Bohinjska Bistrica

I prefer the North Terminal to be honest. The South seems rundown and tatty in comparison, although perhaps this will be remedied in the coming years.

I'm non-status so this is really just my impression without exploring some of the finer details. I have nothing really to compare them to - just prefer the environment within the North but otherwise have no baseline.

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fruitcage

North Terminal is a bit nicer in most ways, BUT the new BA lounge in South is excellent, so I'm quite happy.

T8191

As a moderately regular user, I find it a difficult comparison. There are so many things I dislike about LGW I find it hard t be positive at all! But let me think ...

Departures - Drop-off. The approaches and drop-off zones at North are inefficient, with everything on the wrong level. South is marginally better, but still pretty poor.
Departures - Bag-drop etc. North more open and airy. South feels more cluttered and confined, and also suffers from cross-traffic with arriving pax in some areas.
Security - Both good, especially Premium Gatwick, and with good staff. North delvers pax into an inescapable maze through Duty Free. South marginally better if you know about the side passageway on the left that enables you to avoid Duty Free!
Departures - Airside. North not very welcoming but at least open and spacious. South horribly cramped and crowded!
Lounges - BA North Lounges were mediocre, with the First Lounge being the worst. BA South Lounges a great improvement.
Gates - Many a long way away at both terminals, but at least South is better equipped with travelators. Poor gate management common to both long- and short-haul.

Arrivals - International. North seemed to be closer to the Border. South can involve very long walks with no travelators.
Arrivals - Domestic. North: I can't really remember. South: the new arrivals route is OK if HBO, but very inefficient if you have hold luggage.
Arrivals - Border. Both seem about equal - no complaints.
Arrivals - Reclaim. About equal, unless arriving Domestic!

As noted above, the winner for South is proximity to the rail station.

lcylocal

It’s South for me.

• not having to take the transit train from the railway station does save a fair bit of time (especially if your train arrives at a platform which connects to the southern of the two bridges, which means you exit close to BA bag drop). On arrival this can be the difference between missing and catching the next train.
• Hilton Gatwick being directly connected (I know North has the Hampton, but lounge etc is handy and breakfast better)
• shorter walks to the farthest gates (compared to the North gates which are over the bridge)
• great BA lounges

I do dislike the way the majority of South gate lounges are arranged which makes group boarding a farce, however there are gates like this in North too. And group boarding often a mess at T5 too which doesn’t have this problem.

The EasyJet experience through North though is now generally really good. So to be honest it is still a close run thing. And doesn’t have any influence on on EasyJet vs BA decisions when booking from LGW.

flatlander

For me, an occasional LGW user, it's an improvement in smaller ways.

The lounges, especially the F lounge, are good. The easy access from the train (or the Hilton if it's an early departure) is convenient. The security are efficient and friendly.

I tend to end up leaving from a gate near the lounge which is convenient, so I haven't walked to the far corners of LGW for a while.

The terminal itself continues to be a confusing maze of retail, accreted rather than designed, but you can usually bumble your way to what you want. For a "security, lounge, Boots/WHSmith, gate" experience it works OK.

Overall it is more of an evolution than a revolution but the only revolution at LGW would be to demolish the place and replace it with a building like LHR T5. That's never going to happen in today's airline economy, instead it would be replaced by a tortuous retail maze with overcrowded seating like Stansted. So, being a realist, I accept it as it is and find it good.

Domestic connections aren't an issue for me, but there's some late-breaking news in another thread about a trial of a South Terminal Domestic to International connections route bypassing security so clearly LGW management want to improve that pain point.

Dan72

Agree with much of the above. Proximity to rail station and improved lounges are a real positive.

Agree with the ambiance point. While not a priority, the south departure lounge looks tatty and much more cluttered than the North terminal. It resembles a dated market town shopping centre. A real negative, but no worse than the north, is the poor domestic transfer experience. I expect it’s a small proportion of their business, but they need to do better if they are to realise their ambitions of being a real hub as opposed to a charter/LCC focused airport.

Besides the general ambience, the one area that north wins out is the gate areas. The old fashioned gate lounges of which there are too many and much more in the South provide a platform for really chaotic boarding experiences, although BA occasionally manage this with some effect.

BOH

Much prefer the South terminal (I use LGW about 3x per month) Here is why:

• Much better BA lounge...love the view out onto the end of the runway at the South Terminal
• As a train user, not having to take the shuttle across to N
• Seems a better bag drop experience using the BA premium check-in desk area at S, rarely any more than 2-3 minute queue
• Avoidance of the Duty Free area by taking the left-hand turn straight after security.

Regular LGW-S travelers also know to go down the stairs to Immigration too when arriving at one of the pier's (can't remember which one) rather than following the signs which takes you on an extra 100+ metre walk down the spiral walkway

BAeuro

For me the North Terminal always felt the better relation. It has the amazing bridge with great views and in general has nice gate areas (and is getting an extension to enable more gates over the bridge).

Also, if you look at airlines,

North: Virgin, Emirates, Qatar, TUI, EasyJet, WestJet, Air Transat, Icelandair...

South: BA & IAG, Norwegian, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Flybe, Cathay Pacific, airBaltic, Croatia Airlines…

Now this is in no way scientific but the South seems to get more of the LCCs and airlines with less frequent operations (eg Finnair, Aegean and Swiss who are Winter only).

Bohinjska Bistrica

To be fair, EasyJet is by far and away the dominant carrier at the North. I wouldn't read too much into the selection.

I don't think BA and easyJet would fit in the one terminal.

BAeuro

I wonder do airlines get to pick their terminal allocation? Surely Flybe would be better in the North when they return to LGW to team up with Virgin. Why would they want to be with BA?

T8191

Slightly more ‘domestic’? Anyway, is there even space at North once Easy has taken over?

KARFA

Previously U2 were split across both terminals. U2 is the biggest carrier at LGW and it was their request to consolidate in one terminal which caused the whole move, so all U2 to north, which meant BA had to move to the south to make space.

Bohinjska Bistrica

EasyJet once rather kindly landed me at the wrong terminal before they consolidated operations into the North. My pre-booked taxi driver was not very amused.

A good move to consolidate them - saves confusion.

ru55

I can confirm that the trial was underway on Monday when I arrived in from Glasgow. Ground staff seemed quite unsure how to organise the passengers disembarking so probably early days.