Gatwick abolishes landside departure information.

Boulevardier

I arrived in Gatwick with a bit of time to kill the other day, and decided to have a quick look into the South terminal check in/departures area.

To my surprise, there were no displays of information anywhere about departing flights. An employee told me that such information is now only displayed in the post-security (airside) areas.

Is this also being done in other airports and if so, why?

(Edit: departures seem to be showing on Gatwick's web page OK).

Locker10a

Well, this information was never much use really, you don't need to know your gate until you clear security anyway!
Airline checkin desks and departures are clearly signposted.
The only time I can think of these monitors being useful would be during times of significant delays or disruption.

Chris_5339762

There'll be information about check-in desks but nothing about gates etc. Its to push people through security, you'll also notice there is very little seating before security too.

L1011

And in South at least, you've to walk a winding path through duty free to get to any gates. Shopping centre with the awkwardness of an airport attached basically.

Rawr

Probably my main gripe about LGW is the poor quality/delivery of the information systems.

Moreover on nearly every trip out of there, the flight's gate number hadn't been posted until mere minutes before we were due to get to the gate (which can sometimes be a long trek from the central areas.)

I get that maybe they don't want people crowding up the gate areas until the gate itself (and its waiting area) are open. However, it does make for a stressful experience sometimes, wondering if I'll have to run a 1K sprint to get to my plane in time.

Van.Bosch

Rawr wrote: »

Probably my main gripe about LGW is the poor quality/delivery of the information systems.

Moreover on nearly every trip out of there, the flight's gate number hadn't been posted until mere minutes before we were due to get to the gate (which can sometimes be a long trek from the central areas.)

I get that maybe they don't want people crowding up the gate areas until the gate itself (and its waiting area) are open. However, it does make for a stressful experience sometimes, wondering if I'll have to run a 1K sprint to get to my plane in time.

If they told you the gate you wouldn't be in the shops

Deagol

LHR is the same as far as I have noticed. Terminal 5 and 2 at least, depatures area only shows which check-in desks are for which flight.

EICVD

Deagol wrote: »

LHR is the same as far as I have noticed. Terminal 5 and 2 at least, depatures area only shows which check-in desks are for which flight.

At least LHR T2 waiting area isn't quite in the middle of a 'shopping centre'. I always manage to get a quiet seat by the window that overlooks the apron & 27L, EI gates do be around to the right.

Boulevardier

I don't say the departure displays on landside need to give the gate, but I would expect them to keep people on both sides of security updated on possible delays and cancellations before people go airside. That is why I think Gatwick's policy is so shoddy.

Regarding actual gate announcements, Aer Lingus seem poorer than most. Coming back the other day, I noticed that their gate numbers were put up significantly nearer departure time than those of the other airlines on the board.

The other extreme is Newcastle, where you are asked to go to gate way before the flight time, and are then corralled into an amenity-less lounge.

Jamie2k9

Boulevardier wrote: »

I don't say the departure displays on landside need to give the gate, but I would expect them to keep people on both sides of security updated on possible delays and cancellations before people go airside. That is why I think Gatwick's policy is so shoddy.

Regarding actual gate announcements, Aer Lingus seem poorer than most. Coming back the other day, I noticed that their gate numbers were put up significantly nearer departure time than those of the other airlines on the board.

The other extreme is Newcastle, where you are asked to go to gate way before the flight time, and are then corralled into an amenity-less lounge.

They don't need to know about delays until they go landslide, cancellations either happen in advance or close to departure (after check in has closed) so don't see why such information is required.

Getting 200 people to an aircraft at the right time is a very difficult task....

As for late gates, simple reason is LGW probally didn't have a gate confirmed until the aircraft landed on the ground (30-35 min before dep). Some airlines based have set gates numbers, other specific to aircraft type but someone like Aer Lingus don't and could of been delayed aircraft on the planned stand and so on.

Blut2

The UK airport practice of putting up your gate as late as possible annoys me a huge amount. Particularly when there are long hikes to gates at the bigger airports.

I'd far rather know the gate well in advance so I can stroll to it leisurely, then relax nearby it.

Rawr

Blut2 wrote: »

The UK airport practice of putting up your gate as late as possible annoys me a huge amount. Particularly when there are long hikes to gates at the bigger airports.

I'd far rather know the gate well in advance so I can stroll to it leisurely, then relax nearby it.

I feel very much the same, thus my own dislike for Gatwick's information system.

I'm the kind of passenger who likes to find out things like the gate number as soon as possible, then place myself in the general vicinity of that gate while watching out for any updates or changes on my flight.

Gatwick is stressful in this respect due to the sheer size of the place and the lateness of the gate number posting. As much as I like the odd bit of Duty Free shopping, Gatwick's designs to keep me in their 'shopping center' as long as possible, doesn't endear itself to well to a guy who likes to know where his plane will be parked before he does a bit of shopping

It's been a while since my last visit to Gatwick, however if I remember right, each gate was essentially a corral-style lounge, which required getting past a boarding pass check before you could sit down. (Please correct me if a remember wrong).

I do kind of get why they woundn't want 200+ people waiting around in the corridor in front of these types of gates blocking up the walkway. A late gate announcement would help prevent this kind of problem. It does however still make for a stressful experience. Especially when some gates are a *very* long trek away.

homerjay2005

Deagol wrote: »

LHR is the same as far as I have noticed. Terminal 5 and 2 at least, depatures area only shows which check-in desks are for which flight.

this is fairly standard in almost every main/major airport in the world!

in fact, i only recall saying this type of information in the small, remote (Ryanair) airports where the difference between the departure and arrival lounge is about 10 metres and they wouldnt exactly have a million screens available.

flanzer

Dublin Airport is the same in landside departures. Desk area in T1. Desk ranges in T2

Irish Steve

Part of the problem for the airports is that the airlines are now trying to operate with much shorter turn round times, so the aircraft is not on stand for very long.

What then causes more problems is if a lot of passengers have been sent to a gate, and the aircraft currently on that gate is delayed in departing for whatever reason, the next flight due on that gate may be sent to a gate in a very different area, and getting from a gate to another gate at places like Gatwick is a serious hike, so in many respects, it's safer to not commit to a gate number until the aircraft is certain to be at that gate.

And yes, that does of course allow the airport operator to try and persuade us to spend more money in the shops and the like, but they have to earn their operating costs somehow, the airlines are less willing to pay high fees these days, so the money has to come from somewhere.