I too received it with the "London Gatwick is having its moment" subject.

I had to laugh at the "We're proud to let you know that we were more punctual than Ryanair and EasyJet on short hail departures from London Gatwick in 2016.*"

Note the asterisk at the end of the statement which made me search for the caveat at the bottom of the email

*Source: CAA UK Punctuality Statistics ...
... The statistics only include flights that were operated; they do not cover those flights that were cancelled.

:D

Having rummaged through my 'Trash" ...Great if you arrive by train, but for connecting pax it's 30 minutes Gate to Gate :(

I've never actually connected through LGW from the South Terminal, but will experience it next month having popped to your neck of the woods Uncle T in the morning and then flying back and on to AMS (where I switch to QR/CX to Japan). If anyone has top tips for South Terminal connecting, much appreciated.

I also had a question regarding luggage, it on one PNR to AMS and planning on short checking a bag to JER to give gifts to friends out there (with an excuse to pop in to ATC at the airport) and will be through checking a bag to AMS, is there a need for this bag to actually also fly to JER and back or can it be stored at LGW (I ask as I would naively think this would mean it is less likely to not make my AMS flight).

navylad ... allow about 45 minutes, in case Security is a PITA, from Gate to Gate. My latest TR (Part 4) gives an indication of how cr@p LGW(S) can be when connecting. "We were NOT amused" ;)

CWS posted a great guide to LGW(S). Worth a read, as he knows [almost] everything. I think it's made it to the Dashboard.

No idea on the baggage aspects: sorry..

Very many thanks! Only in JER a few hours on this occasion, but will be overnighting in June to see Pam Ann. And, yes C-w-s is indeed knowledgeable, I will have a search for the thread.

Sorry, on inflexible iPad ...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ravellers.html

I got the E-mail too. I'v had one flight with them from Gatwick. Next only booked BA flight is from LCY.

My e-mail was the 'LGW is having its moment' variety.

Perhaps they didn't point out that it had been a while since my last LGW trip because their systems picked up I still have a complaint open from last January regarding a LGW flight? Or maybe the cabin crew recorded that they reduced my OH to tears on the following flight a few weeks later?. Given the apathy to the first, unrelated complaint, I didn't bother raising a second.

No reference to access via status. Perhaps they have extrapolated my zero flights booked for the remainder of 2017 and are awaiting my downgrade from Gold?

They are obviously having a push on Gatters today, the home page on BA.com features Gatwick change.

And they have also put out a press release : -

Which notes a delay to March 18, of the 10 abreast config.

British Airways has seen a 40% increase in the number of passengers carried from Gatwick over the past five years following a 33% increase in the number of routes it offers.

The airline said it is now carrying 6.2 million passengers a year from Gatwick to 68 destinations, compared with 4.4 million to 52 destinations in 2012.

Sean Doyle, BA director of networks, alliances and Gatwick, said: "We've really focused on growing our Gatwick operation in the last five years, investing in new routes, driving punctuality and, thanks to our move to the South Terminal, delivered an improved airport experience.

"We've seen huge demand for flights to North America driven by new destinations such as Oakland in San Francisco Bay and Fort Lauderdale and we've started 19 new short-haul services in the last five years to destinations such as Lanzarote, Malta, Rhodes and Limoges."

He said that, last year, BA was the most punctual of the three biggest airlines flying from Gatwick to Europe, having outperformed easyJet by 15 percentage points and Ryanair by six percentage points.

"We're continuing to invest in our operational resilience to grow that difference even more," added Doyle.

In the last five years, BA has introduced four more Boeing 777s, increased the number of A319s from two to 11 and introduced 15 A320s, which replaced 19 Boeing 737s, increasing its capacity by more than 10%.

"We are refreshing our Boeing 777 fleet with new furnishings, improved IFE and in-seat power, and moving to a ten-abreast configuration in economy from March 2018," added Doyle.


"This will enable us to offer even more of our lowest fares, align our World Traveller cabin to other airlines such as Air New Zealand and Emirates and increase the size of our World Traveller Plus cabin by 28 seats to give more people the option to travel in our popular premium economy cabin.

"We plan to carry on growing from Gatwick and will continue to explore and quickly react to any new opportunities, be they destinations or services that we think our customers will love."

OK we can all have a mini-bashette at wording and formulas here, but the underlying message is a good and positive one! LGW South has hugely improved the quality of BA's offering compared to LGW North: the security process is thorough, as one would hope, but it is really slick. The lounges are first rate. The compactness and layout means you can stay in the lounge until 30 minutes before departure quite safely. There is a stella range of destinations from LGW, and if things continue at this pace I imagine more destinations will be added. True domestic arrivals lets the side down somewhat, but stay on the left side of the bus, use the lift and you will be landside faster than using that marathon walkway in North.

I'm glad you are giving it a go to see UncleT, hopefully the experience will persuade you to think again.

I'm not sure I quite follow the exact routing of you and your bag(s) but suffice to say there is an Excess Baggage (paid storage company) location in LGW South, though if you turn on your legendary charm I'm sure the BA agent will check your bag in. Furthermore LGW South has pre-check the night before, if that helps.

Gosh...a 2 million increase in passenger numbers?
Those ''poor ground facilities, awful BoB service, amateur cabin crew, filthy aircraft'' you read about on here certainly don't seem to be putting off the punters. :D

Thanks C-W-S, Routing is

PNR1 (BA) LGW-JER-LGW-AMS all on the same day
PNR2 (QR codes) AMS-DOH-HKG-NGO overnight and the next day

I was basically seeing if I can bag drop for the LGW-AMS leg for my flight earlier in the day, or whether the bag would have to fly LGW-JER, JER-LGW, LGW-AMS. Baggage store is one option, but if it can't be done I'll just pick it up and recheck at JER, but, given arriving from JER so domestically and connecting, I understand have to go LAndside and then go through security back airside, does a bag have to be collected and rechecked or is it checked through.?

I think your options are:

1) LGW-AMS + Legendary Charm on day of travel
2) LGW-AMS on the evening before travel
3) Excess Baggage if (1) unaccountably fails.
4) LGW-JER//JER-AMS - yes you can through check from Jersey to AMS, and so long as the bag has physically an hour to go between flights I would not say it was risky. You don't have to reclaim the bag.
5) Central London - LGW-AMS via Airportr.

Many thanks, as always, incredible helpful C-W-S, I'll add it to the list of pints I owe you!

Although I like to avoid Gatwick, I sadly have a 6hr layover there next month but after reading this email, I am questioning if I should buy a BA full flex ticket, try out the new facilitates and then cancel just to see what all this fuss is about. Probably morally incorrect but BA isn't really winning on that front either.