London Gatwick (LGW): The Complete Layover Guide

How LGW actually works

Two terminals, one runway, and a border queue between you and every onward flight. Gatwick is simple once you accept that a connection here is really an arrival followed by a fresh departure.

The split matters because the two terminals share almost nothing. easyJet, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, and WestJet fly from North; British Airways, Ryanair, Norwegian, Wizz Air, Vueling, and Turkish Airlines use South. TUI splits by flight number, TOM from North and BY from South, which catches people every season. The free shuttle bridges the 1.2 km in about 2 minutes and runs around the clock, so the terminal change itself is the easy part.

The hard part is the border. Gatwick has no airside transit corridor, so every connecting passenger clears UK immigration, collects any bags that were not checked through, and starts again landside. The airport's own minimums are 60 minutes for a same terminal connection with boarding pass in hand and 90 minutes across terminals, and both assume the border is moving. Some nationalities need a UK visitor in transit visa for exactly this reason, and it cannot be issued at the airport. Verify before travel. On separate tickets, which is how much of Gatwick's traffic actually connects, give yourself 3 hours and treat anything less as a gamble.

Once through security, departures are pleasant enough. Queues average around 22 minutes and peak badly in the early morning; Fast Track can be prebooked from 6 pounds. The lounge scene is independent rather than airline run: No1 Lounge operates in both terminals and takes Priority Pass directly, Plaza Premium covers North, Club Aspire covers South, and Clubrooms, the premium tier, charges Priority Pass holders a 15 pound surcharge for what is comfortably the best food and quietest room on the property. Walk in entry across all of them runs 40 to 44 pounds. Our take: pay the Clubrooms surcharge on a long layover, take No1 for a quick shower and a drink.

The wifi deserves its own line because it is actually good: free, unlimited, and up to 50 Mbps once you register an email, with a free bump to 100 Mbps through a myGatwick account and a 5 pound premium tier nobody needs. The railway station sits directly under the South Terminal, one shuttle ride from North, which is why South is the terminal you want for any plan that involves leaving.

For sleeping, Gatwick is one of the better major airports in Europe precisely because of the South Terminal. The landside concourse stays open all night with a 24 hour Tesco Express, staff tolerate genuine passengers sleeping between 1am and 4am boarding pass checks, and two hotels sit inside the terminal itself: BLOC on level 3 and YOTELAIR with cabins bookable in 4 hour blocks. The Sofitel and Hampton by Hilton connect to North by covered walkways of 2 to 5 minutes, close enough for a 6am departure without heroics. There are no free sleep pods, and most gate side benches carry armrests, so plan around the landside options. Our pick by use case: YOTELAIR for a 4 to 8 hour gap, BLOC for a full night before a South departure, Hampton for North.

A note for self connectors specifically, since Gatwick invented the category: the airport's own booking protection product, Gatwick Connects, launched in 2015 but is no longer promoted on the official connections pages, and its current status is to be confirmed. Assume your separate tickets carry no protection unless the airline or booking site says otherwise in writing. Check your bags to the final destination only when one ticket covers the whole journey, and when in doubt, travel with carry on through this airport.

London is closer than it feels. The Gatwick Express reaches Victoria nonstop in 30 minutes for about 21 pounds; Thameslink does London Bridge and the City for around 15. Both accept contactless cards at the gate. The catch is the return math: an hour of immigration on arrival, a half hour each way on the train, and 2 hours back at the airport leaves barely 90 minutes of actual London on a 5 hour layover. Six hours or more makes the trip worth taking; under that, the Clubrooms sofa wins.