Sussex Airlink is now taking bookings for any date.
Airlink it ✈️Short, honest guides from years in aviation and on the roads to Gatwick and Heathrow. No jargon, no scare stories, and we say when a charge is worth paying.
Which lines a strike hits, a five-minute checklist for the day it's announced, your four ways to the airport, and what to do about your train ticket. Written once, for every strike day to come.
easyJet is North, BA and Jet2 are South, and TUI is both. The two-second answer, plus the things that catch people out.
It's free, but you book it with your airline, not the airport, at least 48 hours ahead. Who it's for, how to book, the sunflower lanyard, and getting there calmly.
BA is (mostly) T5, Virgin and Emirates T3, Star Alliance T2, Qatar and Air France T4. Plus the 2026 BA changes, the £7 drop-off charge, and our drivers' back road in.
Every pay-in lounge at Gatwick North, Gatwick South and Heathrow T2 to T5, roughly what they cost, our honest "lounge or no lounge?" rules, and the T5 lounge closing this winter.
When to buy it, why the free GHIC card isn’t enough on its own, declaring medical conditions, cruises and skiing, and a simple checklist. Plain English, no jargon.
Fixed prices right through December, the dates that get booked first, which days have no trains, and a few festive tips from the driver’s seat.
The real cost of the train, a week’s parking and a fixed-price taxi for one, two and four people. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t, and we say so.
People search for "taxi to Gatwick" and "taxi from Heathrow" every day, then book something that isn't a taxi at all. That's not a trick. It's how most airport runs in Britain work. Here's the difference in plain English.
A taxi, properly a hackney carriage, is licensed to be flagged down in the street or picked up from a rank. That's the whole point of it: no booking, meter running, off you go. It's brilliant for two miles across town at 11pm. It's a strange way to get to an airport at 4am, because the meter keeps ticking through every roadwork and the price is whatever it ends up being.
A private hire car can only take a journey that was booked in advance through a licensed operator. The driver, the car and the operator are each licensed by the council, every booking is recorded, and the price is agreed before anyone gets in. You can't wave one down. That sounds like a limitation until you're standing outside your house with three cases at 4:15am, and it turns out to be the entire advantage.
No. Sussex Airlink is a private hire firm, and we're taking bookings now. If you were searching for a taxi to Gatwick or a taxi from Heathrow, this is the pre-booked version: the same door-to-door trip, with no meter and no surprises. Airport run? Airlink it.
A licensed private hire car carries the council's plate, usually on the back, and the driver wears a council badge. An operator will always confirm your booking in writing. If a car turns up with none of those, don't get in, whatever it's called.
The forecourt outside the terminal is now the most expensive ten minutes of most holidays. Charges went up again in January, and one airport that used to be free started charging. Here's what each airport we serve asks for, correct as of September 2026, and what happens if you forget to pay.
Across the twenty busiest UK airports, the average charge for the nearest drop-off point rose by about a third in a year, to £7. Sixteen of the twenty put their prices up or introduced one.
Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton all use number-plate cameras with no barrier. You drive in, drop off, drive out, and then you have to remember to pay online or by phone by midnight the following day. Forget, and Gatwick sends a £100 parking charge notice, reduced to £60 if you pay within 14 days. That's the bit that catches people on the first morning of a holiday, and again a week later when the letter lands.
Every airport keeps a free option further out. At Gatwick it's the Long Stay car parks, free for two hours with a shuttle bus to the terminal; allow an extra twenty minutes. Luton's Long Stay is also free for two hours, and Heathrow and Stansted have free zones with a bus or a walk. Don't stop on the approach roads, verges or bus stops instead. They're camera-enforced too, and the fine is bigger than the charge.
Nothing, because you don't have to. Every Sussex Airlink fare includes the airport's drop-off charge, so £80 to Gatwick means £80. No portal, no midnight deadline, no letter. For pickups, your driver texts you where to walk out to and pulls in as you arrive, so there's nothing to pay and nothing to pass on. Prefer to be met inside? Your driver waits in arrivals with a name board and the car sits in the short-stay car park, also inside the fare.
Charges change without much notice. If you're driving yourself, check the airport's own page the day before.
I'll say the awkward bit first, because I'd rather you heard it from me: if you're travelling alone, you book your parking a month ahead and you don't mind a shuttle bus at 4am, parking can be cheaper than we are.
There. Now let's do the maths properly, because the cheap number on the parking website is rarely the number you end up paying.
Gatwick parking prices move with demand, like everything at an airport, so these are the ranges I see for a family car in autumn 2026. Check the exact price for your dates before you decide.
| Option | One week | Two weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Off-airport park and ride, booked weeks ahead | £45 to £75 | £90 to £150 |
| Gatwick's own Long Stay, booked ahead | £60 to £110 | £120 to £200 |
| Meet and greet, booked ahead | £70 to £120 | £140 to £240 |
| Long Stay, turning up on the day | about £230 | about £450 |
| Petrol there and back from Worthing, on top of all of the above | £12 to £15 | £12 to £15 |
| Sussex Airlink, Worthing to Gatwick and back | £150 | £150 |
Ranges from the main parking comparison sites and Gatwick's own drive-up rates, October 2026. Our fare covers up to four people with luggage, and includes the airport drop-off charge.
The shuttle bus. Park and ride means a bus to the terminal, with your cases, at whatever time your flight demands. Ten minutes on paper. Twenty with a buggy and a queue.
Petrol, and a tired driver. Worthing to Gatwick and back is about 80 miles. That's £12 to £15 in fuel, and one of you driving the M23 after a 3am alarm on the way out, and after a long flight on the way home. Years around airports have taught us that the drive home after a long-haul is when people make their worst decisions on the road.
The day you land. Your car has been sitting in a field for a week. It's cold, the windscreen is filthy, and someone's parked six inches from your door. With a transfer, a warm car is waiting, your driver has texted you exactly where, and they already know your flight landed twenty minutes late.
The price when things go wrong. Forget to book, or book late, and the on-the-day rate is around £230 for the week. Come back a day late because of a cancelled flight and every parking option charges you extra. Our return fare is fixed when you book it, and if your flight is late, we simply wait.
Park if you're on your own or a couple, you've booked well ahead, you're away a week or less, and you're the kind of person who enjoys an airport bus at dawn. Sincerely, no judgement.
Book a transfer if there are three or four of you, you've got children or a lot of luggage, you're away two weeks or more, you're flying at a silly hour, or you'd rather arrive at check-in like a passenger than a driver. Split four ways, our £150 return works out at £37.50 each, door to door, which is less than a lot of people spend on a sandwich and a coffee in the terminal.
Either way, do the sum for your trip, not the one on the advert. And if you'd like our side of it, Worthing to Gatwick is £80 each way, £150 there and back, the same at 4am as at 4pm.
Watch this space: we're working on something that lets you sort the rest of your trip, lounges, travel insurance and more, right here, alongside your ride. Soon. ✈️
