6am flight from Gatwick

[bouncingbackhome]

We live 3 hours from Gatwick airport and have a 6am flight. How would you manage this as a family? DH, DD’s 16 and 14 and me.

Would a lounge work well? I don’t think a hotel would work as we would have to leave so early.

What would you do?

The Premier Inn of similar at Gatwick park in Long Stay or Summer special and hop off the shuttle at hotel. Even better do twilight bag drop and make do with hand luggage so you just get up at 3/3.30 and head to terminal

Just leave in the middle of the night and sleep on the plane. I fly almost every week and occasionally end up in a very similar situation and it’s fine, one night of broken sleep won’t kill you.

I would do (and I have done) the following:
a) book Gatwick Premier Inn
b) check bags at Gatwick evening before (assuming you're flying with easyjet)
c) get up and be downstairs for 4am on the dot when breakfast opens to have some food to see you going.
D) walk across the road to be at security by 4.30 - which is plenty of time as you don't need to queue for bag drop as you did it the night before!
Worked like a dream.

At least one lounge opens at 4:00am prompt.

Definitely airport hotel, we recently stayed at the Premier Inn by the North Terminal which is literally right across the road from the terminal. Our flight was 7am so we arrived late afternoon, had dinner then showers and early night.

The lounges tend to open at 4am or 5am so you wouldn't have long in there before having to head to the boarding gate.

With a hotel you'd at least get some sleep /rest and you'd be there, I'd worry about something happen on the journey if you were travelling on the day

Sometimes (NB: not always) the Hilton hotels can work out cheaper for families. Wherever you stay, book a cancellation option in case of flight time changes. I recently had a flight change from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Plus if the hotel price drops, you can cancel and book again.

You can walk to the aircraft from both the Prem and the Hilton. Staying at an “almost airport” hotel where you require a taxi or bus transfer, means you lose a lot of the benefit.

I'd book a family room at the Premier Inn- at least you will get a bit of sleep. It's not clear if long or short haul - thinking the latter at 6am, so will maybe be a long day with no real chance to sleep on plane.

I fly at 5.45am from Gatwick later this week and this is exactly our plan!

Stayed in Bloc Hotel last Thursday at Gatwick South for 5.30am flight. Reception is a minute walk right by security so I left my room at 4.30am and still made it. Hugely recommend

Be aware though that at the Bloc you pay extra for a room with a window, the loo seat gets soaked when you have a shower and if you want a coffee first thing, there is no kettle in the room. There are free coffee machines in corridors but not on every floor. In my view, at Gatwick you can do better.

I would look at airport hotels. Holiday Extras do hotel + parking packages that can work out quite reasonable. Last time I booked one it was only £15 more for hotel and parking than it was for just parking.

Definitely hotel, dh and I do it for very early flights even though we are less than an hour away from Gatwick and closer to Heathrow!
Just so worth it to be there when the alarm goes off plus your holiday can start a little earlier if you find somewhere nice for dinner (not the restaurant attached to the hotel as they are largely terrible!!).

Usually means we are too early for the breakfast that’s included but as it’s also largely terrible we don’t mind!

Not at stupid o clock in the morning though. At 4am Bloc is exactly right.

If you are leaving the room at a civilised hour yes you might want a bit more.

We just bite the bullet. Go to bed a bit earlier, get up, drive. We sleep better that we would in a hotel
Kip on plane if you need, otherwise an nap when you get there, not more than a hour.

We’ve had an early Gatwick flight before we stayed at holiday inn and it worked well. Yes we didn’t have a full nights sleep there but we got there about 5ish had dinner, bed early and woke up about 3am and it was fine and worked well.

I can’t function without a coffee at stupid o’clock. Plus l don’t like wet loo seats and soggy loo roll at a price on par with the Hilton. In some rooms a double bed is up against the wall too.

Each to their own but l think it’s only fair to warn of the pitfalls too.

Thanks so much - hotel does seem the best bet. I hadn’t thought of motorway closes. We had that on a trip before where we decided to travel over night!

Not booking 6am flight is also the best idea! Unfortunately it came as the “package”, we are off to Turkey with Mark Warner.

Book a airport hotel for the night before. If the flight is short haul, you'll need to be at the airport by 4 am at the latest. In theory driving 3 hours during the early hours, traffic shouldn't be too bad, but it would mean you'd need to get up very early or not bother going to bed! At least with the airport hotel, you don't have to get up so early, and the airport is on your doorstep. We've got a 6.20 am flight in August but out of our local airport, that's only a 20 minute journey at that time of the morning, so it's not too bad.

Enjoy your holiday OP and the stress free start. 6:00am departures are cheekily classified as a day flight.

Remember flight times can change and airlines can more or less do as they like up until 2 weeks before without compensation, so weigh up paying a little extra for a booking with a cancellation option.

The EU is likely to introduce enhanced passenger rights later this year, but for the UK, that ship has sailed. Or should l say that plane had departed.

I choose my flight first. If I can't get a civilised flight I choose another destination because a 6am flight ruins two days. It's also likely to be a rubbish flight coming back.
Even if flying at 9 or 10 am I will book an airport hotel in order to get a pleasant start but if you have to be up at 3am it's barely worth it.

With some destinations there is only one flight a day or less.

I’ve had mid afternoon flights changed to morning departures and vice versa. As l mentioned up thread up until 2 weeks before airlines can more or less do what they like.

Bloc Hotel with a parking package. It’s great.

Theres not a chance in hell I’d drive to Gatwick the morning of a flight that early

This. One overnight crash and you're fucked.

We always try and get morning flights and then stay overnight at a hotel...even at the airport that's only an hour away. The thought of travelling to the airport only x hours before the flight leaves makes me feel 🤢 . I'd be a bag of nerves all morning.

Bloc hotel the night before.

I live 1 hour away, booked a hotel night before flight, sat in traffic for 4 hours, 20 minutes away from Gatwick.