Not been on BA for ages and ages, but I had a rather lovely holiday on various Channel Islands this year, and a rather excellent, if rather short, flight back from JER on BA (helped at least in part by being able to snag the two-at-the-front-of-Y )

And then we arrived at LGW.

We were informed (rather quietly amid a general arrival kerfuffle) that we were parked at an international gate, and so would need to disembark via the rear steps and buses. I found myself explaining this to several other passengers. I wasn't aware there were non-flexible gates at LGW, but fair enough, aircraft turnaround time is valuable, it saves us a walk, etc, etc.

The buses, naturally, aren't there. They arrive, eventually, and we disembark, eventually, after a rather slow (although impeccably behaved) East London scout troop.

We get to arrivals. There's a massive staircase up, and a single, badly signposted lift round the back of it. Then a corridor, and two staircases down, with no obvious lifts. Then a long corridor with pillars down the middle of it, obstructing anything vaguely wide. And some more stairs. It's looking like a portacabin now.

Eventually, we reach a baggage hall. With one belt handling all dom/CTA, cunningly located in a small room so that wherever you stand, you are blocking either the exit or the belt. Bags take over 45 minutes from arrival on stand to turn up.

OK, I know it's not directly BA's fault, and I know that LGW North is predominantly international. But this was one of the most miserable arrivals I've had in a long time, and would make me far more inclined to use the likes of flyBE to less messy airports.

Was it always this way, or has it deteriorated?