U.K. and Ireland - LGW South next week - how bad is it in the holidays?

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Flying out of LGW south next week, on a 6am EZ flight (don't ask!)... How long can I expect security to take? I have the buffer of the no 1 lounge from PP on the other side but every minute I can delay is a minute nearer 3am than 2am that the alarm is set for....

Thx for advice/experience

If it helps, we flew out from the North Terminal on the first Saturday of the school Easter holidays this year (i.e. the weekend before Easter).

Despite having access to fast track, we didn't need it and walked straight up to the scanner with one party infront of us. By the time we'd sorted out the various bits, we were ready to head through the WTMD.

I think the new owners are actively looking to differentiate themselves from other London airports....

Gatwick seems to have greatly increased its staffing on security lately and in my experience the queues are very short most of the day.

It's better since it was sold by BAA I think. There are signs around the airport - on the departure display boards from memory - showing the Security wait times.

thanks all - will update end of the week with reality but it doesn't sound too bad.

And the reality was that it wasn't too bad, would have been around 5 minutes but just as we joined the back on one queue, they opened up the next door scanner and we were through in <2 minutes.

And no 1 lounge was quiet and peaceful...

My mother-in-law arrived off the Rossiya LED flight on Monday (arrives at midday). Her immigration queue was very long indeed. She is a visa national and waited for over an hour to go through half the queue. She then was invited to the front for health reasons.

As they say around here, YMMV.

My mother-in-law arrived off the Rossiya LED flight on Monday (arrives at midday). Her immigration queue was very long indeed. She is a visa national and waited for over an hour to go through half the queue. She then was invited to the front for health reasons.

As they say around here, YMMV.

Whilst that may be a valid data point, the OP is asking about security (which is staffed by people paid for by Gatwick Airport), whereas Immigration is staffed by civil servants.

To add another data point: I fly out from LGW South Terminal most Friday evenings, clearing security around 6pm, and it's rare to have more than five people ahead of me in the queue for any of the scanners, even though it's a fairly busy time for outbound flights.

Security wait times at LGW have improved massively since BAA had to sell the airport -- one of the reasons I now fly from LGW rather than LHR, where the so-called "Fast Track" at T1 at the same time of day can take upwards of 15-30 mins to get through.

Immigration at LGW, OTOH, is another story and can be quite hit-and-miss, but unfortunately is out of the airport's control. Try to avoid arriving at the South Terminal after 10pm on a Sunday night, it's hell. (And don't bother with the e-passport gates if that queue is full, those gates seem to be numpty magnets and can take forever.)