London Gatwick: South Terminal
Operated By: |
 Global Infrastructure Partners |
Website: |
www.gatwickairport.com |
Terminals: |
2 - North and South |
This Review: |
South Terminal |
Rating: |
 |
| LGW LONDON TT0107 /221750 |
Last updated 11/07/2010
General: |
London's Second airport but the first with a dedicated transport link (train station was there before the airport was!) |
Appearance: |
The South Terminal is the older of the two terminals and the most busy. The building looks old on the outside but has been regularly refurbished so the insides are quite modern. |
Inbound
Domestic
The south terminal is very busy and has been expanded in stages. It means that you can end up with a very long (more than 15 minute) walk from your plane to the baggage reclaim hall. The baggage reclaim hall itself is large with 8 belts and lots of people all trying to get through at once
International
Same conditions apply for international as for domestic
Odd set up at Gatwick whereby all passengers come into the one immigration hall. A large queuing system and banks of desks mark the area for Non-EU citizens to stand. Two desks with a very large gap between them act as a funnel for EU passport holders to be waived through and a small glass corridor running down the side lets domestic passengers bypass immigration completely.
The baggage reclaim hall itself is large with 8 belts and lots of people all trying to get through at once.
A large customs hall with absolutely no members of staff in sight.
Regular services (and hourly throughout the night) run into Central London and beyond. In the front of the South Terminal there is a large coach station with coaches running to many parts of Britain plus lots of local busses.
Outbound
Domestic
During summer (Guernsey August '03) the departures lounge is very crowded with large numbers of people packed into a small space. There are large numbers of shops and restaurants but the amount of space means that tables are in limited supply at some of the restaurants. However, come the early evening in late January (Barcelona January '04) you feel like the only person in there! Some of the gates are located very far away and even as a fast walker can take 15 minutes to walk to
International
Share the same facilities as domestic.
Several bars on the land-side of the airport but nothing on the air-side.
Lots of Cafe's on the land-side of the terminal and a couple on the air-side.
Large number of different eateries on the land-side is matched by 1 restaurant and numerous fast food outlets on the air-side.
There is a large shopping and food complex on the land-side of the airport making it more resemble a town-centre shopping mall than an international airport. Once through into air-side the shopping mall feeling continues.
The toilets are clean and well maintained, though the ones just the other side of immigration leave a lot to be desired.
