Departure Information North Terminal

Flying from Gatwick Airport is very straightforward but time consuming. The BAA require those taking International flights to check in 2 hours prior to take off and for flights to the USA 3 hours!

North Terminal Departure Area is on the upper level.

If your friend/driver wants to see you off or help you with your luggage then they must park in the short term parking area. Follow the signs - stay in the right hand lane as you come off the roundabout. DO NOT leave the vehicle unattended - there is no excuse!

If you are just being dropped off, go up the ramp, you need to be in the right hand lane as you go up the ramp, off load and straight into the terminal building.

Titan Private Hire Service will drop you off here.

BCP ‘Meet & Greet’ service will meet you in this right hand lane, they will look for your vehicle, make, model and registration number, just look for somebody waving at you. If you are early just park up and wait - DO NOT leave the vehicle! If the traffic wardens move you on, just drive around again. 

Park & Ride services drop off on the ground floor, mostly, so you will need to enter the building and take the lift or escalator(s) to the departure level.

Local bus services drop of at ground level also.

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.

Once in the departure area check the departure monitors, they will tell you which zone your flight is ‘checked in’. It might be wise to check the security restrictions on what you can take though as hand luggage before you check in, then you can put restricted items into your hold luggage rather than have it confiscated.

Now, off you go and check in. First come first served and during the holiday season it could be a long wait to get to the front of the queue. If you can check in ‘online’ do so, it will save time.

Once you have checked in and handed over any luggage you will have plenty of time to explore the, expensive, North terminal shopping facilities. The ‘land-side’ (before you go through security to the departure lounge) shopping area is down one level from the check-in level. When you are bored with that go through security and start exploring the shops on ‘air-side’. A word of warning - passing through security can take a long time so leave plenty of time. It would be silly to get involved with shopping land-side and missing your flight due to delays at security.

Once you are in the departure lounge keep checking the monitors for information on boarding and gate number. Boarding usually starts about 45 minutes before departure.

Your boarding pass will be inspected by airport security before you are allowed into the departure lounge. You will also be required to go through a security search.