to which, poor signage directing you one way to passport control which resulted in a blocked exit, only to be followed by being rudely shouted at (as if we were an unwanted problem) by an official wasn't acceptable either. It was a surprise however to find the scanners were actually working!

Not Verified | We arrived on a delayed flight which deposited us in the South Terminal at around 2am instead of our normal 9pm. As all hotels at the airport plus a 16km radius were listed as “no vacancy”, we had no choice but to settle in for the night. As you are not permitted to check baggage until 2 1/2 hours prior to the flight, and our flight was not until 11am, we couldn’t even cross into the better post-security gate section. Be that as it may security gates are closed then anyways. Seems this airport hasn’t even considered this as a possibility from a human being perspective. There were close to 100 of us in the same situation. The couple dozen comfortable seats were long gone, occupied by the long-since asleep. The rest of us were forced to curl up on tile flooring or leaning against walls and pillars. The toilets were disgusting. The fact that airports don’t consider that people can arrive at all hours for all sorts of reasons this long into the air travel game, boggles my mind. But some do it well. Gatwick doesn’t even attempt to make this comfortable at all. The stewards of this airport need to spend a night in their own airport as an eye-opener..

Not Verified | The only things that seem to have changed since the last time I flew through Gatwick is that the prices in the food court have somehow gotten even more expensive. £6 for a small, lukewarm, flavorless and inedible breakfast wrap is a disgrace. The staff at security screening are still unsmiling and unfriendly barking orders at passengers and the holding pen/waiting area is still a cramped and poorly laid out mess where the departure boats are impossible to see from the seating areas. The whole place feels dirty and in need of a good clean and it needs quite a bit of maintenance. It’s convenient for getting to the south coast but I always feel like I need a good wash after being here. A pretty poor overall experience again I’m afraid.

✅ Trip Verified | Ok restaurant facilities but over £17 for a burger is shocking. Vagabond has the perfect name. There is a shortage of seats on the departure floor at Gatwick south. No seats for the elderly who were forced to perch on a hand rail until gate announced. Photos of seats at gate 18 attached. Appalling.

Not Verified | It was dark and wet when we arrived. The concrete edifice of North Terminal, roadside, looked like some Eastern European bunker. Once the limo had parked up (they can no longer use the overhead access) I then tried to obtain the wheelchair which had been prebooked. The call system that they had did not work, so in the end my driver had to go and get a wheelchair. He pushed me to checkin and after checking in had to go the length of the terminal to the Disabled area. Here I had to wait about 30 minutes before being told I could now go. I think my arrival there interrupted her break as she eat while talking on her mobile. Once in the Emirates lounge I could then relax. I was collected for my flight earlier than advised. Wheeled to the gate access lift only to be told that the Border Force had stopped people joing the flight. So had to wait about 45 minutes in an uncomfortable wheelchair before we were allowed on to the aircraft. We were then jostled by Economy passengers wanting to join the aircraft. Very badlyorganised. It would seem that both ground staff and flight crew could do with some retraining (training ??) regarding Disabled people. I would only recommend this airport purely due to its location and ease of transiting to.

Not Verified | The check in areas in the South Terminal was a shambles. People and queues everywhere. I suspect this was largely down to the inefficient check in staff rather than the airport themselves. Security was busy and the attitude is some staff left a little to be desired. Inconsistent application of the no liquid rule. My wife is diabetic (carries a medical note to confirm) but was not allowed a small carton of orange juice whist another passenger was seen with a large carton of apple juice. Food airside was expensive Arrival from Ireland was a breeze. Efficient baggage reclaim and in car leaving car park within 30 mins of arrival.

Not Verified | The transport links are good, the security queues are efficient, and the general experience is great. I even had to use the special assistance service for an elderly relative, and it was excellent. I live within 10 miles of he airport which means I can be home within an hour of touchdown, but that is as much to do with the efficiency of the security/baggage etc. as well as the public transport links.

✅ Trip Verified | We were traveling as a family (party of 5, including a 70 yo and a 9 yo). And accident near the airport caused us a delay and we arrived at the airport only 1 hour before the flight. The kiosk, didn’t work, so we had to go to check-in. The lady at check-in gave us the wrong boarding pass, so it caused us further delay at security. At security, the staff person wanted the whole family to come back to sort out the one boarding pass with issue, instead of just asking for someone to get all the boarding passes. Also, at security, they are way more strict than most airports about liquid content being in a plastic bag outside of the carry-on. Also, one of the guys that was sorting our bags left it and went to help collect boxes. When I asked him if he was done he told me very rudely to be patient. Then a few minutes later he told me to pick up the bags already (so he was done before). They also questioned some cash we were carrying even though it was a very small amount of money even for one person. Also, they picked someone’s bag to sort through before ours even though ours was ahead. As we ran through the airport to get to the gate I desperately asked for the airport trolley driver if she could give us a ride and she said no. I didn’t have time to try to understand why, but we almost missed the flight because of a combination of airline error and airport staff neglect and rudeness.

✅ Trip Verified | To start with a positive. Arrived from Dubai A380 and baggage was being delivered on the carousel as I arrived in the baggage hall. Very impressed and thanks to the hard working people behind the scenes. Negatives...who arrives as a tourist from foreign countries with English coins in their pocket to utilise the baggage trolley. Ridiculous and stupid policy. Just adds misery after a very long day travelling. And now the worst thing .....BE WARNED the ATM machines liberally positioned in the airport. I was charged 23% commission. $80 on a $360 withdrawal Outrageous. Yes it does state the exchange rate. However, long day long flight tired looking for bags looking for exits etc etc. For me this is disgusting and shameful greed taking advantage of weary travellers and not what I would expect arriving in England. What impressions of UK does this leave with foreign guests/tourists.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew into the South Terminal then headed to the North Terminal for my next flight. Directions were fairly good, however had a 30 minute wait at baggage reclaim. Self check in and bag drop through Easyjet was relatively painless despite the long queue. My biggest gripe is with the poor choice of eateries in the Terminal. I ended up going to Weatherspoons for a fairly expensive sub-par hamburger and fries. Aside from Wetherspoons there are only a couple of other options, neither of which appealed. The other shops are your standard airport fare, though I noticed some wildly differing prices for the same products in different shops, so it would pay to shop around. As for seating, most of it seemed to be swallowed up by eateries, leaving the free seats absolutely swamped. Having been to all of the London airports bar the City, I can say that Stansted is by far the worst, closely followed by Gatwick. Stansted's excuse is that it caters mostly to budget airlines, I'm not sure what excuse Gatwick can use, airports in Germany, France and the far east boast vastly superior facilities and make for a much better travel experience. Using Gatwick really was a chore, there was nothing enjoyable about it.