All guides

A–Z

1. Blue Badge and accessible parking at Gatwick
   Accessible bays, Blue Badge concessions and the special assistance service — and why all three need arranging before you travel, not on the day.
2. Cancellation, amendments and refunds
   The terms attached to a parking rate matter more than most people notice at the point of booking, and are impossible to change afterwards.
3. Car park security and your insurance
   What "secure parking" actually means, what your own insurance does and does not cover, and the checks that take five minutes and save arguments.
4. Dropping someone off at Gatwick
   The terminal forecourts carry a drop-off charge. There is a free alternative in the long stay car parks, and a third option that is often the most sensible of all.
5. Electric vehicle charging at Gatwick
   Charging is available in the airport car parks, but leaving an EV for a fortnight raises questions a petrol car never does.
6. Finding your car when you land
   The return leg is the part of airport parking that goes wrong, and almost all of it is preventable with five minutes of preparation before you fly.
7. Getting to Gatwick by road
   The M23 approach, why you need to know your terminal before you set off, and how to build a driving plan that survives the traffic.
8. Hotel and parking packages at Gatwick
   For very early departures, a night near the airport with parking bundled in is often cheaper than it sounds — and safer than driving through the night.
9. How Gatwick parking is priced
   Airport parking uses the same yield pricing as airline seats. Understanding the mechanism explains most of what looks arbitrary about the quotes.
10. How to compare parking quotes properly
    Comparison sites rank by price, which is only useful if the things being ranked are actually equivalent. Often they are not.
11. How to park at Gatwick for less
    The savings that actually work, in rough order of how much they are worth — and the false economies that cost more than they save.
12. Long stay parking at Gatwick
    The airport's own answer to holiday parking: a much lower daily rate in exchange for a free transfer bus at each end.
13. Meet and greet parking at Gatwick
    Hand your car over at the terminal and walk straight into departures. The fastest option, and the one where the operator's credentials matter most.
14. North Terminal parking at Gatwick
    Which car parks serve the North Terminal, how long each one takes to reach the check-in desks, and when it is worth using a South Terminal car park instead.
15. Official versus off-airport parking at Gatwick
    The single biggest decision in Gatwick parking, and an honest account of what you gain and give up on each side of it.
16. Park and ride parking at Gatwick
    The off-airport compound model: cheaper per day than the airport's own car parks, in exchange for a longer bus ride and more variation between operators.
17. Picking someone up from Gatwick
    Collections are harder than drop-offs, because you are waiting on a flight rather than a clock. The trick is not to wait at the terminal at all.
18. Short stay parking at Gatwick
    The multi-storeys next to each terminal: what they are genuinely good for, and the point at which they stop making financial sense.
19. South Terminal parking at Gatwick
    The car parks that serve the South Terminal, how the railway station changes the calculation, and when a North Terminal space is the better buy.
20. The Gatwick inter-terminal shuttle
    The free automated shuttle between North and South Terminals is what makes either terminal's car parks usable for either terminal's flights.
21. Valet parking at Gatwick
    What the word "valet" actually covers at an airport, how it differs from meet and greet, and what to read before you pay the premium.
22. When to book Gatwick parking
    Airport parking does not behave like last-minute holidays. Prices rise into the date, so the honest answer is earlier than you think.
23. When your flight is delayed or cancelled
    Your parking booking and your flight are separate contracts. What to do when the flight moves and the car park does not.

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