5.15am flight from Gatwick with kids - hotel?

Alleycat

Hi all,

We live in West London and will be flying out from Gatwick South at 5.15am and flying back into Gatwick North landing at 11.30pm.

The paperwork says we should be at the airport 3 hours before our flight so that would be 2.15am. It would take approx 1.5 hours to drive from home.

Does anyone with any experience have any thoughts on whether we should book a hotel? If so, how does it work with parking, shuttles etc?

The kids are 6 and 11 years.

Thanks x

Twopints

Plenty of hotels also offer parking - you book one night in the hotel plus 7 or 14 nights parking. They either have their own shuttle or arrange them for you (at an extra charge)

Gatwick hotels and parking example

You may be better off getting a taxi - probably not a lot in it in terms of cost but it may be more convenient. When we have stayed in airport hotels we never really slept well, particularly our son.

PompeyPete

Forget the parking, just get a train to Gatwick from Victoria.

Premier Inn North Teminal offers good vfm rooms booked online. Two minutes walk from Departures.

lol_omg_wtf

1.5 hours isnt that long? If your driving then you can go dump the car in q parks. shuttles every 10mins only 10 mins to the airport. very hassle free. Its more of a faff booking into a hotel the day before to sleep there during the day?

redandwhitestripes

Where are you flying to at that time of the morning?
I live in West London area as well and have done an early LGW flight.
At that time, the M25 wont be busy so will only take an hour or so, and you won't have to be there 3 hours before .
2 hours is fine, as it is security that takes the time at LGW - and for an early flight like that, the queues will be much shorter...

Might be cheaper to get a minicab - from Ruislip where I am its about £50

Alleycat

Redandwhitestripes - we're flying to Corfu. We're checking in suitcases and last time we flew from Gatwick (admittedly during the daytime) it was hell on earth! So you reckon just 2 hours before will be okay? Don't want to be stressing and running through the departures lounge like we did last time!

PompeyPete - I really don't fancy dragging the kids and suitcases across London on public transport in the early hours of the morning so would prefer to either drive or cab it.

Twopints - that's what I was thinking. We'd still have to get the kids up mega early and trying to sleep earlier than usual in a hotel might not be great. I was trying to figure out how the parking works. One site said that you have to move your car to the long stay carpark in the morning and then get a shuttle. I was getting really confused!

michele-p

You could try the Travel inn gatwick central, you can book thier own car park right outside, and leave the car there. I just got a quote for £38 (using a 15% off code i was emailed ENDOFSUM) for the hotel, and you can price up parking here
https://travelodgeparking.apcoa.co.uk/OrderPage.aspx

Its around a mile from the terminal, there is a bus runs, but you pay for it. We have a 6am flight october half term, think last time we paid nearly £10 for a taxi instead of the bus, but would prob be cheaper in advance! Its a decent hotel, used it a few times now.

basil92

I wouldn't bother with a hotel, I doubt any of you will get much sleep.

I'd go for the taxi cab option, if it's similar price wise.

Door to door with no hassles with parking etc.

The kids might even go back to sleep during the cab ride.

And I think getting there 2 and a half hours before departure should suffice.

Blue264

I'd stick to your original plan to be honest.

My OH spent 2yrs working shifts at Heathrow and commuting on the M25, and anything can happen, even at that time of night.

If National Express have a coach stop near you, it might be worth checking that option also.

Doshwaster

I normally book a hotel at Gatwick for morning flights but for one that early (I didn't even know they had departures at such an ungodly hour!) it does seem a waste of time a money. Even if you stop in the Premier Inn North Terminal you'll need to be getting up at around 3am. Driving may actually be the best option then hopefully the kids will be able to get some sleep in the car.

I think next time I'd be looking at holidays with more family-friendly flight times even if it ends up costing you more. These early departures and late return are cheap for a reason.

HHarry

Last trip back from Gatwick I splashed out on a taxi, and it was money well spent. Gatwick to Camberley (which probably isn't to disimilar to you) was £60. Straight out of the airport, into the cab, let someone else do the hard work.

Cab both ways probably isn't a lot more the hotel and parking.