London Gatwick Airport Reviews 

Gatwick is so shi* 12 of us missed our flights because they "couldn't" let us in for bag check unless an authority came to the bag check entrance. There was no line up as well. Completely empty. To be fair we were running late due to multiple car accidents on our way to Gatwick. However, something like this shouldn't happen. We arrived 30 minutes before the gate closed, so more than enough time to make it to the gate. Absolutely unbelievable. Also DO NOT fly with Vueling. They couldn't even issue a refund - said they can't do anything

Some of the security staff are nasty pieces of work. I got through the bag check after wrongly being told to take off my shoes, along with my belt, coat and scarf. Only moments after getting through the body scanner, and trying to collect my belongings, a male member of staff starts shouting in my ear to "stop holding the queue up" and take my things. There were ZERO people standing behind me, and even if there was, my belongings were right at the end of the long conveyor belt and wouldn't have held anyone up. I didn't acknowledge the staff member, to which he kept repeatedly and aggressively shouting the same thing in my ear. I then told him that I'd only just managed to get through the body scanner and to stop shouting at me. To this he snapped "I thought you couldn't hear me" and made a sarcastic remark bidding me to enjoy my day.

Seeing what had happened, the guy's manager, who was watching me like a hawk and clearly has too much time on his hands, then approached me and started talking down to me in an equally vile and condescending manner. For what? The crime of me taking 10-15 seconds to collect my belongings from an empty queue, and telling an aggressive staff member to stop yelling abusively at customers?! The Gatwick airport security checks are clearly a dumping ground for ugly, inadequate little men who get a demented kick from bullying and intimidating customers. It's not the customers' fault these pathetic thugs have failed at life.

Gatwick Airport do not answer emails and do not help with issues regarding the autopay failing on the drop off which is run by their contractor NCP (national crap parking). But of course Gatwick are happy to have a cut of this scam. My conclusion is that Gatwick shouldn’t be given a second runway as they can’t run an airport with one runway. Will never fly from there again.

This whole place is just a money-making scam. The road signs for pick up send you through a car park ( nowhere near pick up point ) and then you are charged £7 for the pleasure of wasting time & petrol following road signs that are incorrect. AN ABSOLUTE SCAM

The positive, generally a good airport and good safety.

The bad: Additional costs being added everywhere. £7 to drop off for 30 seconds. What a joke
Short term car park: £59 for 3 hours!!! Cheaper to stay at hotel for a day and get free parking.
Duty free: Made out to be a saving when actually more expensive than the high street.

I cant help but feel the airport has become the epitome of greed.

The parts of the North Terminal that have to do with the travel you have already PAID FOR are terrible. The parts that are dedicated to extracting yet more OF YOUR MONEY (for mostly unnecessary and over-priced merchandise) are relatively clean and bright.

If I can, I shall avoid this airport…..and the airlines using it!

Terrible special assistance service.
Very unorganised
Everything left last minute
VERY RUDE.
There was a lady called "hagatha" (or thats what she told me) who works at the departure gate desk for special assistance.
She was VERY rude and arrogant to me and my family (2 being disabled) and when I asked her if she could write her name for me she refused. I asked to use a pen on her desk, and she refused. She wouldn't look at me when I let her finish talking to explain my side of there special assistance mess up, she would blame me to other passengers waiting for the hold up. My son was crying due to the panic of the situation.

Booked assistance prior to flight.
Asked cabin staff prior to touchdown for my wheelchair to be brought to plane from the hold because of long distances at Gatwick. One of the pilots from the replacement team kindly got it as it did not arrive. There was someone who turned out to be the person meeting us there but they never engaged and disappeared. We saw an accessibility van disappearing into the distance with a couple from our plane (driven it turns out by same person). First lift appeared to only operate with a staff card, so we had to go backwards up the escalator with the wheelchair as no other means. Eventually got to 2nd lift and able to operate it. Eventually got to next lift and saw same accessibility van in it with doors closing. When it returned told button broken to close door by another arriving accessibility van. At baggage reclaim, asked the person who was meant to have met us please could we have help as we cannot manage two bags and a wheelchair to get us to the arrival drop off zone by the accessibility welcome hut who were anything but on the way out. He did take us through anything to declare with my wife trotting beside. Rang several times for customs officer to come to allow through but no one came so we were driven through and dropped off a block away from where we were meant be and only found by walking around and phoning our taxi driver. Rate for yourself!

London Gatwick Airport must be the worst airport in the whole of the UK. First, you need a pound in order to get a trolley so if you haven’t got a pound, you’re screwed. Secondly, they now charge to weigh bags!!! What a complete joke these guys are! The bloody machine charged me two quid without even weighing the bags! Kept saying my bags were 1.4kg. There was no one on ground to support, so that’s it - 2 pounds gone just like that! And finally, I spent less than 2hrs and was charged 18 quid for that! This is just outrageous!!! £18 for less than 2hrs??? I’M STUNNED. These guys are just a complete rip off! I’ll avoid this Airport if I were you!!!

Our first time using Gatwick as in the past used Heathrow. We were both very pleasantly surprised how much of a better experience we had. Every person we dealt with was polite and seemed happy in their work. We used special assistance it was by far a superior system to any airport anywhere. Many thanks.

Came 40 minutes before our flight, got no help from the guys that check in luggage. He was extremly rude and diddent wang to help at all. Was rude and rolled his eyes at us. Never going here again

Horrible experience. Worst part was paying for parking in the long stay car park then being charge by ncp to go through drop off zone when exiting the car park to reach the motorway. I’m sure Gatwick have a good lease agreement with ncp for this nice little earner.

The least family friendly airport in London. They don’t bother returning your pram when you leave the plane, they expect people with young children to carry their hand luggage and children all the way through passport control. It made our lives really difficult. This does not depend on the airline (Turkish Airlines) as on our way out, they very kindly gave us our pram straight after leaving the plane, so it’s definitely some policy they have at Gatwick.

As one of Europe's largest airports, and a regular visitor, I am still shocked by how ill-equipped and frustrating London Gatwick is, especially for families and those needing assistance.

• Poor Facilities: The baby and nursing facilities were few and far between. The ones I found were dirty, very smelly, often had long queues, and lacked basic hygiene products like soap.

• Lack of Accessibility: Despite calling the assistance bells, there was no support for me as a pregnant woman with a pushchair. I had to rely on other passengers to help me carry my heavy pram and luggage up and down the stairs on the plane and in the terminal.

• No Child-Friendly Zones: During my visit, there were no safe play areas or quiet spaces for children, which was particularly difficult as there were no options for children who are neurodivergent or have special needs.

• Inadequate Comfort: Seating was scarce and uncomfortable, making an already stressful situation worse, especially when our flight was delayed.

• Lounge Access: I was unable to book a lounge on the day of travel, a rigid and inconvenient policy that added to the overall frustration.

Compared to other major European airports I've visited, London Gatwick falls considerably short in terms of comfort, accessibility, and support. The airport seems to profoundly neglect the basic needs of its passengers, particularly families. It's in desperate need of a comprehensive overhaul.

Staff at the arrivals section responsible for directing travellers to different areas of passport control are so rude. They are not even official UKVI officers. Just people wearing hi-viz jacket on a power trip.
Not enough chairs or benches before or after passing security. It's always a challenge finding a place to sit. Not enough restaurants or cafes on level 2.

I had a code to print my pre-purchased train tickets and queued for the 2 machines allocated to pre-paid tickets. The code did not work. The queue to buy train tickets filled the ticket hall. You have to allow 30 minutes to buy a ticket. The number of train ticket machines is wholly inadequate and a national embarrassment.

Just trying to book a parking space - and in the right place .... and you are assaulted by a storm of drop down distracting, wallet grasping menu options. Its already reminding me that going on 'holiday' is so often a hassle.

I was flying out on the 14/09/25
At south terminal. We were in pret when a suitcase was left unattended. The lady from pret asked around about who’s it was. She then put cones around it. She seemed very calm.

I work in an airport hotel in Gatwick airport and we have better security than you.

Nothing happened. No security. No evacuation of pret. I was worried for my safety but the manager didn’t seem to care.

How is it I have more protocols than you? We have to report any unattended luggage immediately and then it’s removed but yours can sit around for an hour and nothing happen. I am appalled and very upset as you put me through distress worrying about whether this was a bomb or not.

I had my baby with me. We left as soon as we could but returned an hour later to find it still there.

Do better!

I was excited to visit the UK, but I felt very disappointed at the airport. I needed help with the train machine and asked a staff member, but she ignored me twice. At first I thought she might not have noticed me, so I walked closer and politely greeted her again, explaining that I needed help with the machine. She turned away and still ignored me. Later, I saw her helping white passengers with detailed answers. This made me feel I was treated unfairly because of my Asian appearance. It gave me a very negative first impression of this trip.

I sincerely hope this kind of experience will not happen to other travelers, regardless of their background, can be treated with equal respect and kindness

Pretty shabby....toilets grubby, escalator to top floor restaurants broken. Just appears to be really run down with no real pride in the place...only thing that seems to work are the shops debit card machines that charge top dollar. Cannot wait to depart!