Lounging at Gatwick Airport

Lounging at Gatwick Airport

I’ve written about the Purgatorio of Stansted Airport. Here I relate a happier airport experience, if not quite Paradisio.

The North Terminal at Gatwick is a pretty functional place, like most other terminals. Its main purpose (like everywhere else) is to inflict you with a Long March through its sinuous arcade of duty free concessions before debouching you into a big hangar with the usual collection of “normal” retail and food outlets.

Although you can’t complain that there’s nowhere to pick up a decent sandwich, there’s not really anywhere to sit, eat and linger (Wetherspoons and Giraffe? I think not- apart from considerations of the food and drink on offer, there’s always pressure on customer turnover).

Therefore, when the timing and location of a midday appointment meant that there was little alternative to arriving at Gatwick 3 hours before a flight, I thought about making the wait bearable. Sitting in the general terminal seating area, though better than the cramped space at Stansted, was not an attractive prospect. So I investigated the Gatwick lounges. I’m glad I did; but also wryly amused at the world I found.

(I’m writing about the pay-as-you-go (or pay-before-you-go) lounges, not those refined places (Paradisio) which come as a benefit of first class or business travel, or high ranking privilege schemes (eg BA or Emirates).

There’s a Lounge concessionaire (of course) that operates three tiers of lounge (literally, as well as cost-wise – they’re all on different floors). For my purposes, there was a choice between two – the No 1 and the Clubrooms – prices £32 and £45 respectively. The cheaper lounge is also available to the many subscribers of something called “Priority” – that gives access to lounges worldwide ( a scheme previously unknown to me..)

For your entrance fee, or pass, and in both lounges, you get food and drink, and somewhere comfortable to “lounge”. It is good value for a long airport wait, as, once you are in there’s no limit on what you consume. (There’s a time limit though: you are allowed in no earlier than 3 hours before your flight’s scheduled departure. If, because of delays, you want to stay longer, you have to buy more time.)

Which did I go for? There were two reasons for my choice: fairly lukewarm reviews for No 1- especially comments on rather raucous hen/stag parties- and a very pleasing wine list in the Club: NZ Sauvignon, Sancerre, and others. So Clubrooms it was.

The journey to this lounge begins at airport security. When you book, you are given a token that entitles you to the Priority lane – to the far left of the normal lanes. It’s not a significant privilege on an uncrowded day, but I thought (in the interests of research) that I might try it.

I didn’t realise that you have to go through a separate electronic gate, so I found myself cut off from my privileged scanning by forbidding tape. A helpful lane monitor let me through. The experience was unexceptional, apart from the possibly imagined pushiness of my fellow prioritised, who doubtless had done it all before and had urgent things to do on their laptops in the terminal.

Having dodged the polite importunings of the Duty Free slalom, I made my way to the lounge complex- just off the well-travelled passage that leads to the Easyjet  pier over the high bridge at Gatwick.

You find yourself in a hierarchical world. At the top, on the level of the general terminal are the “lesser lounges”, which have actual views of actual airport external stuff, such as planes.

I know not what lounges lurk on the floor below. I was instructed to descend two levels, where the Clubrooms awaited.

This proved to be a space of about 30m by 10m, curtained windows denying views of service bays; but tastefully lit and offering comfortable sofa seating and cosy nooks.

The main thing about it, apart from the comfort, was that it was almost completely empty. I spent about two hours there. The population varied from around a dozen to, just before I left, three of us. (I was told by the underemployed member of staff watching over us that breakfast is a busy time.)

The irony was that, during my stay, more people were turned away than were seated inside. Various travellers waving their Priority passes asked to be admitted – but were told that they were beyond their station, and must return upstairs to their relevant lounge (where they could upgrade if they wanted to).

Watching people denied entry to a big, empty, well-appointed space where one is smugly sitting engenders uncomfortable elitist feelings – that were well banished when I joined the Easyjet  gate scramble and, inevitably, had my cabin bag impounded for the hold.

(Yes, the wine in the Lounge was of faultless quality. The food was microwaved but acceptable.)

May 2018