Getting into the UK via Airports is appalling enough for UK travellers and a truly ghastly experience if you do not have a UK/EU passport. Some Canadian relatives took 3 hours to struggle past the Stasi border agency recently and yesterday at Gatwick North terminal the queue was backed up the acess ramps to even get into the immigration hall let alone find a queue to slowly shuffle miles backwards and forwards.
Once past that example of outstanding Britsh Efficiency and initiative you are then at the tender mercies of the baggage handlers.
At Gatwick you then have to guess as to how to get to the station, I was asked three times yesterday in as many minutes.
Once at the Station you are in the tender hands of GoSlowly and God help you.
We save ourselves the hassle and grief of public transport and drive our car to Gatwick every time now and use Valet car parking service. Quicker, more efficient, more reliable and cheaper than the trains.
Brian
Are you sure you are not taking your last experience of the airport and assuming it is typical? Congestion at passport control can occur for all sorts of reasons and at unpredictable times. I use Gatwick 6 or 7 times a year and my experiences have been quite different with generally minimal waiting for security outbound and acceptable waiting for passport control inbound. I have had some truly awful experiences in USA and yes,in Canada(Toronto). My general impression of Gatwick is that the new management are trying hard and putting the investment in where it is needed.
Re. your last paragraph I suppose it all depends where you are coming from and how near you live to a station. I live near Guildford and have driven all the different routes and used different car parks and valet parking but depending on the time of day I still prefer the train. So to take your points in turn:
1/ Quicker - I doubt it,the train takes 51 mins,you can drive it on the A23/M25 in the same time but because of the fear of congestion need to allow much longer.
2/More efficient-well that depends how easy it is to get to a station from your home. Plus of course if your flight arrives very late then you have to drive because the trains have stopped running.
3/More reliable-not in my book,when driving I constantly worry about getting stuck in some "incident" on the M25 and leave far to early to compensate. The alternative is to drive the non-motorway route which is often congested,stressful and can take up to 1hr 20 min.
4/Cheaper -most unlikely. Valet parking for a week in May will cost you £55 (considerably more for 2 weeks)minimum plus say £20 for petrol. By rail if 2 people travel in peak times I buy a Flyaway ticket for £20 each return(note particularly that 4 people can buy this ticket for only £10 each). If I am travelling after 1000 or anytime weekends then my return ticket with my Network card is only £14.05 each. So my fares are at worst £40 or at best £28 compared with £75 minimum for driving with valet parking.
I guess everybody's circumstances are different but certainly the statements and assumptions you make are, in my case, simply not true .
