Dear Gatwick Airport

Dear Gatwick Airport,

I know that you have spent and are spending a lot of money upgrading the airport and I thought you’d appreciate feedback after my recent trip to Kefalonia. I imagine you will also appreciate the fact that I have taken a few days to get round to writing this since the first draft in my head on the way home from the airport in our car was a little….blunt.

Firstly I’d like to commend you. Frequently when travelling we are the last people to disembark, although for this I blame my fellow passengers, who are so determined to be the first off the plane that they trap my already-frustrated children in their seats for another twenty minutes. Then there is an interminable walk (of which more later) to Passport Control followed by queuing behind those same eager passengers to get our pictures scrutinised before wearily wending our way to Baggage Reclaim (of which more, again, later). Imagine our delight to reach the tail end of the queue and be immediately ushered to one side by a terribly observant member of staff and fast-tracked, along with other parents with small children, to the front of the queue. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of this remarkable idea. It was so thrilling to shrug off the impending stress of pacifying bored children and be whisked into Britain faster than the speedy-plane-disembarkees.

Apart from the ease of not having to queue with small children, I was also delighted not to be further held up as, having carried one of our two young children all the way from the furthest reaches of the airport where our plane was berthed (or whatever the term is), my arms were screaming in pain. It frustrates me that, when boarding a plane at Gatwick, one is allowed to take one’s pushchair all the way to the plane doors, yet the same accomodations cannot be made on one’s return, especially in larger airports where the walk to reclaim one’s pushchair can actually be miles. PLEASE can you fix this before my arms drop off? My children are too large to be carried in a sling, and too small to walk. I shouldn’t even be carrying them according to doctors, but what choice do we have with two young children?

On which note, should you refuse to give me my pushchair (which was put on the plane at the very last minute and should, by rights, be the first item the baggage handlers come to) when I disembark, could you at the very least give me a hint as to where to find it when it arrives in the baggage hall? After waiting for every other passenger to collect their baggage and the carousel to stop moving, I had to make enquiries about our missing pushchairs before being directed to the ‘Oversized Baggage Area’. Now I have seen smaller horses than some of the suitcases that came off the carousel that day, so am certain that neither of my single pushchairs could be classed as ‘oversized’. But how the bloody hell am I supposed to know that I would find them tucked away in a random corner of the airport if nobody deigns to tell me?

Oh, and finally, guiding the pedestrians through the fenced-off building areas is one thing, but to guide them through the smoking areas? Yuck.

Thanks for reading,

Tired Traveller

PS: I got to see the much hyped Fisher Price children’s area in the departure lounge. Sadly, at stupid o’clock in the morning, it wasn’t open. And the children’s seating area, which included some toys, couldn’t be accessed due to the large number of sleeping adults lying across the seats and scaring my children.