General Departure Information

Flying from Gatwick Airport is very straightforward, but time consuming. The BAA require those taking International flights to check in at least two hours prior to take-off and three hours if you are flying to the USA.

The first thing you need to sort out, if you are driving yourself to the airport, is where to park your car while away.

There are three main options

  1. Short stay car-park @ about £50 per day. Ouch!
  2. Long term parking either off airport or on (Park & Ride) - lots of options.
    • Put simply you drive to the off airport parking area. Park up, load family and luggage onto a coach or minibus and get driven to the airport terminal. When you return you reverse the procedure.
    • We use BCP, at Gatwick and Heathrow airports and Dover cruise terminal.
    • You might wish to consider the distance from the airport to the parking area and also the effect of the return flight followed by loading everything onto the coach/minibus, off and then into the car before heading for home.
    • Some B n B’s and hotels also offer parking for their clients. If you are planning to stop over night before flying out this might be an option.
  3. ‘Meet & Greet’ parking
    • You will probably have read lots of horror stories about ‘cowboy’ operations offering ‘meet & greet’ parking services at Gatwick airport. Rest assured they are TRUE! A drive around the streets in the area is enough to tell you that lots of so called ‘secure’ parking guaranteed by the ‘cowboy’ companies is in fact just a parking space in a street within a 15 mile radius of the airport.
    • Having said that I can tell you that there are also some reliable companies. We use BCP, and have done for many years so we can recommend them for both off airport parking and ‘meet & greet’ parking from experience.
    • I have to admit that the ease of using a reliable ‘Meet & Greet’ company makes the little extra expense over a ‘park & ride’ option well worth while.

A better option?

The better option might be to have somebody else drive you. We have extensive experience of the service offered by Titan Private Hire. They offer an excellent service collecting you from your home or office, driving you to your port of departure then meeting you, upon your return and taking you home or back to your office. With their large fleet and licensed, experienced, uniformed drivers they cover most of the country and major ports and airports.  

  1. Titan Private Hire
    • Begin your journey stress free and in style, by booking a reliable private hire transfer service

      Titan Private Hire is available for any type of transfer, specialising in offering a first class personal chauffeured transfer service for up to six people per vehicle from your location to your destination, port or airport.

Trolleys - The BAA now charge for the pleasure of using their luggage trolleys. The charge is a £1 coin or a Euro. 10 cents often works also. Airport staff prefer you to use a £1 coin so that they can have it when you don’t return your trolley to the collecting point. They have been know to ‘hover’ in the hope of returning the trolley for you when you have left.

Overnight stop?

If you have a long drive to the airport or an early flight it might pay you to stay overnight locally. It might cost a bit more BUT it does remove a vast amount of stress from the process of travelling. The mainstream hotels in the vicinity of the airport are expensive except, perhaps the Ibis, a Travel lodge or a bed & breakfast.