London Gatwick Airport (LGW)

North, South and the shuttle between them

North and South are separate buildings rather than two wings of one, each with its own check-in desks, security hall, shops and arrivals doors, and there is no walking route between them. A free automated shuttle train links the pair around the clock, step-free at both ends, and the ride is brief enough that finding the platform takes longer than riding it.

Which building you want is decided by airline, never by destination or by whether the flight is long-haul. The low-cost carrier that bases its fleet here works out of the North alongside several long-haul names; the flag carrier, most package operators and a long list of others sit in the South. Airlines have swapped sides before, and a swap takes everything with it, so trust the booking rather than the last trip.

One railway station, three operators

The station sits against the South Terminal, which is the quiet reason to check your terminal before you travel: a North Terminal departure means riding the shuttle at the end of the train journey. Three operators share those platforms — a non-stop express to Victoria, a stopping service to the same terminus by way of East Croydon and Clapham Junction, and a cross-London line running through London Bridge, Blackfriars, Farringdon and St Pancras.

That cross-London line is the one visitors underuse. It continues north through the capital to Luton's airport on one branch and to Cambridge on another, and southbound it reaches Brighton and the coast in a handful of stops, which makes Gatwick a reasonable arrival airport for the whole south of England. The express is its own product; the rest are ordinary national rail tickets, cheapest booked ahead.

Cabs, coaches and the other airports

There is no open black-cab rank here. The ranks outside arrivals belong to the airport's official taxi partner, which quotes a fixed price at a desk in the hall or online beforehand, and every other car — London black cabs included — has to be booked in advance. Ride-hailing operates, but the pick-up point is a designated bay rather than the terminal door.

The coach station at the North Terminal carries more weight here than at most airports, because no railway links Gatwick with Heathrow or Stansted: a coach is usually the single-vehicle answer when a trip lands at one and leaves from the other, and the alternative is two rail legs through a London terminus. Hire-car desks stand in both arrivals halls, with the cars a short shuttle ride away.

One runway, and what a bad day does

A single runway carries the entire operation, so delay compounds instead of dispersing: an aircraft out of position in the morning tends to still be out of position by evening, and the recovery has nowhere to happen. Holiday schedules push the first departure wave into the small hours, which is why the security queue peaks long before dawn and again in the late afternoon.

The other risk particular to Gatwick is the self-connection. Most of what flies from here is sold point to point, so two flights bought on two tickets are two separate journeys: bags reclaimed and checked in again, perhaps a shuttle ride between terminals, and no protection whatever if the first leg runs late. A through-ticketed connection carries that risk for you; separate bookings hand it straight back.

Layovers and the night before

One hotel stands inside the South Terminal building itself, which is as close to a gate as British airports get, and another is joined to the North Terminal by a covered walkway; a ring of cheaper rooms along the approach roads runs shuttles at hours that suit a first flight. The terminals stay open through the night for those departures, though the seating is built for waiting rather than sleeping, and the shops and security lanes keep their own hours.

Arriving, and the practical end

Immigration happens in whichever terminal the flight lands at, and the wait answers to how many long-haul aircraft arrive together rather than to the hour on the clock. Holders of chipped passports from the eligible list walk to the automated gates; everybody else is seen by an officer at a desk. Because an airline checks a traveller's permission at the far end of the route, Britain's entry requirements are something to settle at home.

Data is the one thing worth arranging before departure — an eSIM that comes alive at the gate beats queueing at a counter — and both terminals broadcast a free network for anybody who forgot. Tap-to-pay is standard across Britain, which leaves the pound as something many visitors never physically hold; the machines in arrivals serve the few places that still want notes. Left luggage and assistance desks sit landside.