dps2009,

Welcome onboard
It depends where you are flying to and whether the airline operates to the destination you want! Personally, I'd choose Gatwick over Heathrow if I had the option. The last time I had the option of Heathrow I chose Charles De Gaulle (Paris) to avoid it! Heathrow is very congested and not the nicest of places to transit through (in my opinion) with Gatwick being a little better. You might find the Heathrow and Gatwick topics useful.

Darren

Gatwick by a mile!!

Of course it's sometimes necessary to fly from LHR but I always find it a nightmare, takes ages to get to because of traffic and always big queues for Security. I really don't like it.

TC

I prefer Gatwick over Heathrow. I find Gatwick cleaner and generally less stressful, but of course if I had to fly from Heathrow it wouldn't stop me from flying from there.

Despite all its problems - Heathrow for me.

Great connection opportunities with lots of airlines. Less once a year flyers! Hard to believe but better security access and less time to clear than Gatwick during peak times...still dont understand the Gatwick random sampling of removing shoes after you have already passed through security at North Terminal. While both have "off days" - security at Gatwick can be surly and lack common sense compared to Heathrow, access to and from airport more favourable for me from Heathrow - Gatwick just so far away out of town - one runway operation at Gatwick - transit railetween terminals getting refurbished - although coach transfer works quite well.

Keep Gatwick for the charters and low cost and let the others play out of Hethrow. Gatwick will ultimately serve a different market to Heathrow (it already does) and this will continue to expand.

Nivsy

Thought I was the only one who would choose Heathrow. I use both but at the moment Gatwick suits because Easyjet are flying there from Munich and my MIL lives in West Sussex. But when I used Gatwick in September it just seemed like we went from one slow moving queue to another. I had to take my shoes off, OH didn't, some people not allowed to take cases through security that were the same size as some that were allowed. I prefered North Terminal in the past due to proximity to car hire.
Over the past 15years I have used Heathrow up to 8 times per year, terminals 1,2, 3,& 4 and can't really remember any real hold ups apart from just after 9/11. It is a crowded airport but my main moan is BA's fast bag drop, a misnomer. Only once have I had a delay of any great length getting to the airport.
I prefer Heathrow because it provides a far greater choice of airlines and destinations so it suits me. I haven't as yet used Terminal 5, will probably do so next year.
For cleanliness I don't see much difference in either, both are somewhat grubby and often look as though they need a really good clean. I will be using Gatwick again in a couple of weeks time, not looking forward to it, though it's not Gatwick I'm objecting to, just the idea of flying anywhere at Christmas fills me with dread, crowds, queues and people getting stressed out.

...and Judith it is rather hard comparing both LHR and LGW compared to the delights of MUC which remains one smart and friendly airport.

Nivsy

I agree that there is more ease of access into London from Heathrow relative to Gatwick. I personally like that convenience.

I prefer Gatwick as its closer to travel to , but have used Heathrow when travelling long haul and had no problems, but we did book an executive lounge to relax as it feels busier and more hectic. I never travel at peak times and obviously its at these times that queues become more common and everyone gets fed up/stressed.
Nivsy makes a good point of preferring LHR as "less once a year flyers" which probably answers the reason for longer queueing times at peak in LGW (more once a year flyers!!) charters for going on holiday.
I find it funny that Nivsy says keep LGW for charters and low cost and LHR for main airlines as a hub, as they appeal to different markets and can both expand and generate growth, because thats what BAA has done over the years and its deemed to be uncompetitive!!! OK, so now LGW has a new owner but will either airport diversify away from its main market??

Security at LGW has been difficult this year because of the sale of the airport, to put it bluntly there has been a bit of "politics" there have been high levels of inspections from the DfT and EU and some unworkable conditions imposed regarding levels of random checking, they were under the "spotlight" because of the sale, i suspect that Stansted will now recieve this level of attention.

Anyway with GIP now owning LGW and getting it cheap i think that they will improve the airport even more, they have done a good job at London City so they know what they're doing but this is on a much bigger scale. Hopefully the airlines will do their bit aswell because sometimes actually checking in is the longest queue/wait.

I think no matter who owns Gatwick there will be difficulty in attracting the major carriers to stay or return or maintain a presence at Gatwick. The facts are the mainstream operator passengers prefer Heathrow. The operators (reluctantly) use Gatwick when slots at Heathrow are not available and try to do as much canvassing and positioning to ensure slots at Heathrow. Much of this now done by Code Sharing within Star Alliance, One World, Skyteam etc and they leave Gatwick as quickly as possible. Recent examples include the main USA Airlines who have moved into Heathrow - American Airlines, Northwest, Delta, Continental and most recently US Airways who are dropping Phillidelphia from Gatwick.

I can see further development within the low cost market and charters of course and the new owners I am sure will continue to develop that area specifically. BA operations at Gatwick has been diminishing over the years and is expected to continue to reduce.

Nivsy

Nivsy, i wasn't criticising your point about which airlines should be at LGW or LHR , and what you've said is exactly what will happen, the airlines have chosen their base to keep costs down and each airport has a defined market and arrived at this by market forces, i think this perfectly understandable, but the question is, will the sale of LGW really change anything? because its sale was forced to increase competition but LGW and LHR won't be in competition because the main airlines want to use LHR and the charters/low cost are settled at LGW and the new owners of LGW have nothing different to prise away from Stansted, in fact the big charter operations base themselves at Manchester and LGW to corner the majority of the holiday market. The sale of Stansted in the next year or so will do little to change the current situation, it will just be 3 different airport owners running things much the way it is now. The only promising sign is that each owner will concentrate solely on improving their airport and bringing them up to the standard that we deserve and should have in this country.

The bright point for Gatwick though is when it gets its second runway and the fact that it no longer has to live in Heathrows shadow as BAA has tended to neglect LGW a bit in comparison, which is a shame as people generally like Gatwick, its a very popular UK airport.