On this page (5 sections)
The route in one look
Gatwick to Glasgow International, on either of two airlines.
The route runs from Gatwick (LGW) to Glasgow International (GLA), and reads the same in reverse for anyone searching Glasgow to Gatwick. Check the airport code at the Scottish end: Glasgow Prestwick (PIK) is a separate airport about 30 miles southwest of the city, and this route does not use it. GLA sits eight miles west of central Glasgow.
Glasgow Airport puts the flight time on the Gatwick route at about 1h 33m, over a straight-line distance of roughly 370 miles, or 595 km. That is the longest of the London to Glasgow flights, because Gatwick is the furthest south of the London airports.
The thing to settle before anything else is the terminal, because unlike every other Scottish route from a London airport, this one departs from both of Gatwick's.
Who flies it
Two carriers, which is rare on a domestic route from Gatwick.
British Airways and easyJet both fly Gatwick to Glasgow non-stop. That competition is genuinely unusual here: British Airways runs only two domestic routes from Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester, and Glasgow is one of them. Edinburgh, by contrast, is easyJet only from this airport.
Having two airlines on the route changes the risk profile more than the price. If a flight is cancelled on a date you cannot move, a second carrier flying the same city pair from the same airport is a real fallback, and that is worth more than a modest fare difference. It is the strongest practical argument for Glasgow over Edinburgh as a Gatwick departure.
The two airlines sell different products on the same route, so compare what is included rather than the headline fare alone. Our airline line-up at Gatwick covers both, and every direct route from Gatwick places the Scottish services in the wider network. For the day itself, the live departures board carries what is actually leaving.
Two airlines, two terminals
The one mistake worth avoiding on this route.
Gatwick has two terminals in separate buildings, and the Glasgow route uses both. easyJet flies from the North Terminal. British Airways flies from the South Terminal. Which one you need is decided entirely by which airline you booked, and there is no way to tell from the destination.
The two terminals are linked by a shuttle, so arriving at the wrong one is recoverable, but it costs time you may not have on a morning departure with a bag to drop. Check the airline on your booking and go straight to the right building. Our terminal finder resolves it, and the North Terminal and South Terminal guides cover check-in, security and layout for each.
Everything else about the departure is the same either way. This is a domestic flight, so there is no immigration control in either direction and no passport requirement, though each airline sets its own list of acceptable photo identification. Standard liquid rules apply at security in both terminals, and both have their own lounges: the North Terminal lounges and the South Terminal lounges.
Gatwick or another London airport
Worth asking, though the answer here is kinder than on the Edinburgh route.
Gatwick sits 30 miles south of central London, so the airport suits people already south of the city: Sussex, Surrey, Croydon and the Brighton line, where the Gatwick Express and the Thameslink and Southern services make the terminal easy to reach. For those travellers this is the fastest way to Glasgow, and the two-airline choice makes it a more dependable option than the Edinburgh route.
From central or north London the calculation is different. Avanti West Coast runs London Euston to Glasgow Central in about 4h 30m, direct and city centre to city centre. There is no direct train from Gatwick to Scotland, so choosing to fly from here means travelling into London and back out again before you start, which adds well over an hour to the trip.
The West Coast line to Glasgow is slower than the East Coast line to Edinburgh, so flying holds up better on this route than on the Edinburgh one. The test stays the same though: if getting to Gatwick is easier than getting to Euston, fly it. If it is not, the train deserves a serious look.
Who it suits
The better of Gatwick's two Scottish routes, for a concrete reason.
For anyone whose local airport is Gatwick, this is a solid route and the stronger of the airport's two Scottish services. An hour and a half in the air, two airlines competing, and a fallback if one of them cancels. A same-day return to Glasgow is comfortable, and Glasgow International is a short run from the city at the far end.
The competition is the real reason to prefer it. Gatwick's Edinburgh route runs on one airline; this one runs on two, and on a date that cannot move that difference is worth planning around.
The route suits you less if you are starting in central London, where crossing the city to fly south before flying north makes little sense against a direct train from Euston. And whichever way you go, settle the terminal question before you travel: the Edinburgh route is North Terminal only, so a habit formed on that route will send you to the wrong building for a British Airways flight to Glasgow.